**Don Nguyen | Vinyl roof wrapping, tail light tinting, black out chrome trim install
Thread Starter
Former Vendor of MBWorld
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 19,593
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From: Irvine, CA
Euros
This is another car that I did for Hyundai for the most recent SEMA event. I had also done their Veloster that they had built for SEMA the year prior as well. This year they used their SUV the Santa Fe for the SEMA event. They had me come by their facilities to vinyl wrap the top of the SUV in the 3M 1080 gloss carbon fiber vinyl material. Not often that I do the roof of a SUV or such a large car in general. Obviously for this car, the carbon roof was chosen to make it stand out and go with the more aggressively modified look/theme of the car.
Before:
After:
-Don Nguyen
donathon@gmail.com
Before:
After:
-Don Nguyen
donathon@gmail.com
Thread Starter
Former Vendor of MBWorld
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 19,593
Likes: 30
From: Irvine, CA
Euros
Not many people know that I use/have other colors of head/tail light film in addition to the normal tint/smoke films that most people typically have me use on their cars. The owner of this Mini Cooper brought his car by to have me tint his head lights yellow and his tail lights with red. I know the yellow headlights isn’t for everybody, but the owner of this Mini wanted to do something different, and it’s always possible to go back to stock/reversible with vinyl. The owner of this car drove out from Inland Empire to me in Anaheim hills/Orange county to have the work done.
Before:
After (note the headlights are on in these pictures):
-Don Nguyen
donathon@gmail.com
Before:
After (note the headlights are on in these pictures):
-Don Nguyen
donathon@gmail.com
Thread Starter
Former Vendor of MBWorld
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 19,593
Likes: 30
From: Irvine, CA
Euros
The owner of this car drove from Los Angeles to me in Orange County/Anaheim Hills to have me do some vinyl work on his brand new white Mercedes Benz CLS 550. We went with gloss black for his roof, side roof rails, and center portion of the lower bumper. Then for the chrome side window trim, we went with matte black for those. Finally, for the tail lights, I used my transparent red vinyl to red out the clear/white portion of his tail lights to give it a single complete red appearance/color.
Before:
After:
-Don Nguyen
donathon@gmail.com
Before:
After:
-Don Nguyen
donathon@gmail.com
Thread Starter
Former Vendor of MBWorld
Joined: Mar 2008
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From: Irvine, CA
Euros
This specific car is not the typical case of a car coming in with chrome/brushed aluminum trim and wanting me to black out their trim with my vinyl materials. The owner of this BMW E30 M3 brought his car in to have me vinyl wrap the previously painted gloss black trim with my matte black vinyl. I know it may be a bit hard to tell, but if you look at the pictures side by side or back to back it may be easier to notice the differences between how matte black trim vs gloss black trim looks like on a car.
This is also good for those who have asked me in the past how well vinyl will cover up bumps/dents/etc. As you may see in some of the pictures, whoever did the paint job on the trim did not do that good of a job, which left the trim a bit lumpy/uneven. If you can’t see or make it out in the pictures, any imperfections that are underneath the vinyl will show through, as the material is fairly thin and basically takes on the shape of the surface/pieces that they are being applied on over.
Before:
After:
-Don Nguyen
donathon@gmail.com
This is also good for those who have asked me in the past how well vinyl will cover up bumps/dents/etc. As you may see in some of the pictures, whoever did the paint job on the trim did not do that good of a job, which left the trim a bit lumpy/uneven. If you can’t see or make it out in the pictures, any imperfections that are underneath the vinyl will show through, as the material is fairly thin and basically takes on the shape of the surface/pieces that they are being applied on over.
Before:
After:
-Don Nguyen
donathon@gmail.com
Thread Starter
Former Vendor of MBWorld
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 19,593
Likes: 30
From: Irvine, CA
Euros
The owner of this white Nissan 350z brought me his car to have me vinyl wrap the roof of the car in my gloss black vinyl material. In addition to the roof, I also did his two side vertical pillars with the 3M dinoc matte carbon fiber vinyl material. I believe the owner of this car was from around Long beach and drove his car out to me in Anaheim Hills/Orange county to get the work done. The gloss black, especially on the 350zs or similar smaller two seater cars, the gloss black roof connects and continues the front and rear glass fairly nicely.
