1988 535is Ohio. 5/4/23 zender skirts and hood insulation

[Ordnator]

I think shadow line over Zino looks better than chrome over Zino.

The black trim frames the Zino and focuses your attention on the colour so that it pops, whereas the chrome is fighting the Zino for your attention and detracts from the Zino.

Just my GB£0.02

Best regards,

Mick

[BDKawey]

I think shadow line over Zino looks better than chrome over Zino.

The black trim frames the Zino and focuses your attention on the colour so that it pops, whereas the chrome is fighting the Zino for your attention and detracts from the Zino.

Just my GB£0.02

Best regards,

Mick

Can definitely agree with those points. chrome is nice and standard but I loved shadowline on my alpine white. with the dark tint on the car it leads me to leave it shadowed. tint is another ordeal because I dont particularly love how dark it is, but thats a problem for another time

[BDKawey]

my lips arrived after a long fedex delay from SRR Hardware, by far the cheapest place I found to buy OZ lips. came nicely packaged and look good and most importantly fit.
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here is the current state of the car. body filler all completed and primed over. the next steps will be to wet sand the primer and anywhere else that I sanded out nibs and fisheyes from the paint. then we will be doing the air install before we actually wrap the car for the sake of safety for the wrap.
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and this box arrived!
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[BDKawey]

air install time!

chop your perch off and clean it up, I cleaned it better than this, just didnt take a picture at an opportune time.
Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr
Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr

my buddy did the welding, tigged quite nicely.
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anti seized the threads since the midwest can be cruel. cleaning my wheel wells is definitely on my to do list but not in my friends garage or driveway
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not the prettiest air management set up but the idea here was to go for discrete and functional. make a spare tire frame for the compressor and 3P management to live.


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and the tank is mounted on the roof of the trunk, wrapped in carpet tiles that are atleast black, with the full trunk carpet in there it looks better. when you step back you can barely see the tank up there. making it sneaky and giving me a full functional trunk floor where nothing will contact the tank and damage a fitting.
Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr
Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr

air lines were all mounted with rubber insulated P clamps on the brake line and fuel return brackets, so no more holes needed to be drilled than what was absolutely necessary.
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I have the front mitos all put together, just need to seal them up and get tires back on.
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and we test fit the other wheels that didnt need new lips. just jacked it up for simplicity since getting it off and back on 4 jackstands is harder than just lifting the wheel. fronts fit awesome, rears touch tire a little sooner than I would like but these have 235/40/17 nitto nt05s on them. a meaty full tire for an 8.5 wide wheel. I will probably rock these tires for a season which is about all they have left in them before I potentially go down a size or 2.
Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr
Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr
Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr
Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr

next time I go there to work we should definitely be laying some wrap down. just have to wet sand a little primer and we're ready to go. its about to get a lot more exciting.

[BDKawey]

this last weekend we got to work on laying some wrap down, finally! worked friday night, all day saturday, and half sunday. here is the progress. my friend did the hood and a fender while I watched and asked questions. after that we did panels together and then him almost leaving me on my own until I asked for help with difficult sections. but still mostly his handywork haha.
Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr
Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr
Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr
Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr

we were concerned with the windshield gasket but it wasnt bad at all actually, we cut it a few mm overlapping the gasket and then were able to simply lift seal up with your fingers and the vinyl fell right into place under it.
Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr
Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr
Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr
Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr
Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr

will have a colorful driveway this summer, my new daily in the background. 2022 civic sport touring hatch in boost blue.
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[Mdreamer]

The wrap looks great! Thank you for sharing.

[Dale3783]

Nice job around the trunk. I always wondered if people do in there. Do you do the door jambs too? Under the hood?

[BDKawey]

Nice job around the trunk. I always wondered if people do in there. Do you do the door jambs too? Under the hood?

we are not doing jams or under the hood. basically doing everything necessary so that when its all closed up you wont see any silver.

when its all done ill have some detailed pictures.

[WalterH]

I like this. I should probably wrap my current E28.

[Spen]

There is a YouTube channel called The Gunman and he demos a product line called Halo EFX and it is a liquid wrap, actual peelable paint, which can be sanded and polished.

It looks interesting and is love to experiment with it someday.

[BDKawey]

There is a YouTube channel called The Gunman and he demos a product line called Halo EFX and it is a liquid wrap, actual peelable paint, which can be sanded and polished.

