So I'm vinyl wrapping my stereo/HVAC control plate (in theory). I've found one of the fake wood-plastic OEM faceplates that is smoother than the metal cover on my 2013. I'm still in the process of scraping off the felt tape around the edges - that crap is stuck on good.

Any pointers on how to do the button holes / edges to prevent buttons from sticking? I don't want to just cut near the edge with a super sharp knife, especially with the red-faux-wood-grain underneath it will be obvious and ugly. My current idea is to poke a small hole, heat it with a heat gun, and stuff something about the right size to stretch the vinyl out to the edges - like a round pencil or wooden dowel etc.

I've wrapped the silver door inserts except the driver's door and they went OK, but those are pretty simple surfaces... this one's complicated. Any advice appreciated.

I'm using VViVid carbon flake vinyl.

 

hey too funny...i went from the silver trim on mine to black, to gray, to carbon something to the current you see below , which is a gray/silver something and then this past weekend was at salvage yard to get a window piece trim and this 12 had the fake wood interior...not sure why it looked so good, that i ended up getting most of the pieces except the stereo/climate piece which was long gone by the time i got there...vivid is good, at least in my exp and have used 3m as well, as most say, it seems to be easier to work with ...but the best tip is to use , as per your theory is good , a pen/pencil or something relatively close to the size of those holes and once you wrap right over them, then in the middle of each hole, punch it with pen/pencil and then gentle heat and press the heck out of each in back, otherwise when you place it back onto the board, the buttons will lift it up or push it up and not give a good finish. So yea, that's the best way i found and it works to some extent, but careful with heat gun, maybe a hair dryer as too much heat surprisingly will make the material rebound or something and then it wants to lift if overheated, at least in my situations as you can see in pic below...but this is 2 summers of heat in FL, it started smooth and slowly over summers it lifted and i stuff it in but eventually lifts so going to the wood pieces for a while LOL and will come up with a new color later on maybe...anyway, good luck and one last thing...some vinyls will smooth out the surface to an extent so its not too crucial to have a smooth surface..also, you need to wrap around the edges and have it adhere to the back of panel, like the back edges, that will give you the smoothest finish and no lift and the felt wont be an issue, as it will help with fit once u place it back...good luck

 

Here is what I do to get a perfect cutout.
1. Clean the part with IPA
2. Wrap over the whole thing
3. Heat up the area around the hole, push the wrap in slightly with a pencil eraser or similar (don't push it all the way through)
4. Use a VERY sharp Xacto knife (brand new) and gently run it along the inside of the circle. Don't use any force, just skim along the edge.

You don't want to just heat it up and shove it through, with constant heating and cooling cycles it'll start to lift and shrink back.

 

I didn't get the rest of the center stack, but I'd be willing to trade the stereo faceplate in the reddish wood for something different. Just don't want to wrap my brushed metal one in case I want to go back to stock in a hurry.

 

India Pale Ale? You sure?