New BMW M3 Look!

It's been a year since I've bought my BMW M3 and I decided that it was time for some minor cosmetic changes. I added some M stripes and carbon fiber wrapped a few parts of the car. Click below for more details.

I really enjoyed owning and driving my BMW this past year. It is just a fantastic car to drive. I wanted to change up the car's looks because now I see so many M3's out on the streets. I wanted to differentiate my car but I wanted to stay on a budget. Yes, I could swap out the exhaust, tune the engine, etc etc but at the end of the day, to me at least, a M3 is still a M3. If I was going to spend 10-20k on parts alone I would rather just save that up for a supercar. I bought the supplies online for quite cheap. The M stripes can be found on Amazon for about $10 for a roll of 5ft. The M performance wording was about $30. And finally the carbon fiber wrap cost less than $100 for a roll of 6ft. I didn't have the tools for wrapping so that was another $80 or so. In total I spent less than $300 to trick out my car. I didn't get this professionally done because I'm the type who likes to work on my own cars. If I need to replace my engine or something else crazy like that I'll let the pros do it. However, one thing I can say is that my handiwork is not the best. There are gaps, air bubbles, and creases where there shouldn't be. Stand 5ft away and it looks fantastic. But I must say I'm quite happy for my first time wrapping my car.

I wrapped my rear spoiler and the roof. I thought it would only take 4 hrs for the wrap like what the online product description said but boy was I wrong. It took me about 3 days to get the roof done. Getting the air bubbles out took a lot of patience. I did rip the wrap right behind the antenna on the top of the car. The cuts aren't straight but overall it's acceptable to me as a first timer. However, I will never again wrap my own car. 

After this experience I understand why shops charge 3k - 6k for wraps. The time and effort it takes is immense and to get the cuts straight and to wrap around the panels takes additional care. The rear spoiler was easier than the roof. It was mostly straight forward but I did cut into the paint with my razor....Simply cutting the wrap where it contacts the trunk was the hardest part. The corners are a bit rough but the rear of the car looks amazing. 

The stickers were any easier to install. The car's body is curved. There is almost no area where it is completely flat. Even a small curvature affected the way the stickers attached to the car. The curves caused one side of the sticker to bunch up and the other to stretch leaving nasty little creases. I tried my best but unfortunately it was impossible to get rid of all the air bubbles and creases. Cutting the sticker wasn't as easy as I thought. There was a plastic coating over it.

That plastic made it easier to mess up on the edges when cutting and required significant effort to cut through. When I heated the vinyl it got rid of the creases and scuff marks but on the stickers it would too but the sticker would stretch. After it stretched it wouldn't go back to it's original shape. Unfortunately I found this out through trial and error. Overall, I think it's worth the time, effort and money to try something out like this. I enjoyed it (mostly). Some parts might be ugly but I don't feel bad at all if or when I decide to rip it off.