Additionally, I decided to change the entire roof to matte black, using vinyl wrapping material. I didn't get a good set of pictures throughout the installation process, but will post here what I do have...
I chose to use a 3M 1080P product, which for those of you who aren't familiar is an automotive vinyl wrapping material that is very durable, easily installed, and completely removable without negatively impacting the OEM painted surface. I had read a ton of articles on vehicle wrapping, and my opinion is that 3M manufactures one of the better-quality, "higher-end" materials for wraps.
I ordered the vinyl material online from a reputable 3M vinyl supplier, along with some basic application tools such as surface prep, squeegee, and blades. I don't remember the exact cost, but I think for the surface area I am dealing with I spent about $75.
Here's a "before" picture - not the best view, but clearly shows the three sections of the roof that I had to deal with in my case (obviously, is you have the 'no-sunroof' option, you will only have one large surface to cover....).
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| My '14 C4S roof includes the metal sunroof panel, so my roof is 3 separate areas. |
To get started, make sure the car is very clean, focusing on the surface area you are going to cover. I did my usual wash routine, then used some cleaning solution to thoroughly remove any oils, grease, wax or other residues from the surface. If your car roof is "dirty" you may also want to clay bar the surface -- in my own case I didn't feel this was necessary as the surface felt very smooth and "slippery" to the touch. Wouldn't hurt to clay anyways, but I decided not to.
You should also make sure to get the area completely dry, paying attention to the areas where moisture might remain for an extended period, such as around the weatherstripping.... I used a air hose from my compressor to blow the water out of the cracks around the area.
The next step -- and although some may feel this is not necessary -- is to remove any exterior trim, which in my case meant the weatherstripping / rubber gaskets that run along the roof edge as well as around the metal sunroof on my car. I found that the stripping is actually 5 separate parts -- there is a single 'box' of weatherstripping surrounding the sunroof panel, as well as 4 smaller segments - 2 on each side, front and back, where the stationary sections of the roof meet-up.
I started with the rubber stripping around the sunroof. I found that this is a single large / continuous rubber piece, a square... I opened the sunroof, and began at a corner. Gently pull the rubber up and it should start sliding off as you work around the perimeter of the sunroof.
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| Start pulling-up at the corner of the sunroof panel. |
Be careful, and try not to stretch the rubber too much. It does deform, but you can totally reuse this piece as I'll mention later. I am not sure what the price is to replace, and it shouldn't be too bad, but if you are careful and take your time you shouldn't have to worry about it.
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| Pull-up carefully around the perimeter of the sunroof. |
Once I had the rubber gasket removed, I found a nice safe place and put it aside. I then turned to the 4 smaller rubber strips at the front and rear of the "side rails" along the roof. Note that this is also the area where you would install the footings for a roof rack. At first I was thinking that these rubber pieces would come off similar to the rubber running around the sunroof. But that was not the case....
These rubber sections are anchored much more "permanently" than the sunroof gasket, and in fact I can confirm that these are intended to be replaced entirely upon removal. I confirmed by looking-up the Porsche PIWIS official workshop manual article. That would be "WM 605419 Removing and installing seal for roof assembly" for those that care....
You gently pull-up on one end of the rubber seal, and then you'll have to cut-off and remove any plastic bits that remain. So, I didn't do this! LOL. I was worried about cutting something important, so I merely pulled the piece up and positioned out of the way while I worked in that area.
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| Red arrows indicate front of roof above windshield where I pulled-up the rubber weather stripping. |
Each of the strips pull-up at one end, but are secured in place by a plastic fastener that unless you do want to clip off and replace you should take care to not tear or deform.
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| This is a close-up of the rear roof area, just above rear window... |
With that taken care of, I again made sure all moisture was removed from the areas where the rubber gaskets are.
My next step was to lay-out some knife-less tape where I wanted to trim and tuck the black vinyl. The piece of vinyl was already the best size -- that being a 5' x 4' single sheet. I decided to use the knife-less tape so that I could avoid any risk of putting scratches in the paint around the roof when trimming the vinyl to three sections.
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| This method is also great if you don't want to remove the rubber gaskets... |
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| Make sure to leave enough tape sticking-out so you can easily grasp and pull once the vinyl is down. |
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| Make sure to overlap the tape so that you can "cut" the longer side rails first, then the perpendicular shorter sides second. |
Once all the tape is laid-out, you can get ready to place the vinyl. Unfortunately I did not keep the pictures I snapped while working on this part of the project. Sorry! I'll do my best to describe the effort....
If you ever watch the thousands of YouTube videos out there for vinyl wrapping, you'll notice that in most cases roof wraps are put in place by at least two guys, maybe more. But I am here to tell you that you can do it with a single person, or one set of hands!
I took the vinyl piece, and leaving the backing-paper in place laid it out over the roof. I then started at the front and pulled the backing half-way towards the rear of the roof. I pressed-down in a couple of spots near the middle. As I did this, I began moving my squeegee evenly around the vinyl in a center to front pattern to firmly set the vinyl in place. I continually worked the squeegee to remove any bubbles or wrinkles from the vinyl, progressively pressing more firmly as I worked the entire area.
Once I felt that I had done enough on the front-half, I reached under and pulled the remaining backing off. I then started near the center of the roof and while pulling the vinyl taught towards the rear windows began working the squeegee to press the vinyl onto the roof.
I have to say that this was a really simple procedure once I got going. Just take your time, hold the squeegee at the right angle to the surface and pay attention to detail! I spent maybe 45 minutes tops getting the vinyl down. In comparison, I spent nearly two hours prepping for this moment!
Once I finished, I let the surface rest for a bit. Had a beer, or two. I then went to the knife-less tape "ends" and started firmly pulling to create my cut lines. This was a bit tricky at first, but you just have to firmly yank the sting to get the first cut line started. If you laid-out the tape correctly, you should have a very nice straight line following the gaps around the sunroof and rails. You can go back around and just yank the tape remnants out from under the vinyl. This is easy....
Next step is to begin tucking the edges of the vinyl wrap down into the sides of the sunroof / roof panels. If you've removed the weather stripping / rubber gaskets, this is very easy. Just take your teflon squeegee and fingers and firmly push the edges down. If you've cut properly, there should be plenty of material to attach so you won't have any edges exposed to the elements. You could also use an edge sealing fluid to more firmly bond the edges to the roof, but I felt that tucking the edges under the weatherstripping should be sufficient.
Here's a pic of the front section after I've tucked the vinyl and replaced the rubber strips...
Follow the same to complete all edges around the roof, and replace any weatherstripping once you are satisfied you have a good bond at the edges.
Boom! You are done! If all went smoothly, you should have a great-looking wrapped roof panel!
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| This is an "older" after-shot back in warmer weather and before I changed to the black mirrors.... |
Next up? I am going to wrap the frunk hood in either same matte black or may try something very different and go with a matte blue metallic!
Thanks for reading!!!
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