Wrapping the wood

[gemmisa]

I'm a million times more happy with my one-of-a-kind commissioned glossy carbon fiber panel. Had my steering wheel made to match it as well. I really don't get the negativity in this forum about price. True car enthusiasts know how expensive and time-consuming carbon fiber is to work with. Sure a cheap vinyl sticker is an alternative, but you won't get the nice depth as you would in real carbon fiber. I own other high-end euro cars and the cheap wood dash was too much of an eyesore for me.

 

[gemmisa]

Removing the dash from the vehicle, the wood? Why? It snaps right out I understand.

Eli, do you really think the buyers of this $35,000- $57,000 car will spend $1,200 on a carbon fiber dash piece. I bet you have less than 5 pre-orders like your partial steering wheel with the 6" carbon fiber top.

This is Tesla's affordable car, not an aficionado's car. I am sure you know your business, but don't you charge thousands of dollars to wrap cars in this so called, "stickers" material? Don't you use the same 3M 1080 vinyl wrap, so putting the "Stickers" on the outside of the car is not what a aficionado would want? Of course they do and of course you wrap cars in this, and why? Because 3M and Avery are the best and you only use the best.

I am certain the affordable wrap is what will sell to the masses, and by making it a self installing part makes it a winner, and its the inexpensive way to hide the wood dash panel. To offer other matching steering wheel inserts along with matching the 3 piece center console with scratch protection is just a bonus. To each their own, good luck!

I heard RPM TESLA has a real full 3 section carbon fiber steering wheel coming out for the model 3 and it will be under $999 along with a 1 piece molded Model 3 Spoiler for under $250.

Competition is the American way and good for us Tesla owners.

Why are you so negative? I'm a buyer of their product and happy with it. Daily, I have people stopping me to look at my Model 3 and they love it. I know quite a few of Model 3 owners who also own higher-end luxury cars and have no issues with spending on upgrades for their vehicle.

Yes, America is wonderful for all levels of consumers.

 

[SouthBayGuy]

My opinion on the Model 3 interior is that one must look at the interior as a whole. For example, if Tesla puts wood trim on the dash, they should also put wood accent pieces in other areas of the interior to give it a balanced look. Otherwise, it appears a bit random. Same with the glossy black center console. To me, while it looks nice, it appears random and not balanced with the rest of the interior.

 

[TT97]

@gemmisa - Did you upgrade the seats with diamond stitching (reflection on the center screen)? If so, was it from TSportsline? How do you like them? Pics? I love the steering wheel.

 

[gemmisa]

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@gemmisa - Did you upgrade the seats with diamond stitching (reflection on the center screen)? If so, was it from TSportsline? How do you like them? Pics? I love the steering wheel.

Yes, I picked out the diamond stitched seat aftermarket upgrade package by T Sportline. So far it's pretty durable and feels more comfortable. The seat warmers work just fine too. I saw another car they did with the perforated leather on the sides and that looks nice too. On their site, you can configure all kinds of colors and textures to your liking.

I love tinkering with cars to give it a sportier edge and more comfort. I have a Mercedes S Class and a Porsche GT3, so naturally, I find ways to integrate some upgradable features into my Model 3. I like a good deal, but certain things I go for quality first. Especially if it's my daily driver.

 

[gemmisa]

I'm reviving this old post because I just installed the RPM Tesla 1-Piece Dashboard Wood Wrap. I got the brushed black metal to contrast the silver trim surrounding the wood. It was a huge pain to do. While doing the center console was relatively easy, the length of the dash wrap combined with the stretchy properties of the vinyl made it impossible to fit as cut.

First off, the ends of the wrap I received were labeled incorrectly (driver side and passenger side labels were reversed). Thankfully they showed enough detail in the installation video to figure it out. While the vinyl is easy to lift up and replace if you don't align it perfectly, every time you pull on it to take it off, the vinyl stretches a little bit. As they say in the video, some stretch is needed to install the wrap correctly, otherwise it won't reach both ends of the wood. Stretch too much, though, and you'll end up with my problem, which is too much material at the end of the wrap that has to be cut off, making the precut edge tabs useless.

My advice is to forget about getting the edge tabs to line up perfectly. They won't. Just accept it. Maybe if you're the owner of RPM Tesla who's practiced on dozens of these things to make it look easy on camera, but not if you're a regular person who's never done this before.

The edges aren't going to look good and you're better off going into the installation knowing that. It really isn't that noticeable if you're not looking for it as long as all the wood is covered. Chances are you're probably looking at the screen and not staring at the edge of the dash when getting into your car anyway.

The bumpy texture of the wood shows through the vinyl and you can feel it running your hand over it. All of that being said, I'm relatively satisfied with the way it looks. I'm glad I went with the one piece instead of the two-piece set. I forgot to take detailed photos of the edges, but trust me, they look really bad. It's a good thing you can't see them when the doors are closed.


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Thanks for sharing your firsthand experience. Good to know because I have some friends considering that product. I will share this post with them.

 

[Mxbzz]

Installed my wrap over the past week. Their customer service is nonexistent as I’m waiting for two replacements for my console wrap (have wrinkles that won’t disappear) but am pretty pleased with the steering wheel and wood trim.