Before:
After:
-Don Nguyen
donathon@gmail.com
Before:
After:
-Don Nguyen
donathon@gmail.com
Thread Starter
Former Vendor of MBWorld
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 19,593
Likes: 30
From: Irvine, CA
Euros
I feel like sometime the only cars I do are BMWs, then I go on a stretch not doing any BMWs for a while. Either way, the owner of this silver E46 BMW M3 brought his car in to have me vinyl wrap the roof of his car in my gloss black vinyl material. It was also a nice change of pace to have a non-white colored car come in for some vinyl work done. The owner of this car drove his car to my shop in Anaheim Hills/Orange County to have the work done. I think the gloss black roof on the silver really contrasts and compliments it fairly well.
Before:
After:
-Don Nguyen
donathon@gmail.com
Before:
After:
-Don Nguyen
donathon@gmail.com
Thread Starter
Former Vendor of MBWorld
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 19,593
Likes: 30
From: Irvine, CA
Euros
I always do enjoy having modified cars come by to have work done on their cars. The owner of this carbon black BMW E39 M5 came by to have me apply my light tint material to his whole tail light. This is the same material/shade that you see me using in all of my previous pictures of tinted tail lights. It may appear slightly lighter on this specific car, but that’s because on darker colored cars (IE black, dark grey, etc) the contrast between the tint shade and the car is not as big, so it’ll appear lighter than it does on lighter colored cars (IE white, silver, etc). He drove out to me in Anaheim Hills/Orange County to have the vinyl work done.
Before:
Left/driver side tinted - Right/passenger side stock:
After:
-Don Nguyen
donathon@gmail.com
Before:
Left/driver side tinted - Right/passenger side stock:
After:
-Don Nguyen
donathon@gmail.com
Thread Starter
Former Vendor of MBWorld
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 19,593
Likes: 30
From: Irvine, CA
Euros
I always take requests, if anyone is trying to look for a specific example of my vinyl work on a certain type of color or car. In this case, I had someone ask me if I could post pictures of blacked out window trim on a red colored car. The owner of this red Audi S5 had me black out his chrome/brushed aluminum window trim with my matte black vinyl material. I believe the owner of this car was from Los Angeles and drove out to me in Anaheim Hills/Orange County to have the work done. I think the matte black provides a nice contrast with the bright color of the car, but I think gloss black would have looked just equally as good in this case.
Before:
After:
Note: The bump that can be seen on the top rear quarter window trim piece is a factory bump/seam and not due to any installation reasons/issues.
-Don Nguyen
donathon@gmail.com
Before:
After:
Note: The bump that can be seen on the top rear quarter window trim piece is a factory bump/seam and not due to any installation reasons/issues.
-Don Nguyen
donathon@gmail.com
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Thread Starter
Former Vendor of MBWorld
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 19,593
Likes: 30
From: Irvine, CA
Euros
This picture set is a lot shorter than what I normally post, but I get a lot of requests for pictures of carbon fiber wrapped front lips. The owner of this white Mercedes CLA sedan came by to have me wrap the back 1/3rd of his roof in gloss black, to complete the panoramic look of his car. In addition to the roof, he also had me wrap the front lip of his car int he 3M 1080 gloss carbon fiber vinyl material. Due to the size of his front lip, I had to do it in three different pieces/sections. I decided to make two seam lines that lined up/matched two edges of the bumper’s lower grill. Unfortunately, due to how late it was when the owner of this car came, it became dark very quick and it was hard to photograph pictures of the car once it was done with the lighting that was available inside. The owner of this car drove to me in Orange county/Anaheim Hills from Los Angeles to have the work done.
Before:
After:
-Don Nguyen
donathon@gmail.com
Before:
After:
-Don Nguyen
donathon@gmail.com
Super Moderator Alumni
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 8,692
Likes: 58
From: So Cal.
2019 GT3 RS, 2017 M3 30 Jahre
Don, that's great. I'm sure there will be a lot more of us interested in the same pano roof completion wrap.
How long does that take and what is the cost?
Thanks.
How long does that take and what is the cost?
Thanks.
