[RaidersFan]

How would I do this? Interested in purchasing a 2008 328i 6MT coupe locally, and it comes with that awful silver window trim.

[Eat.Sleep.Race]

Order oem trim for tons of money, or vinyl wrap it thru a shop for $200

[jwalker87]

Or vinyl wrap it yourself for $50. I just did all the interior trim in my car, my wife's car, and my track car. It's really easy. Haven't decided yet if I want to pull the trigger on my exterior trim.

[NGEE]

Originally Posted by jwalker87

It's really easy.

It's really NOT easy! The shadowline trim wrap is far more difficult than interior trim wrapping. I posted my experience here: http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1000993

[krahooligan]

Originally Posted by jwalker87

Or vinyl wrap it yourself for $50. I just did all the interior trim in my car, my wife's car, and my track car. It's really easy. Haven't decided yet if I want to pull the trigger on my exterior trim.

what tools did you need to do that?

heat gun? obviously a razor/exacto-knife...I find taking the trim off semi difficult.

[Dark_Knight_335]

Originally Posted by Eat.Sleep.Race

Order oem trim for tons of money, or vinyl wrap it thru a shop for $200

Definitely wrap it in vinyl- shadowline will run you a thousand or more

[chillbil79]

I'm torn between vinyl wrap or plasti dip.

Just purchased my matte black grilles so def want to do the window trim

I'm sure vinyl wrap isn't an easy as slapping in on the trim and calling it a day but I'm still unsure it's so difficult that we would have to pay a shop.

Was quoted up to $240 for vinyl wrap

Plasti dip is $8 a can

Vinyl trim is $25

[jwalker87]

Originally Posted by krahooligan

what tools did you need to do that?

heat gun? obviously a razor/exacto-knife...I find taking the trim off semi difficult.

Yup, just a heat gun from Harbor Freight, ruler, knife, scissors, etc.

As for the interior vs exterior, that's very interesting. I kind of assumed that the exterior trim pieces came off so you could do it separate from the car...

[m1ka]

OEM Shadowline FTW!!! u will always wish u did!

[Don N.]

Originally Posted by chillbil79

I'm torn between vinyl wrap or plasti dip.

Just purchased my matte black grilles so def want to do the window trim

I'm sure vinyl wrap isn't an easy as slapping in on the trim and calling it a day but I'm still unsure it's so difficult that we would have to pay a shop.

Was quoted up to $240 for vinyl wrap

Plasti dip is $8 a can

Vinyl trim is $25

If you want perfect, nothing beats OEM.

More often than not, I have seen people take off their plasti dipped window trim pieces and then had them vinyl wrapped instead.

Vinyl is more consistent in its finish versus plasti dip which doesn't come out as smooth on larger pieces at times. Especially when you're dealing with a black finish. Everything shows up more on black.

-Don

[idrift4wd]

nothing beats oem until you bent it installing it lol or taking old trim off.

Plasti-dip probably looks the worst but it's also a lot cheaper.

vinyl is the way to go for window trim.

[chillbil79]

Originally Posted by idrift4wd

nothing beats oem until you bent it installing it lol or taking old trim off.

Plasti-dip probably looks the worst but it's also a lot cheaper.

vinyl is the way to go for window trim.

How about ECS tuning? They sell trim.

Seems to be same cost as it would to get someone to vinyl wrap it

Anyone purchase this from them?

[NGEE]

Originally Posted by jwalker87

As for the interior vs exterior, that's very interesting. I kind of assumed that the exterior trim pieces came off so you could do it separate from the car...

