KosmiK

I've just got a long threaded piece of metal which screws into where the tow hook goes. Onto that is fixed a bracket which the number plate screws into. Easy enough to remove with a screwdriver and spanner.

I wrapped mine myself a few years ago using Hexis. Main reason was I had more time than money. It takes a long time and it is hard, but there's a good saving to be made if you perseve. 

Happy to answer any questions you have. 

What front wheel size did you go for kosmik?

Went with 8.5 on the front, 10.5 rear.

Right, finally got mine fitted. Word of warning though, you will need 25mm spacers minimum in the front. Turns out I only had 20mm so had to grind the studs down. I went for 245/30 r19 fronts and 285/30 r19 rears.

The light wasn't on my side but here's some terrible pics.

Picked mine up directly from the Hexis trade counter in Lichfield.

I ordered a 370z spare wheel from Nissan on eBay and they sent me an extra wheel, I think for a qashqai. I stupidly told them about their mistake so they asked me to post it back and they'd reimburse me. I said no, and that they can come and collect it. Apparently they are unable to collect it from the address, despite delivering to it a few days ago. They then suggested I drop it off at the local Nissan garage, which I refuse to do since there's no way I'm getting any compensation for my trouble. Told them to either collect it, pay my expenses (only £5) in advance or it'll go in the bin. Anyone need a qashqai spare?

Sorry to hear you're having a bad time with insurance. Not had a great experience recently myself.

My renewal's due next month, and I found out the claim cost on a bump I had this year was £1,470. For all this damage.

Today, for the first time someone complimented my car, sort of. I was just reaching my car in the carpark and a guy comes over and asks what it is and says how nice it looks. We chat a bit and he asks what I paid for it. Now I've always wondered what the perceived value was to other people, especially with a private plate hiding the age. So I asked him what he thought, hoping for some huge number.

"One and a half" he says. I paused a little, stunned, and replied "Just over six".

A little more idle chat and off he went. Now I know my car might not be in the best nick, but on what planet is a car like this only worth a grand and a half?

I wrapped my car and it was probably one of the harder panels due to it's size, especially the bonnet grooves. If you've got the time, space and some decent vinyl then it's definitely doable though. But as everyone else said, 2 people. 2-3 hours, £50+ in vinyl & tools

We properly cocked up and ended up with a scrunched up mess in one of the grooves due to a giant trapped air bubble and couldn't originally be bothered to sort it, since we'd been at it so long, but we then decided to sort it, which meant peeling off almost half the bonnet to get to it, worth it though in the end.

Edges are dead easy to wrap, back corners slightly annoying, not much space back there.

To hold its shape the wrapping material HAS to be post heated. I post heat to no less than 95 degrees when wrapping. And ZZZ is right, if you're not a wrapper by trade it's best that you get someone to help you, you WILL need a heat gun rather than a hairdryer though.

 

Dude when you post heat is it done with the backing on or off?

 

Everytimeive tried to post heat I've done it backing off and I get in a right old tangle

Post heating is done with the backing off, once the Vinyl is already applied to the car.

It is a right ballache. I only did 1 as my brother did the other when we wrapped my car. And to be honest they both need re-doing, i just haven't been bothered because they look fine from a distance and no one's likely to come and inspect the wrinkled edges on the wing mirror.

Can't really offer any advice as I don't really feel like I learned much from my last attempt, might just paint them instead. Just make sure it's post heated afterward, i didn't bother since I knew it was basically a practice. Looked fine for a while then the edges started wrinkling.

1. Nissanman312

2. Justthejedi

3. Chizzz

4. 14N

5. The Big Miester

6. Davey83

7. Shezza

8. Spatt

9. MrsNiki

10. James Junior

11. V1H

12. Squee (+Sam)

13. Berty04zed

14. Mopedmark

15. ph7

16. Ridz

17. JetSet

18. Jonnymonno

19. Rob

20. KosmiK

Great Job MD! What were you not so pleased about with the front bumper, certain edges?

 

You've saved yourself 1k+ doing this yourself - yes the stress and hours may not seem worth it, but trust me

 

Also - if you did pay someone to do this, you may not notice the flaws quite so much, as it was someone else's mistake if that makes sense.

It only cost me £350 in total, so a saving of £1200 - £1500 suits me. It's 12 years old with 100k on the clock, so who knows how much life it has left?

