Subaru Legacy Vinyl Wrap - Import Tuner Magazine

One of the most important steps when working on any project car is always the paint and body portion of the build. Nothing can make or break your car more than the color and condition of your car's bodywork. When it came time to address the exterior of the Subaru Legacy we knew that color choice would be one of the most important decisions ever made on the build.

With all the new technology developments over the recent years we decided to hit up our friends at 3M to request some of their 1080 Series vinyl in Black Metallic. You can tell by looking at the film that this isn't like the material you use on stickers. This has a waffle backing so there's no air bubbles, and it allows the material to be stuck down and pulled off, making installation and readjustment easier. These new vinyl sheets also leave absolutely no adhesive behind like some decals and are 100 percent safe on paint. Also, 3M offers a huge selection of vinyl colors so picking them was a no-brainer.

To help us out in the door dent department, we called up our friends over at Simply Dents to tackle the job of removing the 60 door dings in Project Legacy. Yes, you read that correctly; there were 60! I guess the owners of this car for the past 14 years didn't really care too much about parking too close to other people.

With just a few primitive-looking tools and a bunch of reflective boards, they knocked out the entire job in less than two hours. It seems like everyone is always looking for a good door dent guy, and these are two of the best we've seen. Plus, they do a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff for plenty of high-end dealerships.

Marvin and John over at Simply Dents make quick work of all the dents on the car, and got the body back to 98 percent of what it looked like from the factory.

After we got the Legacy all straightened out, it was time to drop it off at Iconography Studios to get its new skin.

Before we dropped the car off at Iconography Studios in Los Alamitos, CA, we knew there was some serious prepping that had to be done. A good rule of thumb for any vehicle that is about to get wrapped is that you should always prep the car like it was going in for a paintjob. Take off all the moldings, emblems, blemishes, and, yes, even door dents.

That being said, a quality product means nothing if it's installed incorrectly. The guys over at Icon Wrap (Iconography Studios) actually took more care in the install than we've ever seen.

The main reason why we ended up choosing 3M products on this build is simply because their quality is unmatched. Yes, there are plenty of other vinyl manufacturers out there that make a ton of colors, but those usually end up fading or cracking very quickly. That's not the case with 3M. In fact, the finish of the 3M product even makes it safe to apply quick detailer and cleaner wax to make sure its protected and clean at all times.

Each section was checked and double-checked to make sure everything went on just right. After each section was applied, the guys worked the vinyl with surgeon-like precision and made sure each line matched up perfectly.

After a quick install of all the body panels and grille, the car was ready to bake in the sun to let the vinyl even out. As you can see, the black metallic vinyl absolutely pops in the sunlight.

After everything was double-checked for blemishes or inconsistencies, it got the final approval to be sent home. It's time for this Legacy to finally start turning heads. Even standing next to the car, you can't tell that it's a wrap. You have to really put your face less than a foot away from the paint and know where to look to see that it's a wrap.