Was not willing to drop the cash on an actual Heritage edition when I picked this 2018 up about a year ago. I wanted a 2016+ for upgrades and I do like the revamped hood but overall I didn't much care for the chrome accents. Just seemed too suburban housewife for me. And so little by little I started doing some minor cosmetic changes until I have now what I'd like to believe is the final product. I wasn't 100% trying to clone the heritage edition but it ended up that way when I went Bronze instead of blackout on the wheels. And other than the wheels all mods are reversible if anyone cares to try.
I'd link to amazon but who knows if those will last the rest of time, here are the " Build " parts:
- LZLRUN Free Tool Kit Satin Black Vinyl Wrap Kit for Black Out Chrome Delete Window Trim Door Trim (2Inches x 30Feet) - Any satin black wrap will do
- Dupli-Color Wheel Coating, Matte, Bronze
I had some experience messing with wraps prior to this but even for a beginner should be doable.
Used the black wrap on the window sill chrome area. Simple enough
I can not recall if it was here on this forum or else where but on some post someone else found that exact Avery white color code and had tried it against blizzard pearl and it's a close enough to perfect match. There are videos out there on how to remove the door trim pieces and I followed them for removal. I will say for re-installation would be good to pick up some new plastic pieces that hold them on as I broke a few but even with out those it has held up for many months.
The door trim pieces are where if you look up close you can tell I'm a novice at wrapping, the corners can be tricky. BUT you pretty much have to staring straight at them point blank to notice and after my first mistake I learned how to at least hide the worst bits on the bottom so you'd have to stare up from the ground to catch.
Next was the use of the plasti-dip. I wanted a more brushed/gunmetal look but I didn't want to actually scuff up the chrome trim pieces on the hood and trunk because I didn't know if scuffing it would have actually worked given the surfaces. I came across this as a solution and it again has held up surprisingly well in the about 9 months since I did it. I even tested an area over night to see if I could peel it off if it went badly and sure enough it does. With a very healthy amount of painters tape and trash bags to protect the surrounding areas from over spray, I applied 2-3 VERY Light coats and it almost perfectly gave the brushed metal look I was going for.
Chrome is all gone now but what to do about the wheels? After looking at many a build with blacked out wheels decided it wasn't for me. Bronze seemed more my taste plus in my mind I would help hide brake dust more in my mind at least. I figured why not at least use the spare as a guinea pig to see if I can just paint them and it turned out good enough for me to roll the dice.
And to help anyone in the future trying to find this since I had no luck "Land Cruiser 200 series stock wheels painted"
Followed the instructions for the wheel coatings. Prepped with 2 types of sand paper, steel wool, decreaser, etc. (Having a little hand held air duster to help speed up drying was clutch by the way). Finally painted and used about 1.25 cans of paint on each wheel and two clear coat applications each. This isn't hard but it is time consuming. I ended up only doing two at a time due to time constraints so I drove around with a two faced setup with one side of the car having stock look and the other painted for about a week until I could get the wheels on the other side. They are a bit brighter than these first pictures are doing justice.
Only has been a couple months since I painted the wheels but they've held up good best I can see. Time will tell if they hold and I'll be interested in seeing what happens next time I get new tires but as of now.... *knock on wood* they're doing great. Helps that I put so many layers on them.
So now the only decision I have left, is to go with the stock lug nuts or black ones. I'm currently rocking both with black ones on the driver side and stock on the passenger. Maybe I'll just keep it that way.
Thank you for coming to my TEDtalk
*image converted failed on the one rear angled picture
I'd link to amazon but who knows if those will last the rest of time, here are the " Build " parts:
- LZLRUN Free Tool Kit Satin Black Vinyl Wrap Kit for Black Out Chrome Delete Window Trim Door Trim (2Inches x 30Feet) - Any satin black wrap will do
- Avery SW900-109-S Gloss White Pearl 5ft x 2ft (10 Sq/ft) Supreme Vinyl Car Wrap Film
- Plasti Dip Rubber Smoke Spray 11oz
- Dupli-Color EHWP10600 Wheel Coating Clearcoat, Matte, Clear- Dupli-Color Wheel Coating, Matte, Bronze
I had some experience messing with wraps prior to this but even for a beginner should be doable.
Used the black wrap on the window sill chrome area. Simple enough
I can not recall if it was here on this forum or else where but on some post someone else found that exact Avery white color code and had tried it against blizzard pearl and it's a close enough to perfect match. There are videos out there on how to remove the door trim pieces and I followed them for removal. I will say for re-installation would be good to pick up some new plastic pieces that hold them on as I broke a few but even with out those it has held up for many months.
The door trim pieces are where if you look up close you can tell I'm a novice at wrapping, the corners can be tricky. BUT you pretty much have to staring straight at them point blank to notice and after my first mistake I learned how to at least hide the worst bits on the bottom so you'd have to stare up from the ground to catch.
Next was the use of the plasti-dip. I wanted a more brushed/gunmetal look but I didn't want to actually scuff up the chrome trim pieces on the hood and trunk because I didn't know if scuffing it would have actually worked given the surfaces. I came across this as a solution and it again has held up surprisingly well in the about 9 months since I did it. I even tested an area over night to see if I could peel it off if it went badly and sure enough it does. With a very healthy amount of painters tape and trash bags to protect the surrounding areas from over spray, I applied 2-3 VERY Light coats and it almost perfectly gave the brushed metal look I was going for.
Chrome is all gone now but what to do about the wheels? After looking at many a build with blacked out wheels decided it wasn't for me. Bronze seemed more my taste plus in my mind I would help hide brake dust more in my mind at least. I figured why not at least use the spare as a guinea pig to see if I can just paint them and it turned out good enough for me to roll the dice.
And to help anyone in the future trying to find this since I had no luck "Land Cruiser 200 series stock wheels painted"
Followed the instructions for the wheel coatings. Prepped with 2 types of sand paper, steel wool, decreaser, etc. (Having a little hand held air duster to help speed up drying was clutch by the way). Finally painted and used about 1.25 cans of paint on each wheel and two clear coat applications each. This isn't hard but it is time consuming. I ended up only doing two at a time due to time constraints so I drove around with a two faced setup with one side of the car having stock look and the other painted for about a week until I could get the wheels on the other side. They are a bit brighter than these first pictures are doing justice.
Only has been a couple months since I painted the wheels but they've held up good best I can see. Time will tell if they hold and I'll be interested in seeing what happens next time I get new tires but as of now.... *knock on wood* they're doing great. Helps that I put so many layers on them.
So now the only decision I have left, is to go with the stock lug nuts or black ones. I'm currently rocking both with black ones on the driver side and stock on the passenger. Maybe I'll just keep it that way.
Thank you for coming to my TEDtalk
*image converted failed on the one rear angled picture