On the front bumper its mainly the bottom edge running along the splitter. Because the splitter was already fixed on we didn't have a nice crisp edge we could wrap around like on the every other edge. I'm hoping some black sealant along the bottom will help disguise where the vinyl meets the splitter. Plus we did a better job the second time than the first, there's less wrinkles this time.

Thanks for the kind words

I wasn't too happy with the bumpers but fortunately (not really) I went into the back of someone the other week, so it needs re-doing. So we'll be able to make a better job of it this weekend. At the moment it's a horrible red primer colour from last weekends repair.

A few of us, myself included use Andy at Parkside Autos in Wednesbury.

Some pics of my front bumper smooth and respray here

http://www.350z-uk.c...p-near-walsall/

And some of the work ph7's had done in his build thread here

http://www.350z-uk.c...-yearly-update/

Yeah, does look incredibly good mate. I wouldn't mind having a go myself now..alas, no access to a garage

Did you give Plastidip any consideration before this?

 

EDIT: I'd do your door handles black too. Would set off the white nicely...in keeping with the roof, lip and wheels.

I'd not considered plastidip, as I don't have a garage either. Luckily I was allowed to use the valeting bay at work, otherwise I was going to just do it outside. Can you get gloss plastidip these days?

I'll definitely sort the door handles, just got a few more things to finish up first.

What's the going rate for wrapping a Z anyway?

I honestly don't know. Figured it'd be over a grand though.

Looks good enough on the pics. I attempted to spray my own car once many moons ago so I feel your pain on spending so long working on it and not getting the result you wanted. Unfortunately most people only get good at things with practice. What colour you doing it next?

No plans to redo it just yet. People at work keep asking if I've had a new car, so it can't be that bad.

Outdoor pic with everything back on.

Thanks for the kind words everyone. Once I've got the other bits and pieces back on the car i'll get some better pics up.

I'll need to send off my V5C to notify the DVLA, and I'll be giving admiral a call about it too. Hopefully it'll only be the admin fee for them, my other mods didn't make a difference I don't think.

Right, day 3 is over and it was horrible. Honestly, the bumpers have turned out pretty pants and I almost wish I hadnt bothered. It's fine from a distance, but up close it looks a real bodge job. After three 10 hour days we'd just had enough, and I needed the car back together for work tomorrow.

Anyways here's the final result.

If you're going to wrap your own car, which honestly I'd probably advise against, make sure you have help, and get two of everything. Sharing one heat gun and squeegee slows you down. I only had one as I naively thought I could do it solo.

Still have one side skirt, the mirrors and maybe the door handles left.

Vinyl was £305 for a 20m roll from Hexis, but its the cheapest colour so keep that in mind.

I've done the centre console, gear stick surround and the interior switch covers on the doors, but that's it. They really did not prepare me for this though.

OK, so a more successful day today. And no more burns which is always a bonus.

Started with finally getting the front bumper off, which meant we could do the wings. So got them done, the drivers door, and peeled and rewrapped the passenger door. Then the boot, which was the worst one panel yet, mainly because of the length of all the edges to sort out, plus it was almost the size of the roll of wrap so not much room for error.

Bumpers, an A Pillar and if we get time the other side skirt tomorrow.

I'm going to do the bumpers last as I reckon they'll be the hardest bits. Wanted to learn how to work the vinyl with the rest of the car before I got to them.More updates tonight.

Ha, its actually the valeting bay at work. With adjacent meeting/training room, so its not quite in my office.

Right, what a bastard of a day. It started badly and ended worse. Thankfully in the middle I did get some wrapping done.

First off I absolutely do not recommend trying to wrap your car alone, unless you have at least 3 arms.

So, started with the door, struggled with it alone, but finally got it finished. Then ruined it with the final cut.

Thankfully my brother turned up, and we got both rear panels, one A pillar and the bonnet done. So here's how it looks now.

Then as I was post heating all the edges I managed to do this. Heat guns are hot.

Tomorrow I need to finally get the front bumper off, then wrap at least the 2 wings, 2 doors and boot. I also need to figure out what I'm going to do with the handles and wing mirrors, because they'll look rubbish grey/silver.

Thanks.

Today didn't go so great; no screwdriver short enough to get the front bumper off, no Allen key to get the lights out even if I did get it off, stubborn screws means one A pillar is still on, one bolt lost inside the passenger side door and no torx screwdriver for the drivers side handle. Hopefully tomorrow goes better, more pics in the afternoon if it does.