I take no responsibility for anything you do to your vehicle! Read and do this at your own risk!

Well it's cold as hell and I have a bunch of CF Vinyl I wanted to use on my bumper.
While I'm waiting for warmer weather I decided to do my fuel door. Read on!

PS. This was my 3rd time ever applying vinyl to anything, so if I can do it anyone can!

Took roughly an hour to prep and apply.

Stage 1 - Take off the fuel door

Open the fuel door as wide as possible. There are 2 bolts that you need to remove. The fuel cap is attached to the door, you can just pop that off the door (it will pop back in no problem after you're done installing the door again).



Stage 2 - The tools

1. The fuel door!
2. Water/soap solution. I used tap water with a couple drops of dish soap.
3. CF Vinyl (got it from eBay, quite cheap for a whole roll of it)
4. Hair dryer with a warm/hot temp setting, low/med/hi speed, and a flat attachment to spread the air better (the attachment really comes in handy later).
5. Some soft yet hard squeegee tool for applying vinyl (getting rid of air bubbles etc. Don't ask me where to get one cause I got in with an order of something else, so just ask around - try vinyl shops etc.



Stage 3 - Cut the vinyl

Lay the door on top of the vinyl and cut out an area enough to fully cover the door, also leave some extra for bending around the corners.



Then lay the cut vinyl on top of the door and cut off excess square edges (they'll get in your way later, so might as well get rid of them).



Stage 4 - Apply the vinyl

Here you must be patient and careful! If this is your first time I suggest you practice if you have vinyl to spare (especially heating and bending corners).
Take your time, take it easy!

Since I really am not an expert I will not go into detail on how to best apply the vinyl. Do some research! Google it! Ask someone who knows what they're doing!

To make the long story short:

Start applying and heating the vinyl properly. Going around the edges is the most tricky part (I messed it up the first time and had to redo it).
You have to feel out how much heat to apply to bend the vinyl around the corners for it not to crack, melt, or bend awkwardly. This is where the hair dryer attachment comes in handy!
Spread any air bubbles with the squeegee.
Boom, done! Install your fuel door and you're good to go.

Back view:


Front view:


Side view:


Texture closeup:


A relatively cheap and easy way to have a CF looking fuel door.
Anything goes wrong with it you can just peal it off.
I like it!
I'll take pictures of the car some other day cause it's cold and dark outside.

Have fun.

Great write up.
Where did you get the vinyl from? I'm trying to find cheapest and best quality online.

Thanx.

I got the vinyl from http://myworld.ebay.ca/ccwkshp/
Good prices and he has a whole bunch of different colors and sizes, and I think you can get custom sizes as well.

Cool, looks fantastic, just bought a roll myself, hope i can do as good as you,

Thanks for the link

Cheers, :beer:

looks nice....what else can you do besides the bumper....OH! the door handles!

By the way, I don't have it anymore.
I did it wrong and it came off during winter (the vinyl I got... you're not supposed to use water on it, it just sticks).

Anyway I just painted the fuel door instead.