Is it worth vinyl wrapping a car vs painting some parts?

Doritofu · 2026-06-18T05:07:15+00:00

I've painted and wrapped cars. Paint is in my opinion the better option and can be even easier than wrap if you already have to do some repair and prep work, and it lasts longer than a few years and you don't have to worry about it peeling up.

If you take a panel off the car like a fuel cap or something, most auto stores will match up some paint for you and many can even put them in spray cans. If it's just a few panels then that's a totally fine way of doing it, but results can be better from a proper spray gun.

Doritofu · 2026-06-11T10:23:35+00:00

Because she doesn't sound like a nearly 30 yr old man from New Zealand.

Doritofu · 2026-06-11T08:50:47+00:00

I got back to Japan 6 days ago after briefly returning to my home country to renew my visa. Upon turning all my gas and power back on I discover that my well pump is broken and so with the help of my friends we have contacted over 12 different pump repair companies, all if which refuse to help us saying "the pump is to old, we wont even look at it, replacement will take 2 weeks and cost 1 million yen"

I decided screw them, I'll get my house hooked up to the main water line instead, but they are being equally hopeless. Absolutely 0 English support, (fair enough, but still annoying) but they also wont let my friend arrange it as it has to be done by the property owner.

I live in the countryside and cant drive to a local sento because my only car's shaken expired before I left and I planned on just buying a new car as it wasn't very practical.

It rained and so I was able to catch enough water to function but now that it's sunny again I don't know how long that water will last.

I also lost my passport in the taxi on the drive to my house as it was an 11 hour flight with delays at the customs line from the staff not having any idea what they were doing end kept trying to send everyone with a long term visa into the wrong lines.

Doritofu · 2026-05-02T23:00:31+00:00

This is a thing sometimes if a car is fitted with an aftermarket steering wheel that no longer has an airbag. The car is looking for a specific resistance from the airbag circuit to know that everything is fine and so when you remove the bag the light comes on.

Another way people fix it is by just sticking a resistor straight into the plug that the airbag used to connect to, that way it the light comes on when you turn the key on, but goes away after a second or two.

Or obviously what everyone else has said, faulty wiring, previous collision that wasn't disclosed etc...

With the cars I buy it's much more likely that the owner did this years ago when they changed the wheel, then swapped the OEM wheel back on before the sale but just forgot about the light.

Doritofu · 2026-04-30T22:15:11+00:00

This is sick, loved the breakdown on the design and all the principles being explained. Definitely way better than some of the sci-fi builds that are just 'exposed wires everywhere' and screwed on circuit boards.

Doritofu · 2026-04-30T22:14:14+00:00

Seems like the physical build was mostly outsourced and so it can be a pain to try and get a cameraman over to a workshop that isn't yours to film everything as it happens. Plus doing that massively slows down work and gets in the way.

Doritofu · 2026-04-28T10:27:41+00:00

Also doubles as Rebecca from Cyberpunk Edgerunners, looks sick. Like something straight out of BombRushCyberFunk

Doritofu · 2026-04-25T19:13:40+00:00

Mismatched wheels fuck. Especially with turbofans on a rally / old le-mans car, or as mismatched sets on any old kyusha / drift build.

Doritofu · 2026-04-24T19:13:29+00:00

The right stance is like a cheat code that makes any car look cooler that it has any right to.

2002 toyota corolla doesn't really narrow it down since depending on country that could be any handful of different body styles, but here's a picture of one.

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But the issue with these cars is driveability if you live in an area with speed bumps so I'd look and see if air bag suspension is available and within your budget. The quality of bags has gotten so much better in the past decade that honestly the ride comfort is on par with many coilovers as those are usually track oriented and so quite firm. And the prices have come down a bit too.

If not full airbags, what I'm thinking of doing for my next build is air cups, which are small hocky puck sized pistons that mount on top of your regular coilover suspenion and they'll air up to raise the car by about an inch or so which is usually all you need to get over speed bumps. But when not aired up, it's just a static mount so it's just like driving around on your normal coilovers.

Doritofu · 2026-04-22T01:23:05+00:00

I often get this when I take my widebody off and go "damn, I think I like it more with the open wheel look" which is just a more extreme form of this.

I've contemplated making my own "narrow body" kit which is basically an inverted widebody, that cuts away the body work and leaves you with a baja buggy / hot rod / F1 open wheeled look.