Thread Starter
Former Vendor of MBWorld
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 19,593
Likes: 30
From: Irvine, CA
Euros
Depends on if you needed the full roof wrapped or if you only needed the rear 1/3rd section wrapped like the car above.
Price also depends on finish, but for those who are just getting the 1/3rd done, I am sure it'd most likely be just gloss black.
PM me with the details/info and I'll be able to get you a price quote.
Let me know.
thanks.
-Don
Price also depends on finish, but for those who are just getting the 1/3rd done, I am sure it'd most likely be just gloss black.
PM me with the details/info and I'll be able to get you a price quote.
Let me know.
thanks.
-Don
Senior Member
Joined: Oct 2011
Posts: 320
Likes: 0
From: Calgary, AB
2014 CLA 45 AMG; 2012 GLK 350 4MATIC (totaled); 2009 VW GTI (sold)
Are you guys in Canada?
I wanted to finish the roof on my CLA 45….the pano black roof glass does not black out the entire roof of the CLA 45, there is a small piece that is painted to match the rest of the car, can you match the black glass finish?
I wanted to finish the roof on my CLA 45….the pano black roof glass does not black out the entire roof of the CLA 45, there is a small piece that is painted to match the rest of the car, can you match the black glass finish?
Thread Starter
Former Vendor of MBWorld
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 19,593
Likes: 30
From: Irvine, CA
Euros
The only thing I can suggest/offer you is materials to DIY it yourself. I do include a couple of general roof DIY installation guides to help you with the install.
Vinyl is never going to be 100% like real paint. If you want a permanent or perfect solution, then paint is always going to be the way to go. The advantage of vinyl is that it's reversible, if you ever decided to go back to stock. There are also other advantages to vinyl as well, but it just depends on what kind of results you are trying to aim for.
-Don
Vinyl is never going to be 100% like real paint. If you want a permanent or perfect solution, then paint is always going to be the way to go. The advantage of vinyl is that it's reversible, if you ever decided to go back to stock. There are also other advantages to vinyl as well, but it just depends on what kind of results you are trying to aim for.
-Don
Thread Starter
Former Vendor of MBWorld
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 19,593
Likes: 30
From: Irvine, CA
Euros
For this white Audi A6 sedan, I vinyl wrapped the roof in my gloss black vinyl material and also lightly smoked/tinted the tail lights of his car. I liked the way this turned out, because the changes with the gloss black roof and lightly tinted tails really gave the car a different look without making it look too modified. If you didn’t know or didn’t look very closely, most would probably have thought it came from the factory like this. The owner of this car brought his car out to me in Anaheim hills/Orange county to have the vinyl work done.
Before:
After:
-Don Nguyen
donathon@gmail.com
Before:
After:
-Don Nguyen
donathon@gmail.com
Thread Starter
Former Vendor of MBWorld
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 19,593
Likes: 30
From: Irvine, CA
Euros
I know the before/after differences may not show up well in the pictures, but for those who own these cars and are familiar with it, I am sure you can see/notice the differences. The owner of this white Lexus IS250 brought in his car to have me apply a clear red transparent film over the orange amber portion of his tail lights. This gives the tail lights a nice consistent red tone/finish to the entire tail light, without having the random orange amber break up the tail light’s lines. In addition to the tails, I also applied a clear transparent yellow film to his head lights. I typically use the yellow for fog lights, but I have had quite a few requests for the yellow to be applied on head lights in the past and lately.
Before:
After:
-Don Nguyen
donathon@gmail.com
Before:
After:
-Don Nguyen
donathon@gmail.com
Thread Starter
Former Vendor of MBWorld
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 19,593
Likes: 30
From: Irvine, CA
Euros
The owner of this new jet black Lexus IS250 sedan had me vinyl wrap the chrome/brushed aluminum window trim. The blacked out trim makes a huge difference on dark colored cars, as you can see in the pictures below. For this car, we went with the gloss black vinyl finish for the material, to have the window trim of the car blend in with the black paint on the car. The owner of this car drove out to me in Anaheim Hills/Orange County to have the work done.
