It’s bad form to turn up naked at a party. Well, that’s what Jules’ solicitor says, anyway. Closer to home, there was no way we were going to allow the automotive equivalent to happen either.
We love the subtle hue of the STi’s factory Plasma Blue metallic, but that whole ‘less is more’ thing was never going to be the remit on this build. Nope, we’re definitely going for a ‘more is more’ vibe on this one, hence the ‘look at me’ rear wing and Cosworth CS400 alloys that had already found their way onto the car.
Knowing we were going to have to hand it back to our friends at Pro-R (Subaru’s official tuning arm) at the end of the show season meant we couldn’t paint it if we were going to get lairy. In time honoured tradition, if we wanted to transform the STi from stocker to shocker, we were going to need a traffic stopping wrap.
There are a lot of great names out there of course, but when you need it done right first time, and you’re working with someone else’s brand-spanking-new £32k motor, our advice is to aim high and work with the pros. It never ends in tears that way. We have two names on speed-dial for such emergencies, and like the postman – these guys always deliver.
Vinyl gods 3M should need no introduction to anyone who’s anyone around here. Not only does their vast range of trick shades and textures eclipse anyone else’s out there, but speak to any graphics man worth his salt, and he’ll tell you that the quality of the material makes it much nicer to work with than many of the lesser films you might choose. If you’ve got a car with tortuously curved bumper mouldings like the STi, then you’d be mad to consider anything less.
On shapes like that, the vinyl’s gonna need to cover more kinky twists and fiendish folds than a Vegas pole dancer, so the 3M was a no-brainer – you get what you pay for and all that. We decided to go for their latest matt orange wrap to accent the gloss black details and factory window tints. Subtle, it ain’t..
The other half of this equation is the skill of the fitter, and here we broke out the big guns, too. Chris and Ryan at Creative FX in Bromley, who are 3M authorised vehicle wrappers, they have done more wrapping than Santa’s elves, and can do things with a heat gun that probably aren’t even legal in some American states. Over a day-and-a half of pure skill, genius and craftsmanship, they got the wrap to cover the STi’s curves as if Fuji Heavy Industries themselves had applied it, transforming it into the four-wheeled equivalent of a massive slap across the face with an orange boxing glove.
Yeah, it’s safe to say that we’ve been tangoed! Huge thanks go out to the guys – the last time we saw vinyl worked that magnificently, Pete Tong was playing. Peace!
SPENT
Vinyl wrap £1800
TOTAL SPEND
Total £1800
Contacts
Pro R
Creative FX
3M
See more of Fast Car’s 2013 Subaru WRX STi
