Jon K
04-14-2006, 06:18 PM
Well I realized today that my in-dash install was about 7/10 to my satisfaction. I rushed the fiberglass/bondo work in order to have it done for a couple meet a while back and never got back around to wetsanding and spraying it again. So rather than make a mess of my workspace, I decided to wrap the whole bezel in alcantara. I didn't think it'd work out because of the knobs and the certain contours of the bezel - alcantara doesn't stretch too much at all... But i ended up with a nice piece!
I used an X-acto knife to 'cut in' the beveled area that would be "0 1 2 3 4" for the blower and the temp numbers... if you look close you can see there is a bevel that the knobs fall into.
This was about 3 hrs of work. It's really difficult to make sure every surface has enough adhesion, no wrinkles, and is not pulling in corners. In all, I think it really makes the install so much better.
Remember that it is BLACK in person, the suede like texture does not photograph well. I will snag better pics tomorrow morning. I took these tonight because I wanted to show some friends. Anyway, I love how there are no colored surrounds on the dials - i felt that they stood out too much... it looked like the original car but with a modernized screen and it just didn't fit. Without those colored rings surrounding the dials it flows much better. Again, better pictures to follow tomorrow.
http://e34.digital7.com/Alcantara/indash1.jpg
I used an X-acto knife to 'cut in' the beveled area that would be "0 1 2 3 4" for the blower and the temp numbers... if you look close you can see there is a bevel that the knobs fall into.
This was about 3 hrs of work. It's really difficult to make sure every surface has enough adhesion, no wrinkles, and is not pulling in corners. In all, I think it really makes the install so much better.
Remember that it is BLACK in person, the suede like texture does not photograph well. I will snag better pics tomorrow morning. I took these tonight because I wanted to show some friends. Anyway, I love how there are no colored surrounds on the dials - i felt that they stood out too much... it looked like the original car but with a modernized screen and it just didn't fit. Without those colored rings surrounding the dials it flows much better. Again, better pictures to follow tomorrow.
http://e34.digital7.com/Alcantara/indash1.jpg