Vent overlays

[ColonelPanic]

Ahh, I ordered a set of the vent overlays from grafxwerks... Chrome, baby! Anybody else have the chrome ones? Curious to see what colors you guys are getting for yours...I think it will look quite interesting to say the least.... Will follow up with some pics once I get them and slap 'em on there!

[Merzbow]

I'd like to get carbon fiber ones to match my carbon fiber underbody toggle switch I'm excited to see yours, i didn't know grafxwerks made vent overlays!

[ColonelPanic]

I didn't know they made 'em either. Thought about getting the carbon fiber... It was between that, chrome, and silver...Can't wait to see what they look like...

[ArcsVibe]

This is what mine look like:

[damronjr]

Quote, originally posted by ArcsVibe »This is what mine look like:Those look great! Were they hard to install?

[ColonelPanic]

Lookin' good! Yeah, how tricky are those to install? Any tricks/tips? Looks like yours turned out quite well! Wish me luck with mine, I kinda suck at this stuff.

[ArcsVibe]

Guys it was the easiest thing to do. Just clean the area well, apply the vinyl and rub it slightly.

[ColonelPanic]

Man did I ever crash and burn bigtime on this little project! I was having a heck of a time getting those on there. I screwed up one pretty bad, so I decided I would just install the overlays on the vents on the left side, and center stack. That way, if I screwed up again, I'd have a couple more chances to get it right.Sadly, I even screwed up there as well. Once I got everything lined up perfect, I ended up with creases in the vinyl that wouldn't come out. Back to the ol' drawing board I guess!

[MoonDogg]

That's why I am reluctent to get them.. I would prolly screw them up..

[tecton]

just a little soapy waterslid it where you want ituse like a corner of a credit card or soemthing like that and press the water out from the middle a side at a timeworks like a charm

[ColonelPanic]

Well, I took my one remaining overlay and gave it another go tonight. Gave the vent a spritz or two of water and actually was able to get the bottom piece and the two little slivers of vinyl on the left and right to stick to the vent and line up properly. Now, I still haven't figured out the trick to getting all four pieces lined up properly and to stick at the same time. But that top portion of the vent was very difficult. How did you manage to get the vinyl to go down into the indentations without creasing anywhere? I switched the heater on and blew hot air through the vent to try to make the vinyl adhere to the contours of the indentation, but that didn't work either. It just refuses to stick down in that indentation. And in the process, of course the vinyl has creases in it around the top where the indentation is.Not sure why it didn't stick, I gave the vent an insane amount of cleaning with alcohol, there shouldn't have been anything there to keep it from sticking! If I can figure out how to get the top part to stick properly, I'm good to go - provided I buy more overlays. Now that I've got experience with them... lol!I 'll be ordering another set here pretty soon. Hopefully I won't screw up the new set. Normally I wouldn't bother making another attempt at it, but for some reason I want these vent overlays. Not sure what color this time, though. Probably won't do the chrome - looks pretty spiffy but it's gonna be a bear to keep clean. Any suggestions on a color that would hide any imperfections with the way I installed them, if I screw up ever so slightly? I think the carbon fiber ones may be good for that... My other choices are silver and reflective bright blue (both colors are on the bordered decal i have on the dash now.) But I think a darker color wouldn't look so strange if I didn't have something lined up just right...

[scherry2]

use a blow dryer. thats what i used spray the vents down aplly overlay and heat with hair dryer. I have blue ones and never had a problem they went on easy.

[ColonelPanic]

In hindsight, the hair dryer would have been most helpful! I'll chalk this incident up for experience, and order some new ones. Which I just did - metallic silver and reflective bright blue. Not sure which set I'll end up using...What did you use to spray the vents down with? Plain water, or did you add a couple drops of detergent?Next time around, I'll be dang sure I'm not going to screw it up.

[ColonelPanic]

Got 'em today! Now, the question is, what color to use?I may even end up using two of each... Silver for the center stack and the vent to the left of the wheel... And over on the right side of the dash, using reflective bright blue ones to match with the blue/silver Vibe logo I have stuck to the dash..Would two and two of different colors look goofy?I dunno, I'm open for suggestions! :

[ColonelPanic]

You may be laughing... You may be crying... But dang it, gimme two points for originalty, I two-toned this sucker. I wanted the silver, but I wanted the blue... So, I just used silver for the majority of the vent, and used the reflective bright blue for the bottom. I've only applied the overlays to that one vent.I don't know if I'm going to leave 'em this way, this was just a little idea I had. I have to go out here in a little bit, so I'll bring my camera along and get some pics of this stuff in the daylight. I may still see about making the two left vents silver and the other two on the right the blue... We'll see.The install went much better this time thanks to scherry2's hair dryer suggestion. I popped off the trim and took it in the house to work on it since I don't have an extension cord long enough to go out to the parking lot (yet.) Still isn't perfect (notice the gap on the right side where that tiny sliver of silver vinyl is.) But close enough for me. Let me know what you think... Whether it's "hey man, that's um interesting" or "dude, you're smokin' crack!"

