nutters_uclan

Coming... Although there won't be any of the job in progress and a picture guide sadly. I woke up on Sunday morning to find half of my car on the road already, as my dad had a crap night's sleep and thought he'd just get started!

Got them from a breakers via an insurance write off, complete with door cards too. They were advertised on eBay @ £400, and I got the spoiler thrown in at the same time too. No idea if this was a bargain or a complete rip-off, but I was happy to pay that for them. If you want to wait til next Feb, you can buy these off me! :p

Are they really worth a grand though? Incredibly expensive option...

It really shouldn't be. The dealer gets paid for doing warranty work and the badges must cost Skoda about 5p each to make.

Yeah, they have airbags still. Fingers crossed there are no issues!

Thanks for the tips gents, much appreciated. I'll definitely take pictures during and after the job too. I didn't think about the electrics before I bought these. Will there be any issues if the seats are from a FL model when mine is pre-FL?

Will disconnecting the battery cause any issues at all? I have heard that it's an 'avoid if at all possible' scenario, but obviously nowhere near as bad as the airbags going off!

Thanks for that, it definitely is a start with the front seats!

Dear all I recently got hold of a full set of 1/2 leather VRS interior from an insurance write off. Immaculate too! I've never taken seats out of a car before, so I was hoping to get some tips on how to do it properly from you all before starting. I literally haven't got a clue where to start! Cheers Danny

Great to know, cheers. I assumed it was screwed in to the door card from the back. This certainly takes away the hardest aspect of the job, thanks for sharing.

The door card trim is about 24" long and the glove box 18.5", if I recall correctly. The door card trim in the rear is slightly longer, probably 25-26", but I haven't done those yet so haven't measured them exactly.

I bought this stuff, in black: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/190764831163?var=490120498235&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649 Works a treat. I'll hold back on recommending it for external use though. I wrapped my grill about a month ago and there's an area I noticed this morning which looks significantly faded / marked already.

Heat it up loads with the hairdryer and stretch before wrapping it round.

It took about an hour to do each segment, so not too long. I'm neither brave enough or good enough to be let loose on other people's cars!

+1 here for silver too. I don't hate black alloys but they only really work on white and yellow motors for me.

@brimma, seriously dude, that's where the Ikea tools really work a treat. They are remarkably flexible, to get behind the trim slightly, but firm enough to push against the soft part of the door card when pulling them out again.

Would you do it wearing animal slippers though??!

Hey all I'll preface this with a disclaimer of sorts - I am by no means an expert when it comes to wrapping. This is the first car I've ever done it on, but I thought I'd take a few pics and share the experience for those who fancy a go themselves. I hope you find them useful. First of all, get your tools ready. You'll need a hairdryer, a ruler (pref steel) and some plastic cutlery. I kid you not, when messing with car trim, IKEA kids cutlery is awesome! Door card trim: Cut a straight piece of wrap. I like to leave an inch at either end and an extra inch underneath, just in case. Start lining up from the top left, so that the wrap covers the trim AND the recess it is in to the left hand side and the top, like so; Don't stick too much of it down yet, a few inches will do just to take the stress off the wrap from its own weight. Throughout the ordeal, you ideally want to be working at the project an inch or two at a time, as I'll explain in a moment. Gently run your thumb in the recess to score the vinyl. Don't press too hard or you might rip through it; Get your hairdryer at the ready and heat the corner area and first few inches at the top; With the edge of your ruler, gently press the heated vinyl in. Carefully prise the trim from the door card, only slightly, and give the ruler a gentle wiggle. This will slowly work the vinyl behind the trim piece; IKEA to the rescue! For corners, I prefer a rounded edge to work with. It's the same process as above with the ruler, but the rounded edge makes it easier to get the vinyl to bend with the shape of the trim (for me, anyway); Right, it's time for the tough bit. When you approach the door handle, first of all cut off the excess vinyl backing to reduce weight pulling down on the vinyl and stretching it. This is important to do at this stage as you are going to cut into the vinyl and leave a only a thin piece at the top. Excess weight will distort your vinyl when it is heated again or, even worse, tear it. Yes, I have a pair of animal slippers; Don't forget to use your Simply Clever ™ bottle holder to store the hairdryer when not in use! Work your vinyl as close to the left hand side of the handle as possible. With your thumb nail, carefully mark around the door handle (you only want to make a slight mark here, not a full blown score - this will make it easier to start cutting your piece). Using scissors, cut the vinyl from the bottom, following the shape of the middle of the door handle until you reach your thumb score at the top; Finish wrapping the vinyl at the top and also the right hand side. Once you have the done, work towards the door handle from the bottom edge of the right hand side of the trim this time. When you have reached the handle again, cut off the excess vinyl underneath and then prepare yourself for the scary bit; There's next to no gap between the handle and the door card here, so you will just have to cut as straight and as carefully as you can. It's do-able though, with a great deal of patience! Glove Box Follow almost exactly the same steps, as outlined above. It helps to start by lining up from the very centre of the trim, due to its shape, rather than the left hand corner exclusively. The glove box is much more forgiving when you come to wrapping the bottom edge of the trim. Here, pop the glove box door and you will be able to feel a significant gap under the trim, making it easy to work the vinyl into with either finger nails or your IKEA bad boys; Sit back and admire another job very well done. Don't forget the small trim pieces behind the steering wheel. Those are really easy to do as you can pop them off with your IKEA cutlery and stretch vinyl on to them easily from the comfort of your couch. If anyone has a go at this, or has some improvements to suggest, I'd welcome your feedback immensely. Cheers Danny

Bad experience?

Hey all I read a few comments recently from people make a few specific requests from their dealer when buying a new car. I don't mean options to be added to the car, but things like 'don't screw the plates, stick them' or 'don't put your dealer stickers all over the windows' and 'I'll supply my own tax disk holder', blah blah blah. Is there anything you guys ask for when ordering your new motor? Cheers Danny

Slight coverage of it in the Simpson's picture: https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/407053_402170309880311_1339334177_n.jpg

Cheers for the replies guys. I think I'll do it the hard way, just because I've got to repair the snapped connection. I'll do the door cards first in situ and see how good I am at that. If that's fine, I'll do the glove box the same way. If not, I'll take the whole lot out and repair/wrap at the same time. @Brimma - did you have to disconnect the glove box light to pull it out, or is there enough cable for it to be left in (but pulled out enough) to unscrew the trim? I'll take some as I do it to try and help others out, no worries.

OK, I started wrapping the silver trim parts of the dash. The two small bits behind the steering wheel were easy to prise off, but the section above the glove box is connected differently! I've discovered this by breaking one of the clips that screws into it. Doh! So, how do I get this thing off without destroying my car!? The door cards sound like a real pain in the ass to do too...I think I'll tackle them on a day I'm feeling especially patient. Thanks in advance, Danny

Although I try to never let my work intrude on my interests, I would like to point you fine people to an academic study of this very phenomena. I've not read it in full as yet, but the conclusion is that white is statistically a (significantly) safer colour than any other. 3rd party Summary: http://www.familycar.com.au/app/articles/articles/view/what-is-the-safest-car-colour You can get the full report here: http://www.monash.edu.au/miri/research/reports/muarc263.html

YESSS!!! The new mk3 VRS is available in yellow! Along with Green and Grey (urgh, really?!) they are the 3 signature colours for the VRS. The missus is going to be proper ****ed off when I tell her tonight!