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Hydro dip is essentially the same thing as painting but with some extra steps. This means the durability is determined by the quality of paint work. The parts you see here have an extra few coats of clear to make sure they don't get scratched up when dragging things across them. No these can not be returned to stock. However, just like we were able to remove them from the car and paint/hydro dip they could be removed again and re-painted any color of desire.
Vinyl typically has a life time. It may get old, shrink or crack or show wear from things coming in contact. The paint on these parts after being hydro dipped should last forever. Of course this 100% depends on the quality of the job that is done.
I chose Hydro dip over vinyl as I feel the quality and durability are superior. Carbon fiber vinyl doesn't look that great and the versions that do (5D Carbon) are low quality vinyl and wont last all that long especially baking in the sun. The high quality carbon vinyl that does exist doesn't look nearly as real or as nice in the sun as this hydro dip job does.
Hope i answered your questions. I've seen people go both ways. A lot chose to go with vinyl as you can wrap a bunch of items with-out taking them out of the car.
Thanks for the write up. I'm on the fence of what I want to do with my interior pieces. Thought of buying CF overlays, but those are pricey and fitment is not always 100%. Vinyl was my other choice.
I know your buddy did the hydro dipping, but curious of how much it costed.
Thanks for the write up. I'm on the fence of what I want to do with my interior pieces. Thought of buying CF overlays, but those are pricey and fitment is not always 100%. Vinyl was my other choice.
I know your buddy did the hydro dipping, but curious of how much it costed.
I already spent about $150 on just the center console parts. I'm thinking $50 for each door (4), $40 side dash vents (2), $75 center dash vent, $75 steering wheel, $35 upper dash garnish.
In the end maybe $500 in total. But this is with me spending the time to remove the pieces carefully from the car and re-installing my self. If you wanted to drop your car off and pick it up with all of this done I'd expect to pay something like $1000/$1500
I just got the CF overlay for the shift **** from ebay. Fitment is on point and the carbon fiber matches the hydro dip well enough for me to not be worried about it. I will post a picture in a few.
Here is the car lowered, before I made the final adjustments and installed the rear spacers, also re-installed the spoiler since this photo.
Here she is with the stance dialed in. I love the ride of the coils but I'm now super stoked with the wheel gap in the front, The fenders are all even from the ground, if I lower the entire car more than the rear will be tucked, if I lower the front more it will look a bit raked. For now it stays like this.
Here's the center console all done, 2017 wrist wrest, bunch of pieces hydro dipped carbon and a the c/f shift **** cover off ebay. I think I may do a vinyl wrap on the wrest of the black areas and replace it with some new black to clean up all the scratches.
I've blacked out the blinkers since these photos. I've got lots more carbon fiber coming for the exterior, JDM fogs on the way (few weeks)
Going to get some quality shots of the car very soon for your viewing pleasures have a great weekend!
Thanks going to look at getting some more done this week. Anything light grey on the interior including the carbon on the doors and glove box I plan to hydro dip.
The hydro dipping is a cool idea. Hows the durability?
All depends on the quality of a job the guy who is doing the work does. I asked my buddy to add a couple extra coats of clear on the parts I know will be bumped into a lot. Honestly the stock interior was scratch to **** from the previous owner so I'd imagine the hydro-dipped pieces are actually stronger when it comes to durability.
Here is the car lowered, before I made the final adjustments and installed the rear spacers, also re-installed the spoiler since this photo.
Here she is with the stance dialed in. I love the ride of the coils but I'm now super stoked with the wheel gap in the front, The fenders are all even from the ground, if I lower the entire car more than the rear will be tucked, if I lower the front more it will look a bit raked. For now it stays like this.
Here's the center console all done, 2017 wrist wrest, bunch of pieces hydro dipped carbon and a the c/f shift **** cover off ebay. I think I may do a vinyl wrap on the wrest of the black areas and replace it with some new black to clean up all the scratches.
I've blacked out the blinkers since these photos. I've got lots more carbon fiber coming for the exterior, JDM fogs on the way (few weeks)
Going to get some quality shots of the car very soon for your viewing pleasures have a great weekend!
how tough was the 2017 center console conversion? Could you share some details or pics of the process? Thanks!
how tough was the 2017 center console conversion? Could you share some details or pics of the process? Thanks!
Someone else pieced together the parts for me so I'm not sure how to help in that regard. However, if you have the 2017 console in hand the swap isn't too bad. The stock 2014 console comes out easy. Then you need to remove the mouse pad from the 2014 console and install into the 2017. Everything fits pretty much on point. You need to shave a little plastic but it's obvious where this needs to be done.
Installing is a bit trickier if you don't know what you need to do next but you'll need to dremel or cut some of the plastic out of the car. You could also remove the piece from the car to do the work but it's not necessary. Basically when you remove the 2014 console you will see a lip sticking up on both sides out of the center console that holds the cup holder console in place. You will need to cut the back toward the armrest about 6 inches so the new 2017 wrist wrest will fit.
The buttons are direct plug and play and you retain ALL functionality however the button do not work as labeled and some do not work at all as they are new for 2017.