I got bored of fish scale dash trims....

[xyber]

So did this.....


Never been a fan of the fish scale trims and as mine had a few scuffs from the previous owner and that carbon just looks awesome, I decided to give it a go.

I bought some piano black trims from eBay, just incase it all went wrong because I've got very little patience
Bought all the materials from Carbon Mods, Sainsburys and Toolstation for around £120.

Lay out the carbon and cut to size for each part.

Sand down the parts with 120 grit and degrease

Paint all parts with black epoxy base and leave for 3 hrs

Wrap the parts in carbon like wrapping presents, taping the edges to the rear of the parts

Paint with clear epoxy and leave over night

Sand with 120 grit to get a nice base.

More epoxy and leave for 3 hours.

More epoxy and leave overnight. (the point I'm at)

Tomorrow I'll tidy then up with a Dremel and start wet sanding to flat polish them, ready for a UV protective clearcoat.

More pics when I'm finished but all in all not as hard as you'd think and quite enjoyable.

[xyber]

4th day now

Had a few problems with the clear epoxy. Because of the rounded shape of the trims it tends to run off of them as it sits, so im getting a nice layer in the centre of the pieces, but very thin on the edges so kept sanding through, so I spent yesterday wet sanding and shaping and then today ive mixed up some epoxy and left it for 15 mins before use so its turned abit gluey, ive then brushed it on to the centre area of the pieces and worked outwards and once nice and smooth so only minimal sanding will be needed ive got a heat gun on it to put a skin across the surface.

Not overly happy with the most difficult piece that goes around the light switch, it seems like the carbon may have lifted at one section so it looks abit rippled at the moment, but if its f**cked Ill take the one out of the car and start again.

Pretty sick of it now though

[xyber]

[goose]

good work xyber - i'd have lost patience/interest after the base coat

look forward to seeing the end results

goose

[xyber]

Cheers mate. I was thinking about doing my roof but ive gone right off the idea.

Heres the latest. Lacquered and drying, just a quick de-nib then polishing to go.



Front & Rear ashtrays are done, gear surround needs trimming because the layers add have made to too big and the ashtray also catches it. Dremel to the rescue!!

Im not happy with the front passenger side trim, but it'll have to do for now. In a few weeks I'll cover the one I take off to replace it. Already scrapped my first attempt at the light switch surround and started again with another.

[xyber]

Still needs abit more polishing, but it all comes off easily so I can do a bit at a time

[1781cc]

what did you have before mate? I have carbon inserts on mine as stock, so wondered if you had silver or something?

[xyber]

I had silver aluminium 'fish scale' ones, not bad but they where scratched in places and carbon looks better. I looked for ages for OE carbon but nobody ever sells it and it's about £500 from Audi.

To be fair though it's taken me all week whilst on leave to do it and if I knew that it would've taken that long I'd have just bought it and had a week doing other stuff

[1781cc]

well, from what I can see it looks just like mine, which is, I guess, what you wanted so job well done IMO.

£500 is extortionate, dont blame you for doing it yourself

[nihc]

What a brilliant job. The finish looks better than OEM - a lot deeper and a lovely glass finish.

What clear epoxy did you use - you must have gone through a bucket load of the stuff?

Cheers, Chris.

[xyber]

I used this kit, but asked for ProFinish Carbon (£6.50 more) and still have a little left.

http://www.carbonmods.co.uk/Products/Ca ... K1000.aspx

Once I've finished properly polishing it I'll you black T-cut as it really brings out the weave according to info I found on some Lotus Exige/Westfield/Caterham sites

[marv]

Looking good mate.

I'm sure there's a guy on a forum somewhere (probably one of the american ones) that buys up tatty old trims for cheap, and carbon wraps them to sell on. Probably cheaper than £500, but I'm sure quite a lot more than you've paid.

[xyber]

Looking good mate.

I'm sure there's a guy on a forum somewhere (probably one of the american ones) that buys up tatty old trims for cheap, and carbon wraps them to sell on. Probably cheaper than £500, but I'm sure quite a lot more than you've paid.

The bloke from oCarbon that'll be, they're really good quality and he's experimented with various resins to get the best results and delay the rate UV degrades the finish.

Looked at that, but by the time I bought spares trims, shipped them as all theirs are LHD, paid for the work, shipping back and a 20% spank from HMC&E it mounted up.

Annoyingly now Ive done this, I'm now looking at stuff and thinking, 'I could carbon that', like my home stereo speaker enclosures and my head board

[marv]

Annoyingly now Ive done this, I'm now looking at stuff and thinking, 'I could carbon that', like my home stereo speaker enclosures and my head board

...laptop, mobile phone, door handles, house window frames, pets??! Carbon makes everything better!