It looks interesting and is love to experiment with it someday.

if its anything like plasti-dip then its not worth making a mess on a car

[Spen]

I'd suggest taking a look at the video. It's actual paint.

[BDKawey]

had saturday free to work on the wrap some more and was able to get a few more panels done. had to roll this sides fender before wrap just in case some paint decided to chip or anything. 60 dollar amazon fender roller works just about as good as you'd imagine. the thing basically screws itsself apart as you use it so we modified it with a few cuts and welds and is better but not great. still ate up some time.

plan was to do the whole quarter and C pillar just like the other side in one piece but it took some clear off the C pillar while we were repositioning so we had to split it up along the body line. this is it also aired out on the wheels for the very first time.
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Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr
Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr

transformation and assembly of the rear panel was satisfying, couldnt find the bumper trim screws at the time unfortunately, I imagine they're buried in my trunk somewhere in a baggie.
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Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr

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and had outside for the first time to see the color. roof, a pillars, mirrors and airdam is all thats left. and I plan to redo the top half of the passenger rear door because I trimmed it too close to the door trim by the window and you can see some silver. thats why the door moulding isnt on. im leaning towards the chrome look on this car. the chrome door moulding looks really good imo with the polished lips. it kinda connects the polished look between the front and rear wheels.
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[Mdreamer]

Thanks for sharing! The progress that you've made looks good. I agree with you about going back to the chrome trim for the reasons that you cited.

[funkycharms]

Looks good. Do you plan to bring the trunk badges back when done?

[BDKawey]

Looks good. Do you plan to bring the trunk badges back when done?

Yes! Badges definitely coming back. Everything else looking so good its making my bumpers and roundel look pretty dingy. Bumpers might get a strip polish and clear if it bugs me enough.

[BDKawey]

Had like, an hour over the weekend to wrap something so I started on the bumper just to make any kind of progress. its not much but good to see the process of the bumper, each hole feature in the air dam will probably be done in 1-4 pieces. I did the fog light in 1 piece but it was annoying and not worth the struggle to me. more progress to come this memorial day weekend.

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Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr

Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr

[BDKawey]

made some satisfying progress over the weekend. I'm thinking just one more weekend of work and ill bring it home.

got the rear bumper trim on, still needs the spoiler and badges.
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got the air dam all wrapped, this thing ended up being like 30 pieces of vinyl. did it 95% by myself and I'm pretty proud of it.
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After all the inside parts and middle was done, I ran all the knifeless tape (not pictured) and mounted it up so that the left and right pieces could be stretched over it and then take off to be finished on the saw horse.
Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr
Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr

then I got the whole front end together, been anxiously waiting for this moment and it looks awesome. fresh e30 m3 fog lenses from FCP, wish I would have cleaned the grills off for photos. under all that dust is fresh sem paint.
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Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr

got the A pillars both finished as well, wrapping under the windshield gasket starts by degreasing the gasket as well as under it. ive been wrapping a card in a microfiber and just running it unde/along the gasket under atleast the bottom (body side) is clean. after its clean, run the knifeless tape on the gasket just on the edge so you have a few mm to tuck in. I run one of those automotive picks along under the gasket and the vinyl falls right into place.

only the finest of cards will do
Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr
Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr
Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr

and the final product for the weekend. just the roof/sunroof, mirrors, and also going to redo the top half of one of the doors because it got trimmed too close at the top and some silver is exposed.
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bonus pic of the daily after being paint corrected and 5 year ceramic coated.
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[dsw99a]

Im absolutely blown-away with the results.

Great job.

why does anybody paint anymore?

[BDKawey]

Im absolutely blown-away with the results.

Great job.

why does anybody paint anymore?

thank you! durability is definitely a factor to debate so we'll see on that. I plan to ceramic coat it to help minimize washes and scratches.

[Panici]

Looks great already from just the garage pictures.
Can't wait to see some beauty shots!

[BDKawey]

well, car is officially "done". over the weekend I got the roof, sunroof, top half of a rear door, and both mirrors wrapped and then drove it for the first time in 7 months as well as the first drive on air home to Columbus 125 miles. car drove great on the way home and the catuned suspension was very comfortable even not having yet played with the dampening.

for dramatic effect here is the day I got it even before a wash and then the photo recreated 16 months later.

IMG_4979 by Aaron Wey, on Flickr
Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr
Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr
Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr

I'm actually really loving how this thing sits on the 235 tires. its meaty enough to look normal when aired up. no reason to have stretch stance tires when my fitment doesn't require it. so when the time comes these may get replaced with the same size.

