Poor Man's Shadowline Trim

Ben Richards · 09-25-2010, 03:42 PM

I want badly to get rid of my chrome trim, so after a lot of reading on the forum, I'd decided to try to cover the chrome with black vinyl. Ordered my gloss black vinyl from bmwshadowline.com - good service, timely delivery, even came with instructions.

Washed the car, prepped the chrome trim, and went to work. Applied the vinyl to the upper trim on the first side of the car. I won't go into the details, but the results look something like this. It wasn't like window tinting where you might have a tiny air bubble here or there. It looked like that along the entire length of the application. Like sh*t.

I am not blaming anyone but my un-talented self! But I would love some feedback, some alternatives, some way to get the hell rid of this ridiculous chrome trim. As we speak, I've never been so close to willing to spend the dough on the real shadowline trim and swap out the chrome.

- BR

wchoy · 09-25-2010, 04:13 PM

did you put a soapy water mixture to help lubricate it? that will help a lot.

MikeDNJBMW · 09-25-2010, 04:14 PM

wow, looks like you put it on dry bro, i believe yuo should have sprayed some lightly soaped water under there and used a small squeegee to press the water out....
ive never did trim on a car only stickers on windows and tints

NiVeDh · 09-25-2010, 04:54 PM

Similar thing happened to me. The gloss vinyl is harder to work with than matte. Some of the bubbles went away after a few days. Overall, I am disappointed as well. Painting the trim might be a better option.

NaTuReB0Y · 09-25-2010, 05:00 PM

I paid $150 to get mine custom paint gloss black......worth the headache!

Ben Richards · 09-25-2010, 06:50 PM

soapy water...uh...nope, didn't do that. sh*t.

did you paint your trim while it was on the car? i've read that it's hard/impossible to take the chrome trim off without bending it, so i'm trying to avoid that. any idea what kind of paint?

thanks guys.

-br

csupernova · 09-25-2010, 10:05 PM

you can get the avery's matte black vinyl from ebay and apply it dry with no problem. No bubble whatsoever...

NiVeDh · 09-25-2010, 10:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ben Richards

soapy water...uh...nope, didn't do that. sh*t.

did you paint your trim while it was on the car? i've read that it's hard/impossible to take the chrome trim off without bending it, so i'm trying to avoid that. any idea what kind of paint?

thanks guys.

-br

I used soapy water and a heat gun and it still turned out bad.

Ben Richards · 09-25-2010, 10:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NiVeDh

I used soapy water and a heat gun and it still turned out bad.

hey, looks like you're in the ATL area... any idea where to go for some professional help on an issue like this? i would definitely consider it.

NiVeDh · 09-26-2010, 01:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ben Richards

hey, looks like you're in the ATL area... any idea where to go for some professional help on an issue like this? i would definitely consider it.

No idea... I'm looking for a place that will paint my trim. Maybe we can get some sort of group thing going and get a discount?

Ben Richards · 09-26-2010, 08:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NiVeDh

No idea... I'm looking for a place that will paint my trim. Maybe we can get some sort of group thing going and get a discount?

sounds hopeful. do you think the best bet would be a vinyl sign place?

catch · 09-26-2010, 12:52 PM

i had mine painted by a bodyshop. they painted it on the car, just masked it off

Ben Richards · 09-27-2010, 05:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by catch

i had mine painted by a bodyshop. they painted it on the car, just masked it off

interesting. ballpark cost?

coh4777 · 09-27-2010, 07:53 PM

I was thinking about doing vinyl shadowline myself but knew I'd screw it up so went to a tint shop to get it done. Cost me $150, which is a pretty decent price I think. Other than a couple really really minor defects that you could only see if you were 3 inches away and looking for them, it came out perfect.

As much as I hate to spend money on a mod that is purely cosmetic and that other forums have somehow managed to do on their own, I was happy to pay for this one.

UltimateLurker · 10-06-2010, 11:29 PM

Couldn't we just mask off the trim with painters tape and newspaper, give the trim a light sanding, primer and paint? It doesn't look like a very difficult piece to spray paint matte or gloss black. Somebody must have tried this.

3X3=5 · 10-07-2010, 10:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by UltimateLurker

Couldn't we just mask off the trim with painters tape and newspaper, give the trim a light sanding, primer and paint? It doesn't look like a very difficult piece to spray paint matte or gloss black. Somebody must have tried this.