The issue with the exterior trim is the curves. The window gutter trim (along the top of the windows) takes a ~90° turn at the top of the pillar, then nearly makes a u-turn at the rear window. You have two options:

1 - shadowline vinyl which comes in 3" and 4" straight rolls
2 - 3m vinyl which comes in sheets

Option #1 is made specifically for the shadowline trim look. It really looks good when done. But you see the problem - straight≠curved. Getting that straight roll to bend takes LOTS of stretching. And lots of patience. Heat gun won't help as the film is too thin. Even with the trim off the car, you will have difficulty - I never tried it that way, but I could see how it might even be *more* difficult. In my experience, leaving the gutter trim on the vehicle is the way to go. However, it likely would be easier to remove the sill trim (along the bottom window ledge) for wrapping, because it's a straight piece. With option #1, patience will be rewarded with trim that looks and feels like OEM shadowline.

Option #2 is not made for the shadowline look, nor is it made for dealing with the curve of that gutter trim. It is much thicker than shadowline vinyl, and therefore will not curve around angles the way shadowline vinyl does (at least not without heating it to the point of distortion). You would have to buy a large sheet and cut it in the shape of the trim (with excess for tucking, of course). This makes wrapping *very* easy, but obviously with lots of waste. With this option, I would say that removing the trim from the vehicle is the way to go. I can't vouch for the look and feel - I'm sure it would look decent, but I've used 3M vinyl and it is not the same as the shadowline.

Hope this helps. Anyone who has experience wrapping the exterior trim in 3M vinyl, please chime in.

Originally Posted by idrift4wd

nothing beats oem until you bent it installing it lol or taking old trim off.

Yikes!

[MiniXP]

Anyone ever try cutting vinyl to size with a vinyl cutter/printer from a computer? Seems like that could make it pretty easy to put on since you could just have it cut to the shape of the curve. Although you would still end up with a lot of waste.

[jetvet]

Originally Posted by dawgcatching

How would I do this? Interested in purchasing a 2008 328i 6MT coupe locally, and it comes with that awful silver window trim.

I went through this not too long ago tried vinyl wrap, plasti-dip and paint. What I found was the door trim is very fragile and you can destroy it pretty easy just removing it. I was never really happy with any of the results mainly because of the lower door trim. What I ended up doing was buying this:

http://www.getbmwparts.com/partlocat...catalogid=4462

I don't believe it's considered Shadowline trim but it's matte black, OEM and looks good with my matte black kidney grills. I think I bought mine a little cheaper at the time but and I'd recommend this over all of the other solutions.

[udm328i]

^i bought this also, didn't have patience for paint or vinyl, pick up some extra clips if you go this route

[The Cleaner]

I have not seen a wrap or paint job on the trim I like. True Shadowline is easy to spot, get the authentic part.

[Whateva]

No to plasti dip. I tried that on mine came out like sh€t!

It looks grainy, wrong black coloration, it chips easily when rubbed with paper towels when cleaning your windows and tons of prep work for unwanted results.

I have not vinyl'd mine yet , but I will be going that direction soon . Probably not going to do it myself.

[chillbil79]

Originally Posted by jetvet

I went through this not too long ago tried vinyl wrap, plasti-dip and paint. What I found was the door trim is very fragile and you can destroy it pretty easy just removing it. I was never really happy with any of the results mainly because of the lower door trim. What I ended up doing was buying this:

http://www.getbmwparts.com/partlocat...catalogid=4462

I don't believe it's considered Shadowline trim but it's matte black, OEM and looks good with my matte black kidney grills. I think I bought mine a little cheaper at the time but and I'd recommend this over all of the other solutions.

You have a pic of it on your car you could share?

ECS tuning wants $785 for their complete window trim kit

$380 is more reasonable considering it costs $200-250 to have shop do vinyl trim.

Or I'll try vinyl at cost of $25 and do it myself. If screw it up I'm only out $25

[udm328i]

Its actually +$430 for coupe, so close to ecs price, but check out my garage, I bought exact same trim kit

[EndOfAnEra]

I had mine painted gloss black...looks good to me.

[udm328i]

^Did you remove and then paint?
Painting would probably be best route, I should've done that, the trim kit I bought is just window trim painted black,