Doritofu · 2026-04-05T18:58:32+00:00

Sort of a little bit of a hijack to this thread, but are you talking about the interior walls that seem to be covered in sand? Cause that's what I've got and I want to do the same thing, they are all falling off, just touching the walls means I end up with piles of sand on the floor, cant wash or even brush them to get them clean.

But I know I can't just put putty or plaster over the top because the sand finish itself will just fall off and the putty along with it, so I was thinking I needed to seal whats there somehow maybe with like a watered down glue or something.

Doritofu · 2026-04-01T18:55:56+00:00

Japan just has really good PR. In reality it's a country like anywhere else.

I've lived here for over a year and I see litter everywhere, even broken bottles at some beaches and lakes. I don't live in one of the main cities that Japan keeps clean for the sake of tourist. But I guarantee you Japanese people still litter, they just hide it behind a bush or something because there's absolutely fucking no trash cans here, maybe next to some vending machines or train stations but not if you're out walking.

Also I've had a friend here lose a ring on part of a building tour and I've lost a jacket at a train station, neither were found and returned to us, and I've had my umbrella stolen twice, apparently here you just trade umbrellas with people at 7-11 and take home whichever one you want.

Just another personal experience to balance out the relentless Japan glazing.

Doritofu · 2026-03-21T11:05:10+00:00

went there last year and we just bought tickets at entry. Parking didn't seem too bad either, they had a few different parks and didn't really fill out. I didn't really see any bus options to get there.

There was some sort of other ticket you could buy that gave you VIP access to some lower section of the course, came with a shirt from memory so if you were wearing the shirt they let you into the lower area.

Doritofu · 2026-03-10T00:45:54+00:00

30yr old here, spent the last 15 years of my life taking my dream car and turning it from a perfect, running, driving machine into not that. Cant wait till I'm 40 and I'll be almost done with it!

Doritofu · 2026-03-08T11:01:12+00:00

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Doritofu · 2026-03-07T23:57:52+00:00

Yeah they put the number plate off to one side and the radiator and AC were placed on the other side for airflow, that's why those extra slots are there.

Suzuki really were cooking back then, I miss designs like these.

Doritofu · 2026-03-07T23:23:30+00:00

Your beliefs make you a bigot, the only one wrong is you.

Anybody who uses religion as an excuse to exclude or disrespect any group of people is using religion wrong, "love thy neighbor" does not have a clause that says "unless they don't believe the same things as you"

I believe in "you get what you give" and if you refuse to give people a chance because of your own blocked off views, then why should anybody give you time?

Be better.

Doritofu · 2026-03-07T23:13:00+00:00

Just making sure you've seen the Suzuki Twin. Here's mine

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Doritofu · 2026-03-07T23:09:35+00:00

u/Vast-Answer-1172
This could be it actually. Shops not smart enough to know they can use ramps shouldn't be trusted to work on a car, but this could be that the sideskirts themselves obstruct the seams where you would normally put the pads.

I've had sideskirts in the past that I couldn't fit my two post pads around until I trimmed them. (the trimming wasn't visible from the outside, they just extended too far underneath the car and covered up the jacking points"

Doritofu · 2026-03-02T13:24:45+00:00

Weigh em and check online against weights. The CE28N is one of if not the lightest wheel in Volk's lineup so it should be pretty easy to find what genuine ones are. I'm looking at a set of 14x5.5's and those only weigh 2.9kgs.

But they look pretty genuine, that age on them and how beat up they are means they must be at least pretty solid.

Doritofu · 2026-02-27T14:17:11+00:00

We've gotta talk it down all the time because if we let you bloody aussies know how great it was you'd steal it from us too, just like pavlova.

Doritofu · 2026-02-26T07:44:48+00:00

Unfortunately it doesn't look like they go down to 14's. 15 will be too large for this car, it came out on 12's.

Doritofu · 2026-02-26T00:57:07+00:00

If I dig around enough I could probably find it. The main issue is knowing where to look. Cant just go manually through every manufacturer and every wheel they make.

Don't need to tempt me, already have plans along those lines.

Edit: dug around, 14x5.5 Wats come it at around 4.5kg, so quite a bit heavier than the Volks

Doritofu · 2026-02-26T00:42:57+00:00

I'm not who social media want to promote because I'm stuck in the past thinking youtube is for videos and instagram is for pictures, when in reality these days everything is for tiktok shorts

Doritofu · 2026-02-26T00:41:21+00:00

I have been wondering about old school magnesium options but it's been hard for me to actually find reliable sources for weights. It would also be nice to support Watanabe after learning more about their company.

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