There's a DIY where someone painted the trim on the car with a foam roller. It looked OK, but had a lot of texture because of the foam used for application. As for spray painting it, personally I wouldn't risk that on my car. You'd better mask the entire vehicle to avoid overspray, and if get a run/drip you're screwed. In my experience with spray paint if you sand a drip and spray over it you'll get a slightly different texture to it.

But if you want to try it and post pics, it'd be great to see if success is possible. I guess worst case you have to take it to a paint shop to fix, so all you have to lose is some time and a can of paint.

Mr. 5 · 10-07-2010, 10:53 PM

Yah, sorry but that looks so bad.
I did mine with matte black and used my driver's license to smoothe it out.

RON1X · 10-08-2010, 08:10 AM

I had a vinyl sign shop in Atlanta do mine for $100 bucks. It is isn't perfect, but that was partially my fault for not telling them to wrap the vinyl around the edges of the chrome trim. It still is 100x better than the chrome, and the mistakes arevprobably only noticeable to me. If you guys find a place that will paint it, I would much rather go that route, although I have heard the trims are fragile to take off

Craig@SupremePower · 10-08-2010, 09:56 AM

paint it!

Dom the Bomb · 10-08-2010, 06:38 PM

i had mine painted looks great. your look like you painted it on with a brush. try try agian.

LKN M3 · 10-08-2010, 09:41 PM

PM sent, OP are you willing to drive to Charlotte?

NiVeDh · 10-09-2010, 12:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LKN M3

PM sent, OP are you willing to drive to Charlotte?

I am!