Before:
After:
-Don Nguyen
donathon@gmail.com
Before:
After:
-Don Nguyen
donathon@gmail.com
Thread Starter
Former Vendor of MBWorld
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 19,593
Likes: 30
From: Irvine, CA
Euros
The owner of this car was from out of state and brought in his car to me in Orange County/Anaheim Hills to get some vinyl work done on it. He had me vinyl wrap the roof in the 3M dinoc matte carbon fiber finish and also had me light smoke/tint his rear tail lights on his white BMW 128i coupe. The owner of this car was trying to replicate the look that the M3 E92 coupes have on roofs stock carbon fiber from the factory. This is as close as you’re going to get to that effect/look without actually changing out the entire roof.
Before:
During: Driver/left side tinted/smoked - passenger/right side stock
After:
-Don Nguyen
donathon@gmail.com
Before:
During: Driver/left side tinted/smoked - passenger/right side stock
After:
-Don Nguyen
donathon@gmail.com
Thread Starter
Former Vendor of MBWorld
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 19,593
Likes: 30
From: Irvine, CA
Euros
This is a previous car that I had worked on. The owner of this white VW Golf R sedan had me vinyl wrap his roof in the 3M matte carbon fiber vinyl about a year. He came back because he wanted me to wrap his side window pillars and mirrors in the same 3M matte carbon fiber material. Note - Typically it is not practical or possible to wrap mirrors, due to their shape/curves, but it worked out in this case due to the design of the mirrors on this car. Most mirrors that you see wrapped in pictures are either done in multiple pieces or only show how it looks like right after it is wrapped, which doesn’t show how it holds up over time.
Before:
After:
-Don Nguyen
donathon@gmail.com
Before:
After:
-Don Nguyen
donathon@gmail.com
Thread Starter
Former Vendor of MBWorld
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 19,593
Likes: 30
From: Irvine, CA
Euros
The owner of this car was from Irvine as well and brought their car to me in Anaheim Hills/Orange County to have me vinyl wrap their brand new white Lexus IS350 sedan. I did the roof in my gloss black vinyl material. In addition to the roof, I also did the body line in the rear right under the tail light in the same gloss black as well as right under the front head light, between the headlight and turn signal in the bumper, with gloss black as well. It was interesting doing something different/custom on this car, although it may not be most people’s style.
Before:
After:
-Don Nguyen
donathon@gmail.com
Before:
After:
-Don Nguyen
donathon@gmail.com
Thread Starter
Former Vendor of MBWorld
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 19,593
Likes: 30
From: Irvine, CA
Euros
I am considering doing a group buy on tinted/smoked tail lights. If I can get around 5-10 people together, I can give a group discount. If you’re interested in this, e-mail me directly at donathon@gmail.com
This brand new white Mercedes C250 sedan came in to have me wrap his roof in my gloss black vinyl material and also tint/smoke his tail lights. I took several comparison pictures of the tail lights before/during/after and inside/outside, to show you guys the progress and how it looks like in different lighting. The owner of this car brought his car in to me in Anaheim Hills/Orange County to have the work done.
Before:
Driver/left side tinted/smoked - passenger/right side stock:
Both sides tinted/smoked:
Stock/untinted:
Smoked/tinted:
After:
-Don Nguyen
donathon@gmail.com
This brand new white Mercedes C250 sedan came in to have me wrap his roof in my gloss black vinyl material and also tint/smoke his tail lights. I took several comparison pictures of the tail lights before/during/after and inside/outside, to show you guys the progress and how it looks like in different lighting. The owner of this car brought his car in to me in Anaheim Hills/Orange County to have the work done.
Before:
Driver/left side tinted/smoked - passenger/right side stock:
Both sides tinted/smoked:
Stock/untinted:
Smoked/tinted:
After:
-Don Nguyen
donathon@gmail.com
Thread Starter
Former Vendor of MBWorld
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 19,593
Likes: 30
From: Irvine, CA
Euros
Just to clarify for those who are interested, the tail light tinting group buy is going to only be available for locals. If you’re interested in this, the group buy list is still active, e-mail me directly at donathon@gmail.com to be added.
