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I've been planning to do this for a very long time, I've had the supplies, just haven't had the time, over the past couple days I took the plunge to vinyl wrap my interior trim to gloss carbon fiber.. I originally was going to do a dark wood or gloss black, but I decided to do the carbon fiber, and I am so glad I did.. I figured since I already had imitation wood, how bad would it be to have imitation carbon fiber. Lol! Overall the install was relatively easy, except for the stupid cigarette lighter 12V plugs.
To start. I popped off the door panels, I just wedged a plastic wedge and pulled from the side furthest away from the door handle.. It popped, then I could get my hand under the trim and pop the rest of it off. I did that on all four doors. Once I had the trim on the table, I cut the vinyl wrap to the size of the trim piece, but I left a little length on each side so I could fold it over when I applied heat.
Then, I applied heat all around and pulled the sides very tight around the trim. Then, since the wood trim pieces have the aluminum strip at the top of the trim, you have to crease the strip with a plastic wedge. Then you have to trim around the crease with a razor.. It's very tedious, took a couple of times to get it right.
After it is cut, just peal off the section that is over the aluminum part.
To finish it off, go around the edge of the trim and cut it short and tight without blocking off any of the clips that clip into the door.
Then, repeat for all four doors, pop the trim back in, and your done.
A little before and after
Now for the hardest part. The center console trim piece around the MMI... This is the most annoying part of the entire process because the MMI needs to be unplugged along with the shifter boot lifted up ( I replaced my shifter with the facelift shifter) for the center console, pull up on shift boot until it pops up the PRNDS indicator. Then unplug PRNDS indicator and lift shifter boot.
Unplug PRNDS indicator and put fingers under the wood trim panel and lift up with a little bit of force until the trim piece pops away from car, disconnect all electronics, unscrew 4 bolts on rear that hold in MMI and remove silver trim on the front.. Note: don't turn on car while electronics are disconnected.
Once you get everything all unplugged and removed from trim, just vinyl wrap it like you did the side door trims
Finish it off and plug everything back in, and your done. One thing I did is I got the facelift leather shifter and boot to complete the look, I'm now wishing I went with the perferated shift **** but the reason I didn't get that originally is because nothing else in my interior is perferated leather.. I'm kinda regretting that decision now. Unfortunently my shift boot is the wrong size so I have to swap over the shift boot from the old shift **** to my new one. Not quite sure how to do that though. Other than that everything works fine.
Now for some after pictures
Overall it really enhances the interior of the Q7 and if you are thinking of vinyl wrapping, go for it! It's not as hard as it looks, this was my very first time using vinyl wrap and it is quite easy once you get the hang of it. I'm very satisfied with the mod and it came out a lot better than I thought it would. I feel like I have a new car now! I originally was also considering brushed aluminum vinyl but I figured it would look dumb with the aluminum door strips already built into the door trim pieces.
lookin' good... i think if you did the silver dash bezel it would really tie it all together.
Stop giving me ideas. Hahaha! I think I may do that actually, I'm going to try to order a 2012+ speedometer cluster and try to swap it into my 2008.. Connections appear to be the same.. I would probably vinyl wrap it then, as it would already be all taken apart.
you will have to purchase a new one and program the mileage via vagcom otherwise you will get mismatch mileage and not only will it be flagged in the audi system, carfax etc. it is a felony.
you will have to purchase a new one and program the mileage via vagcom otherwise you will get mismatch mileage and not only will it be flagged in the audi system, carfax etc. it is a felony.
Oh wow! Forget that idea! I'm glad it's a felony, imagine buying a car you think has 50k miles when it really has 150k.. That'd be awful..
12-27-2015, 04:46 PM
Vinyl Wraped interior trim W/ Pictures