09-25-2010, 03:42 PM	#1
Ben Richards Private First Class 32 Rep 131 Posts Drives: 2016 F10 550i xDrive Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: VA iTrader: (0)	Poor Man's Shadowline Trim - EPIC FAIL I want badly to get rid of my chrome trim, so after a lot of reading on the forum, I'd decided to try to cover the chrome with black vinyl. Ordered my gloss black vinyl from bmwshadowline.com - good service, timely delivery, even came with instructions. Washed the car, prepped the chrome trim, and went to work. Applied the vinyl to the upper trim on the first side of the car. I won't go into the details, but the results look something like this. It wasn't like window tinting where you might have a tiny air bubble here or there. It looked like that along the entire length of the application. Like sh*t. I am not blaming anyone but my un-talented self! But I would love some feedback, some alternatives, some way to get the hell rid of this ridiculous chrome trim. As we speak, I've never been so close to willing to spend the dough on the real shadowline trim and swap out the chrome. - BR Attached Images
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09-25-2010, 04:13 PM	#2
wchoy First Lieutenant 6 Rep 311 Posts Drives: '08 AW e90 335i Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Honolulu, Hawaii / LA iTrader: (0)	did you put a soapy water mixture to help lubricate it? that will help a lot.
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09-25-2010, 04:14 PM	#3
MikeDNJBMW Lieutenant 17 Rep 420 Posts Drives: 2011 e90 335 ix, 08 335i e92 6 Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: bergen county, nj iTrader: (6) Garage List 2012 bmw x5d [0.00]	wow, looks like you put it on dry bro, i believe yuo should have sprayed some lightly soaped water under there and used a small squeegee to press the water out.... ive never did trim on a car only stickers on windows and tints
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09-25-2010, 04:54 PM	#4
NiVeDh Major General 426 Rep 8,003 Posts Drives: '08 E90 335i, '99 E36 M3 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Houston, TX & Atlanta, GA iTrader: (132) Garage List 2008 BMW 335i Sedan [8.66]	Similar thing happened to me. The gloss vinyl is harder to work with than matte. Some of the bubbles went away after a few days. Overall, I am disappointed as well. Painting the trim might be a better option.
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09-25-2010, 05:00 PM	#5
NaTuReB0Y Powered By 36DD 370 Rep 7,369 Posts Drives: 2006 E90 Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Inland Empire iTrader: (12)	I paid $150 to get mine custom paint gloss black......worth the headache! __________________ 2006 E90 330i Jet Black \| 20" WORK VS-XX \| FK452 \| H&R Sport on Koni Yellow \| REMUS QUAD
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09-25-2010, 06:50 PM	#6
Ben Richards Private First Class 32 Rep 131 Posts Drives: 2016 F10 550i xDrive Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: VA iTrader: (0)	soapy water...uh...nope, didn't do that. sh*t. did you paint your trim while it was on the car? i've read that it's hard/impossible to take the chrome trim off without bending it, so i'm trying to avoid that. any idea what kind of paint? thanks guys. -br
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09-25-2010, 10:05 PM	#7
csupernova Captain 33 Rep 606 Posts Drives: E90 330i Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: NYC iTrader: (7)	you can get the avery's matte black vinyl from ebay and apply it dry with no problem. No bubble whatsoever...
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09-26-2010, 12:52 PM	#12
catch Major General 670 Rep 7,148 Posts Drives: F80 M3 Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Thornhill iTrader: (27)	i had mine painted by a bodyshop. they painted it on the car, just masked it off __________________ 2016 F80 M3 Mineral White/Sakhir Orange 2013 BMW S1000RR Flat Silver <stolen> 2007 BMW E92 335i Jet Black/Jade Grey <sold>
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09-27-2010, 07:53 PM	#14
coh4777 Lieutenant 34 Rep 533 Posts Drives: 07 BMW 335i Coupe Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Vegas iTrader: (0)	I was thinking about doing vinyl shadowline myself but knew I'd screw it up so went to a tint shop to get it done. Cost me $150, which is a pretty decent price I think. Other than a couple really really minor defects that you could only see if you were 3 inches away and looking for them, it came out perfect. As much as I hate to spend money on a mod that is purely cosmetic and that other forums have somehow managed to do on their own, I was happy to pay for this one. __________________ COH4777 2007 335i Coupe - Jet Black / Coral Red / Aluminum Trim / 6MT / Sport / Premium / CA / Navi / iPod + USB
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10-06-2010, 11:29 PM	#15
UltimateLurker Second Lieutenant 16 Rep 234 Posts Drives: 2011 335i AW M-Sport Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Seattle, WA iTrader: (3)	Couldn't we just mask off the trim with painters tape and newspaper, give the trim a light sanding, primer and paint? It doesn't look like a very difficult piece to spray paint matte or gloss black. Somebody must have tried this.
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10-07-2010, 10:53 PM	#17
Mr. 5 Modder Raider 800 Rep 8,633 Posts Drives: M3 Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Surf City, HB iTrader: (31) Garage List 2007 e90 335i [8.00]	Yah, sorry but that looks so bad. I did mine with matte black and used my driver's license to smoothe it out. __________________ e36 M3 Coupe, e36 325i Sedan e90 335i--SOLD Best 60-130-------------9.15 Seconds------------------WWW.MR5RACING.COM
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10-08-2010, 08:10 AM	#18
RON1X Colonel 76 Rep 2,491 Posts Drives: 991 C2S Guards Red Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Nashville, TN iTrader: (8) Garage List 2008 E92 M3 [9.00]	I had a vinyl sign shop in Atlanta do mine for $100 bucks. It is isn't perfect, but that was partially my fault for not telling them to wrap the vinyl around the edges of the chrome trim. It still is 100x better than the chrome, and the mistakes arevprobably only noticeable to me. If you guys find a place that will paint it, I would much rather go that route, although I have heard the trims are fragile to take off __________________ 991.1 C2S PDK, Guards Red \| PDCC \| Sport Chrono + \| Clear Tail Lights \| Alcantara Steering Wheel \| HRE FF01 \| TechArt Springs \| Sport Exhaust Previous: Porsche 997 Turbo 6MT, Atlas Gray \| Cobb Stage 2 \| HRE FF01 \| Europipe Stg. 2 Exhaust \| GMG LMS Rollbar \| GT2 Exhaust Tips \| Pagid RS-29 \| Rennline Pedals \| SSK 997.2 Track Car, heavily modded & E92 M3 DCT, still miss her daily & E92 335i heavily modded
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10-08-2010, 09:56 AM	#19
Craig@SupremePower G.O.A.T.! 1018 Rep 74,992 Posts Drives: '18 GMC Yukon XL Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: New Jersey iTrader: (14)	paint it!
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10-08-2010, 06:38 PM	#20
Dom the Bomb Lieutenant 19 Rep 465 Posts Drives: 2007 335i Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Corpus Christi, Texas iTrader: (18)	i had mine painted looks great. your look like you painted it on with a brush. try try agian. __________________ UR Catted Dp's - BMS DCI - JB3 2.0 - Helix FMIC - Vent Boost Gauge - CF Grill-DO Meth Kit 2-Carbon8 Power Dome Hood-Amuse Front Bumper-M3 Side Skirts-LC818 Smoke Chrome Wheels On The Way
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10-08-2010, 09:41 PM	#21
LKN M3 Mlife Worldwide 17 Rep 177 Posts Drives: M3 Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: hoping for SoCal iTrader: (5)	PM sent, OP are you willing to drive to Charlotte?
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