The owner of this white Porsche Cayenne S SUV came by to have me black out his brushed aluminum window trim, vertical side pillars, lower door inserts, and rear bumper bar all in my gloss black vinyl material. We went with gloss black for this car to have it match the darker window tint on the car. I believe the owner of this car was from Los Angeles county and came out to me in Orange county to have the vinyl work done.
Before:
After:
-Don Nguyen
donathon@gmail.com
The owner of this white Porsche Cayenne S SUV came by to have me black out his brushed aluminum window trim, vertical side pillars, lower door inserts, and rear bumper bar all in my gloss black vinyl material. We went with gloss black for this car to have it match the darker window tint on the car. I believe the owner of this car was from Los Angeles county and came out to me in Orange county to have the vinyl work done.
Before:
After:
-Don Nguyen
donathon@gmail.com
Thread Starter
Former Vendor of MBWorld
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 19,593
Likes: 30
From: Irvine, CA
Euros
For this black Mercedes ML350 diesel, I vinyl wrapped the rear chrome bumper trim pieces with the 3M dinoc matte carbon fiber finish vinyl. The owner of this car has actually brought in his car before for me to black out the other chrome pieces that were on the car before (ski racks, front bumper, window trim, etc), but we went with gloss black for those other parts. This time around, we went with the carbon to give it some contrast and do something a little different. The owner of this car was in Irvine and brought the car to me in Anaheim Hills/Orange County to have the work done.
Hopefully this will give you guys some ideas on other possible parts on a car that can be wrapped. If you have any questions, feel free to ask/let me know.
Before:
Note - top left small piece is still chrome, but the top right small piece is wrapped, to show the difference.
After:
-Don Nguyen
donathon@gmail.com
Hopefully this will give you guys some ideas on other possible parts on a car that can be wrapped. If you have any questions, feel free to ask/let me know.
Before:
Note - top left small piece is still chrome, but the top right small piece is wrapped, to show the difference.
After:
-Don Nguyen
donathon@gmail.com
Thread Starter
Former Vendor of MBWorld
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 19,593
Likes: 30
From: Irvine, CA
Euros
I previously blacked out the window trim and tinted the red portion of the tail lights on this BMW E61 5 series wagon. This time he came back to have me wrap the roof of his car in my gloss black vinyl material. I did the entire roof and the small top section of the rear spoiler, following the lines of the roof. The owner of this car was from Newport and drove out to me in Anaheim Hills/Orange County to have the work done. This was a big roof to do, and I haven’t done many wagons, so this will help other wagon owners get an idea of how it looks like on such a long car.
Before:
After:
-Don Nguyen
donathon@gmail.com
Before:
After:
-Don Nguyen
donathon@gmail.com
Thread Starter
Former Vendor of MBWorld
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 19,593
Likes: 30
From: Irvine, CA
Euros
The owner of this white Mercedes C63 AMG coupe had me tint the tail lights on his car with my light tint/smoke film. I had previously blacked out his chrome/brushed aluminum window trim with my gloss black vinyl material. With the darker colored theme that the owner of this car was going for, I think the tail lights added a nice subtle touch. I only use one shade, and this is the same shade that you see in all of my pictures. Some times it may appear darker on whiter/lighter colored cars compared to darker/black cars, but that’s because of the contrast difference that makes it appear that way. The owner of this car was in Newport Beach and drove out to me in Anaheim Hills/Orange County to have the work done.
Before:
Driver/left side tinted/smoked - passenger/right side stock:
After:
-Don Nguyen
donathon@gmail.com
Before:
Driver/left side tinted/smoked - passenger/right side stock:
After:
-Don Nguyen
donathon@gmail.com
Thread Starter
Former Vendor of MBWorld
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 19,593
Likes: 30
From: Irvine, CA
Euros
I blacked out the chrome/brushed aluminum window trim on this black Lexus IS sedan. This car had window visors installed on the windows, but I was able to work around them without any issues. The owner of this car had me go with gloss black for the chrome window trim, so that it’d blend in with the car more. They drove out to me in Anaheim Hills/Orange County to have the work done. There wasn’t much chrome on the car to begin with, so blacking out the chrome window trim changed the look of the car quite a bit.
Before:
After:
-Don Nguyen
donathon@gmail.com
Before:
After:
-Don Nguyen
donathon@gmail.com