 

[gdrum]

Currently we are re-working the entire dash piece. That involves removing the entire dash from the vehicle, sanding the open pore wood down to the fabric core. YES, under all that Open Pore wood is a fabric core. We then have to apply carbon, vacuum, sand, and matte clear for finish. Very labor intensive and worth every dollar. While a $69 wrap is great, true car aficionados will argue there's nothing like the dimension, refinement and feel of real carbon fiber inside a car. There's a market for faux and a market for real just like any other cosmetic item. We'll stick to real as we pride ourselves on higher end automotive consumer goods, not stickers.

We leave the "stickers" aka 3M & Avery Vinyl to chrome delete and full vehicle wraps.

I was thinking a few coats of clear over the wood to make it a smooth place to start. Then carbon and matte finish. Thoughts .

 

[FlatSix911]

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I'm a million times more happy with my one-of-a-kind commissioned glossy carbon fiber panel. Had my steering wheel made to match it as well. I really don't get the negativity in this forum about price. True car enthusiasts know how expensive and time-consuming carbon fiber is to work with. Sure a cheap vinyl sticker is an alternative, but you won't get the nice depth as you would in real carbon fiber. I own other high-end euro cars and the cheap wood dash was too much of an eyesore for me.

The real carbon fiber looks great. You may want to use a sunshade in the front window to protect the clear finish from cracking over time.
I have found from experience that the clear coat will start to crack after 2-3 years in direct UV exposure. YMMV

 

[SDKoala]

I've had the RPM brushed black dash wrap installed for about 1.5 weeks and I'm considering removing it for safety reasons. The material is slightly shiny so when the sun is hits it at the right angles, a reflection appears on the windshield that partially obscures the forward view. It's still possible to see and is more an annoyance than anything. Dangerously, it can cast a reflection off the passenger's side window that obstructs the side view mirror completely. I noticed it for the first time when I was doing about 85 on the freeway and needed to make a lane change. I looked over and could not see my side mirror at all because of the reflection. Putting down the window makes the reflection go away, obviously, but that's not always practical.

 

[gemmisa]

The real carbon fiber looks great. You may want to use a sunshade in the front window to protect the clear finish from cracking over time.
I have found from experience that the clear coat will start to crack after 2-3 years in direct UV exposure. YMMV

Definitely great advice and thank you so much!

 

[Narekzo]

The wood would be nice if it had some design to it or some interesting color

 

[Mazari4life]

You could order some 3m knife less tape and some 3m 1080 wrap in a roll and do it yourself. About $50-75 total with enough to do the center console too. You would have to use the 3m knife less tape around the wood area as a border. Then apply the wrap over it and work out all the bubbles. After that you use the knife less tape and pull on it and it will cut out the perfect outline and you just finish up with the details. I will probably do this when I get my car and will probably make a video.

Hey have you gotten your car done it?

 

[Mazari4life]

If you guys don't like the original wood color, you can wrap it with virtually any other wood color you want. Carbon fiber isn't the only choice. Take a look at this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B...st-20&linkId=0aa3b935a9e51785469e92854d4732f3

Is it difficult to wrap it? I actialucwan

My opinion on the Model 3 interior is that one must look at the interior as a whole. For example, if Tesla puts wood trim on the dash, they should also put wood accent pieces in other areas of the interior to give it a balanced look. Otherwise, it appears a bit random. Same with the glossy black center console. To me, while it looks nice, it appears random and not balanced with the rest of the interior.

I do agree with you. Unlike most of you, I like the wood trim ( wish it was smooth). I actually want to vinyl wrap the center console to match the wood trim. If I can’t find vinyl similar color to the wood trim... I might wrap it with the same vinyl. What do you guys think?

 

[bthienthai]

It's not hard. Go slow. And watch YouTube how-to

 

[npatel1189]

Yeah, price is way too high for me.
Maybe a different and more affordable covering will show up soon.

Everything at TSportline seems to be expensive. All of us are getting the Model 3 because it's the most affordable Tesla. I'm sure we will see more afforbaffo 3 party vendors as well. Will just take some time.

 

[Massimo99]

RPMTesla.com has a wrap kit for the Model 3 dash for $69.

RPM Tesla

They also have a wrap kit for the console, which I'm seriously considering. The glossy black is always covered in fingerprints...

I literally installed my wrap from RPM last week. I think it came out good!!

 

[Jimmy 1]

If your vendor has 3M Di-Noc Architectural vinyl....that makes it super easy for anyone to install. So forgiving.

 

[BrownSamurai]

I literally installed my wrap from RPM last week. I think it came out good!!

Looks good, Massimo99! Does the carbon fiber wrap "glare" like some folks report and can you see the "print" of the underlying wood dash?

My M3 isn't here yet - planning for the future.

 

[forkee]

i also went the RPMtesla route and went with the "matrix black" textured wrap. the wood cover took the longest (1.5 hours) and was a p.i.t.a. to do, but the other pieces went on like a sticker you just have to center. i absolutely love it because of it's stock look. the one and only thing that would be a negative is that if you look at it from the front outside, you can see a small area of the wood peeking though. nobody likes wood peeking through...