Several years after owning my beloved Dodge Avenger, nature's elements really began to take a toll on the look of my vehicle. The paint began to peel and crack along the front bumper as its top layer was stripping away. I needed a paint job badly! I got a few estimates from shops in my area. It became clear to me that this job would not be a cheap one just as I had feared. I was going to have to just suck it up and fork over the $500+ to reserve my time slot. But the more I thought about it the more I grew frustrated about the whole situation. Although I cherished my car, I thought there just had to be a better alternative use of my money.

I eventually stumbled upon the concept of "vinyl wrapping". A superficial design technique used to enhance the look of a vehicle typically with the use of 3M vinyl wrapping paper. I took an interest to this idea, but the labor costs were just too steep for my liking. Then it hit me! "Why don't I just skip the middleman altogether, buy the material myself, and learn to do whatever these shops would have done to redesign the look of my car?", I said to myself. My mind was set, I was going to tackle this challenge head first. Call me stubborn I guess.

I immediately began combing through hours of Youtube tutorials for the best techniques, and within a week's time, I was ready to begin wrapping. I purchased some vinyl kits that fit well with my car and added a few custom design concepts inspired by some of my favorite exotic cars, such as the Lamborghini Aventador. I bought all the of tools the pros used to get the job done such as a squeegee, 30-degree angle blades along with knifeless tape (a life saver) for max cutting precision, measuring tape, and most importantly a heat gun for sealing the vinyl edges. In less than a month, I had completely finished the redesign with the added touch of some plastic molds and LED lights right below the grill just for that extra edge to the overall look.

To say I knew it would turn out to be a success would be a lie, but if you never try you'll never know what you're capable of. So below are some comparison photos of a standard Avenger versus my redesign. It's not perfect, but I hope that if you're a fan of cars or even just of taking on new challenges in general that you'll appreciate it. Thanks for reading!