[MoonDogg]

Now thats original... nice job... looks good....

[ColonelPanic]

Thank ya! Now that I've had a chance to see it out in the daylight, I really glad I decided to mix things up. It's a bit weird, but in a good kinda of way I think. Definitely unique. Here's what it looks like so far... Still have to do the remaining three, but that's going to be done within the next couple of days if not sooner.Sadly though, I did a bit of damage in the process. I was cleaning the heck out of the vent using alcohol, and it stripped off the silver finish on the plastic trim. So now it has several areas around the vent where black is showing. And not to mention, if anyone has noticed that stupid scratch below and to the right of the vent, well that wasn't there before I got started. I think that happened when I was trying to disconnect the wiring and the trim ended up hitting the turn signal stalk. Blah! I'll be replacing that piece soon, I think... If not, I'll be sanding that scratch down and paint the trim.Anyway, on with the show - and more to follow. Link to all the pics:http://img.photobucket.com/alb...vents/

[rasermon]

ColonelPanic, that is definitely unique. I like it!!!

[damronjr]

Hmm, I might have to invest in some of those since I am too cheap to get them painted right now!

[ArcsVibe]

I like them great job looks really original

[Psychobroker]

Wow, that two-tone job is SHARP...I might have to copy you

[ColonelPanic]

I think Ryan may need to start selling 2-tone sets of these things. I bought two sets for mine. Originally, I thought it would be nice to have a second set in case I screwed up again or didn't like the color, but then I came up with this idea. Can't wait until I get the rest finished.And if you guys like it, by all means, copy away! My idea is open source. lol!

[GrafxWerks]

That looks amazing, great job!Perhaps I will offer a two-tone setup with some "Vibe" or "GT" lettering. Thoughts?- RyanGrafxWerks

[ColonelPanic]

I think that will look good! Would all four have the Vibe logo? I noticed you do have some with the Vibe, GT, and TRD logos - do you have any pics of them? Keep us posted!

[GrafxWerks]

Quote, originally posted by ColonelPanic »I think that will look good! Would all four have the Vibe logo? I noticed you do have some with the Vibe, GT, and TRD logos - do you have any pics of them? Keep us posted! I will make some up and take pictures... I think 4 with the "vibe" logo might be a bit too much bling for the car - personally I would be tempted to do 2 with logos and 2 without, but I would make that up to the customer obviously.- RyanGrafxWerks

[POLO]

Nice work,i liked,specially the two-tone.

[ColonelPanic]

I was thinking the same thing... Four vents with the logos may be a bit overkill for me at least. The two outboard vents would look good with logos, the two in the center without.

[redlava]

I just got mine installed on my car. Unfortunately I did not buy from Ryan this time around. Sorry But all of my other vinyl purchases have been from grafxwerks. But I also wanted the door sills that importequipment.com has so I killed two birds with one stone and got it from them. I think both turned out pretty well considering that I was working in a cold cramped garage with poor lighting. Here are the overlays...

Attached files

[redlava]

A shot a little farther out.

Attached files

[redlava]

And the door sills. Maybe grafxwerks can make these as well if they don't mind a little idea theft. Excuse my dirty floor.

Attached files

[redlava]

And the rear door sills...They are a little offcenter I know, but I actually had a harder time getting the sills to go on right than I did with the vent overlays.

Attached files

[GrafxWerks]

I'll have to see if I can get ahold of a Vibe to work with for a while - RyanGrafxWerks

[darcmater]

old post, but figured no point in makeing a new one. I am thinking of getting some of these but want to find a color close to the pewter/silver dash pieces like whats also on the door console pieces and such. ANy one have a suggestion, would that be metalic silver or metalic pewter according to grafxwerks color chart?

[zionzr2]

What a blast from the past!I dont know how close the match would or wouldn't be, but I think the closest with the choises given would be the Pewter Metalic.But I have not seen the colors in person to compare.

[ColonelPanic]

Definitely a blast from the past! Before I get fussed at - man, all my image links are busted! I fix!p.s. darc, I thought the metallic silver was incredibly close to the dash drim color. My pics from earlier in the thread work now if you want to go back a page and check it out, had silver on part of my vents.

[darcmater]

oh vool, thanks, the silver definatley looks close

[darcmater]

still undescided on what color tog et. anyone ever try the black chrome, metallic black or any of the variations of the carbon fiver shades grafxwerks has. In terested ins eeign soem real pics of them

[The Lox]

Where can you pick these up?

[scherry2]

http://www.grafxwerks.com/prod...-1202

[ramenboy...]

those are sweet. here's my thing. i'd like to find chrome trim rings to put around the 2 passenger side vents... does anyone know if any are available? maybe i should start a new thread...