Rear wing protectors - Part 2

After the previous failed attempt at covering the front of the rear wings, they were left exposed for the next few years. By 2011 the wings were in a real state, with not a lot of paint left on the exposed front edges, and some holes through the gel coat to air bubbles previously trapped between the 2 layers of the body. It was time to try and cover the mess!

I had seen some references to a 3M product that looked interesting, so ordered some of this Di-Noc carbon sheet. It is a textured vinyl that can be heated to allow fitting onto fairly complex surfaces. I got a 1.2m x 0.3m strip for £15 delivered off ebay.

It turned out to be extremely easy to work with, it becomes very stretchy with some heat applied using a hair drier, and so I was able to wrap the film over pretty much all of the front-facing surface of the rear wings. I had a very useful guide in terms of which areas needed covering... i.e. cover everywhere that has stone chips! I had previously filled the small holes talked about previously, but other than that the surface prep amounted to nothing more than a thorough clean.

I then added an extra piece in front of the join between the main tub and the rear wing, as this was also suffering badly. A thorough heat all over ensured that the adhesive was well bonded to the body. I'm pleased with the results:

With the rear wings sorted, I had a reasonable quantity of the film left, so had the idea to deal with a couple of other areas of the car that were looking decidedly tatty.

The black plastic front headlight surrounds had faded badly over the years to a light grey colour, and were already on the hitlist for being 'facelifted'. The wing mirrors were also letting the car down; the right hand one had been snapped off a few years ago by a clumsy delivery man, and although mended successfully with high-strength adhesive, the join was clearly visible. The mirror casings were also showing signs of surface deterioration... So the challenge was to trim 2 headlight surrounds, 2 mirror stalks and 2 mirror casings with the remainder of the material. It was tight, but with careful use I managed it, just.

The headlight surrounds were surprisingly simple, the mirrors less so, but I'm pleased with the results. I'm not a big fan of too much fake carbon, but I think these few matching items look ok, and were a very cheap way of smartening up some rather tired looking bits of the car.