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still a few things on the to do list however. tonight I'm rewrapping the main face of both mirrors. they shrunk a little/lifted during my initial drive home. after that I'll be giving it a jax wax ceramic coat, hopefully finding my fuse 5 drain, and then its going to a shop to have a rear wheel bearing done. I intended to do it myself at my friend's garage but now that it's home, there's a slim chance I'd have a good time doing it myself with my limited resources.

[BDKawey]

Last night a took like 45 minutes to rewrap the front section of the mirror, the wrap shrunk just a little on both mirrors causing a few wrinkles and exposed silver in the seam of the mirror. plan is to ceramic coat the car myself this weekend so I want to make sure I'm happy with everything.

I went for a different approach and wrapped across the seam so you wont see silver between them. I thought I'd share the process and show how the knifeless tape works.

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I peeled the vinyl off and cleaned the surface with isopropyl alcohol before laying down the knifeless tape, which is essentially tape perforated in the middle with a string under it. not a good idea to cut vinyl when you're overlapping 2 edges. one piece is going around the bottom and another across the top.
Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr
Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr

after you get the vinyl laid down and heated up so its good as stuck, once cool you can pull the string which cuts it, kinda tricky to get started but not too bad when you get the hang of it. once the string is out you can peel the side of the vinyl off that isnt on your part and then pull off the 2 sides of the knifeless tape.
Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr
Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr

after its cut you can stick the edge down and in this case I pushed it into the seam a little more with my finger nail.
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[BDKawey]

some work to share from over the weekend, polished the wheels up for the first time and installed the '535is' badge then saturday ceramic coated the car with jax wax shield pro 9h. went well and took about 3 hours start to finish. afterwards I finally installed a functioning antenna (unphotographed).
Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr
Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr
Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr

and then fathers day the girlfriend and I drove to a very local brewery for a car show and so she drove the daily civic with the dog in it. later I returned to the show with tetanus just for the entertainment (also unphotographed)
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[BDKawey]

over the weekend my aftermarket cat failed internally causing some lovely noise. I'm not required to do emissions so this weekend it'll get "dealt with"

here's a picture since this is the eye candy section.
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[BDKawey]

Did kind of a dirty fix for my over centering trunk torsion bars. if you open the trunk all the way it would over center the mechanism on the passenger side and you would have to fight it to flip over by basically shutting the trunk by using only that side.

I dont know how this bracket gets bend like that, maybe an accident with the trunk open, or maybe has something to do with the damage that was done to the antenna and the body where the antenna attaches.

you can see up top its not how it should be where it connects to the top of the trunk, these photos are after I smacked it with a hammer a few times and with the trunk not fully open.
Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr
Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr

found some strips of furniture/floor protection felt pads that would the perfect width to buffer the hinge so it doesnt open so much. it took a few more than I thought it would (5) because they squish so much. downside is now the other drivers side doesnt even touch the stop, I may go back and add some just so it can seat. but the trunk opens and closes MUCH nicer now.
Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr
Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr

[tschultz]

Was there much body work required before the wrap?

[BDKawey]

Was there much body work required before the wrap?

we did a fair amount, could have done more and spent more time finding the little tiny dents and better sanding chips/scratches. vinyl shows a lot of defects if you look close enough.

at the end of the day its better than it was and I'll do better if it comes time to respray it salmon silver.

[BDKawey]

yesterday I did a quick and dirty string alignment and while on the test drive I deduced that my steering box mount may be broken. came home and with the ol' lady's help it was confirmed.

Currently waiting to hear back from Ed about a dowel fix. more than likely ill play with the alignment again after I fix it but it was surprisingly easy to reach my tie rods with it on the ground.

[BDKawey]

not done with reassembly but over the past few days I pulled my seats and center console out to scrub the carpets. ordered the $100 spot and stain removing hoover "extractor" from amazon along with some drill brush attachments. while not professional equipment we'll do the DIY best we can. I opted for this instead of pulling and shampooing the carpet because Its late model carpet with insulation on the bottom, and I rent so I dont have a hose hookup to run water and scrub carpet all day.

for dramatic effect ill just put the before and after shots next to each other. lot of staining under the seats and on the driveshaft tunnel when you looked between the seats. drove me nuts.

started with this:
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this was after cleaning just the drivers side
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you can see the "50/50" shot of where the center console lived.
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Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr