# VWvortex Beetle Convertible Project



## [email protected] (Feb 16, 1999)

So it starts...

Beetle arrived yesterday and we have a pile of parts we took off of the Matte Grey coupe including the orange wheels...











Yeah, no.... :what:




More later.


----------



## silverspeedbuggy (Aug 8, 2001)

Yellow Rush Turbo? How'd that happen?

(Excited for updates!)


----------



## Carbon Steel (Sep 6, 2010)

In for the build


----------



## 02SilverSport (Jun 2, 2012)

Subscribed! Can't wait for the next view. 


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD


----------



## drtechy (Jun 3, 2009)

In


----------



## VWNDAHS (Jun 20, 2002)

Considering what you achieved the last time you did a beetle build, I can't wait! :thumbup:


----------



## Dscot8r!2 (Dec 18, 2012)

So, what's the short list of potential wrap colors? I vote matte white.


----------



## Hufeisen (Jul 18, 2006)

Fast build for Waterfest?


----------



## GTarr (May 17, 2012)

I didn't care for the orange wheels on the silver bug, but I honestly think that works on the yellow. In a crazy kind of way!

GTarr


----------



## [email protected] (Feb 16, 1999)

Hufeisen said:


> Fast build for Waterfest?


YUP!

So up on jack stands it goes...










The orange VMR 710 20" wheels we had on our matte grey beetle coupe had a few chips that we sanded and smoothed prior to covering them with matte black plastidip...










Next we used some rattle cans of matte black Plastidip and gave the orange wheels about 3-4 coats to cover the orange and give the wheels a new base finish. The Plastidip can be peeled off at any point and isn't a permanent solution, but works well for our short term purposes...










Front H&R adjustable coilover suspension and Brembo brakes when on the front...










The convertible has two heavy-duty cross bars bolted diagonally across the bottom of the car under the rear seats that had to be removed to fit the Borla Exhaust on the car...










We also swapped the HID headlamps from the grey coupe into the convertible. This Beetle Convertible is something VW had from the launch and is a turbo with Yellow Rush paint, six-speed manual and a fairly base setup. 

APR Carbonio intake from the grey car bolted right up and the Borla exhaust fit perfect. We'll add the chip tuning when we get to WaterFest. 

Here is where the car is at right now...



















We also tried something new. 3M makes a line called the Architectural Series which are vinyl materials made to cover walls and other building applications. We used a very cool looking matte dark wood called Dark Tamo and tried to apply that to the interior gloss black and faux carbon pieces...











So the next thing in our experimenting is to try and do a matte white Plastidip exterior paint as well. We are also toying with making the wheels a dark bronze color to go with the matte white, but we're going to wait and see how the matte black accents and wheels look first.

Stay tuned...


----------



## drtechy (Jun 3, 2009)

Looks awesome! Just pm'd you, wondering if the old headlight housings they replaced would be available for sale, I'm looking for an extra set!


----------



## Jedidub (Oct 6, 2010)

Nice


----------



## Carbon Steel (Sep 6, 2010)

Sitting nicely


----------



## VWNDAHS (Jun 20, 2002)

[email protected] said:


>


That looks INCREDIBLE! Definitely going that route, thank's for the head's up!


----------



## [email protected] (Feb 16, 1999)

Ok, couple of morning updates...

We pulled the Beetle in and masked off the various parts to try an experiment using Plastidip. We've done the vehicle vinyl wrap thing before but in the quest to try new things, we're giving this trendy new option a shot. People have been painting whole cars with Plastidip which is a rubberized coating that can be peeled off at a later date if you don't like it. Normally it comes in rattle cans you can buy at Home Depot and other big box stores, but *Dipyourcar.com* sells the material in 1 gallon cans and has a ton of information and videos on how to do this on their website. Here is one of the videos:






Now, we'll be first to admit one mistake we made up front - mask literally everything you don't want paint on. We thought we covered most of it, but overspray works its way into almost anything, so be prepared to do some cleanup afterwards if you decide to do this. If you take the time to use newpaper to completely seal off the wheel wells for example, you won't have to deal with cleaning up overspray. Most of it rubs off with a dry microfiber cloth and the rest can be removed with Bug and Tar remover. Plastidip can be peeled off the headlamps, taillamps and other various trim pieces, including the VW logos and more. So it has a lot of flexibility and is very easy to work with as it doesn't run nearly as easy as regular paint does. It is also relatively cheap to do and can be accomplished with a couple buddies in a day.

First we masked off the car:










To do a matte white finish, it requires a grey base coat, so we applied two coats of grey plastidip base to the car using a regular household latex paint spray gun.










Then the first coat of white goes on. You layer this one thinly with a 50% coating (or so) for the first coat...










After 5 coats of white you end up with something like this...










Finally we started peeling off the Plastidip on the rear reflectors, taillamps, trim pieces and more which gets us here...











The plastidip leaves a slightly rough finish that feels rubbery. Most reports on the Internet seem to indicate that it is fairly durable (although any sharp gouge will leave a mark). You clean it with Simple Green or mild car wash soap. We'll let you know how it holds up. The other thing is that the insides of the door jambs and such are still bright yellow (looks like ass to be honest). IF you have a neutral colored beetle, this won't be quite as stark, but every time we open a door, it is painfully obvious what color we started with. That said, the matte white looks really good on the car so far.


More later today...

- jamie


----------



## eunos94 (Mar 17, 2002)

:thumbup:


----------



## drtechy (Jun 3, 2009)

I dig the white! Definitely should have removed trim pieces on the inside so you could have done the jams and everything like jwcardy did on his wife's beetle. But live and learn, can't wait to see how it continues!


----------



## Carbon Steel (Sep 6, 2010)

Nice work and narrative is informative, but you still have to deal with doors, hood and truck......


----------



## [email protected] (Feb 16, 1999)

drtechy said:


> I dig the white! Definitely should have removed trim pieces on the inside so you could have done the jams and everything like jwcardy did on his wife's beetle. But live and learn, can't wait to see how it continues!


So this car is a bit of an issue in that it is VW's car and we need to be able to easily reverse what we did when it goes back (Super Beetle was different as that car was outright bought). So when we were looking at the time crunch we had and that we needed this to be relatively easy to reverse, we decided not to paint inside every nook and cranny. I don't personally like to half-ass anything, but in this case we had to make a compromise to get the exterior to look the way we wanted and also end up with something that wouldn't require hours to clean plastidip out of hood hinges, door hinges and more. I'm still trying to see how durable this whole thing is or if it is a mixed blessing kind of thing. 

We are going to evolve this project over time and we'll decide where we go after WaterFest.

Here are the latest pics in between rain showers...


----------



## silverspeedbuggy (Aug 8, 2001)

:thumbup:

Very very nice Jamie!

If it were mine, I'd:
- Remove the rear headrests
- Use the vinyl 'wood' wrap on the underside (black portion) of the rear wing


----------



## Chris659 (Nov 16, 2012)

What about some accents using the wheel color? Or go black with the wheels...

Like the matte white though! We just painted our shop car (BMW 335 vert) matte white with gloss black accents and looks great!


----------



## vdubjettaman (Mar 31, 2004)

Are the Brembo's bigger than the factory or just a replacement for same size?
I like the matte white color and the wood together. :thumbup:


----------



## Dscot8r!2 (Dec 18, 2012)

[email protected] said:


> So this car is a bit of an issue in that it is VW's car and we need to be able to easily reverse what we did when it goes back (Super Beetle was different as that car was outright bought). So when we were looking at the time crunch we had and that we needed this to be relatively easy to reverse, we decided not to paint inside every nook and cranny. I don't personally like to half-ass anything, but in this case we had to make a compromise to get the exterior to look the way we wanted and also end up with something that wouldn't require hours to clean plastidip out of hood hinges, door hinges and more. I'm still trying to see how durable this whole thing is or if it is a mixed blessing kind of thing.
> 
> We are going to evolve this project over time and we'll decide where we go after WaterFest.
> 
> Here are the latest pics in between rain showers...


Thank you for doing Matte white! :heart:


----------



## Carbon Steel (Sep 6, 2010)

You guys are good, looks great.


----------



## [email protected] (Feb 16, 1999)

Chris659 said:


> What about some accents using the wheel color? Or go black with the wheels...
> 
> Like the matte white though! We just painted our shop car (BMW 335 vert) matte white with gloss black accents and looks great!


They were matte black before, but there was virtually no detail to them and they disappeared into the wheel wells. Dip Your Car guys sent us some Vintage Gold Metallic and Copper Metalizer with the rest of the supplies. We decided to try the Copper Metalizer over the black to see how it looks. 1 coat was cool, but just not quite enough and didn't cover evenly. Two coats covered better, but also went in the copper direction a bit. Some here like it and some aren't so crazy about it. We're saving the Vintage Gold to experiment with a set of 1552 wheels when we get back from Waterfest. Wheels will definitely get changed up in the future. 

The Brembos are 14" cross drilled rotors.

One more photo for the pile...


----------



## Hufeisen (Jul 18, 2006)

Looks great! Looking forward to seeing it at Waterfest :beer:


----------



## vdub10golf (Jan 23, 2010)

Nice :thumbup:


----------



## JustFord0099 (Apr 5, 2009)

that wood grain! Must have!!


----------



## widecamels (May 26, 2011)

JustFord0099 said:


> that wood grain! Must have!!


^^^^yeah that....trade for a carbon fiber stock one? 😈


----------



## LindsayLowhan (May 29, 2010)

Any reasons for dipping rather then wrapping? Just wondering. Love the turnout of the car and looking forward to seeing it at Waterfest.:beer::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:


----------



## Chrisho (Dec 1, 2012)

love the wheels, might have to photoshop them onto my toffee convertible, as for the wood trim look, why not do the area of the HVAC controls as well? Not sure how it would play out though


----------



## vdubjettaman (Mar 31, 2004)

LindsayLowhan said:


> Any reasons for dipping rather then wrapping? Just wondering.


They answered that...


[email protected] said:


> We've done the vehicle vinyl wrap thing before but in the quest to try new things, we're giving this trendy new option a shot. People have been painting whole cars with Plastidip which is a rubberized coating that can be peeled off at a later date if you don't like it...
> - jamie


----------



## [email protected] (Feb 16, 1999)

Chrisho said:


> love the wheels, might have to photoshop them onto my toffee convertible, as for the wood trim look, why not do the area of the HVAC controls as well? Not sure how it would play out though


We have more material here and might try that. The wood vinyl is thicker than typical wrap vinyl so getting it to conform to complex or thin pieces is tougher. But no reason we can't try.

Car was picked up two days ago for Waterfest. Should be back on the ground with it and the Super Beetle later today in New Jersey.


----------



## hussdog426 (Nov 20, 2011)

:thumbup::thumbup:


----------



## Dscot8r!2 (Dec 18, 2012)

Jamie - Can you make a slide show like you did on the Super Beetle? Some of these pics need to be in my screen saver montage, but my monitor at work is big, so they need to be 2400X1601 preferably. K, thanks. 

:thumbup:


----------



## Rlinetexas (Jun 27, 2011)

Wow!! Looks 100x better then when you started.


----------



## jwcardy (Feb 22, 2012)

looks awesome Jamie. Is this a project you guys did by yourselves or did you have a place that dips only the daily dip the beetle for you?


----------



## [email protected] (Feb 16, 1999)

jwcardy said:


> looks awesome Jamie. Is this a project you guys did by yourselves or did you have a place that dips only the daily dip the beetle for you?


No we did this inhouse completely. Some late nights leading up to WaterFest. We are back home now and planning our next round of mods and touch up/fixing of stuff we should have done right on the Plastidip the first time (door handles removed, door sills and other odds and ends). 

-jamie


----------



## TJClover (Feb 10, 2007)

This gets my vote. :thumbup: I like the wheel color with the white quite a bit. :heart:

Is the 3M Architectural series something anyone can get right now? I have bamboo wood accents in my Beetle: air gauge surround and dash area. I haven't been able to find any vinyl close to it for other accent pieces.


----------



## VMRWheels (Aug 11, 2009)

[email protected] said:


>


Jamie, I saw Don's photos of this beetle from Waterfest and had to come take a look at the build. Love the way it turned out, especially the color of the wheels.

Keep up the good work. :beer:


----------



## Code3VW (May 5, 2004)

What harness adapters did you use for the OEM HIDs?


----------



## silverspeedbuggy (Aug 8, 2001)

Code3VW said:


> What harness adapters did you use for the OEM HIDs?


I think the car came to them with the bixenons. I could be wrong.


----------



## vdubjettaman (Mar 31, 2004)

silverspeedbuggy said:


> I think the car came to them with the bixenons. I could be wrong.


first pic- shows halogens.


----------



## silverspeedbuggy (Aug 8, 2001)

vdubjettaman said:


> first pic- shows halogens.


I stand corrected. :thumbup:


----------



## [email protected] (Feb 16, 1999)

Code3VW said:


> What harness adapters did you use for the OEM HIDs?


We had to make them. Requires wiring a relay directly to battery for direct power.

-jamie


----------



## Jedidub (Oct 6, 2010)

Love it


----------



## VWNDAHS (Jun 20, 2002)

Jedidub said:


> Love it


x2


----------



## soulrack (Apr 3, 2011)

Looks great, love the wood grain film :heart:


----------



## Aonarch (Dec 4, 2006)

UNNNNN. 

Digging this. 

:thumbup:


----------



## VWNDAHS (Jun 20, 2002)

[email protected] said:


> YUP!
> 
> So up on jack stands it goes...
> 
> ...


19x8.5 or 19x9.5? I'm really liking how those VMR's compliment the beetle's lines!


----------



## VMRWheels (Aug 11, 2009)

VWNDAHS said:


> 19x8.5 or 19x9.5? I'm really liking how those VMR's compliment the beetle's lines!


20x9 ET35 :thumbup:


----------



## VWNDAHS (Jun 20, 2002)

VMRWheels said:


> 20x9 ET35 :thumbup:


Nice, what tires? 255x35x20?


----------



## VWNDAHS (Jun 20, 2002)

[email protected] said:


> So it starts...
> 
> Beetle arrived yesterday and we have a pile of parts we took off of the Matte Grey coupe including the orange wheels...
> 
> ...


How's the ride on the VMR 710 20x9"? How about aggressive driving, any rubbing? Finally what tires are you guys using?


----------



## VMRWheels (Aug 11, 2009)

I believe the tires are 245/35/20 with no rubbing issues.


----------



## Chris659 (Nov 16, 2012)

I use a 20x8.5 with an et37 on a 245/35/20 and H&R sport springs. I only get minor rubbing in the back when thhe hatch or backseat is loaded and hit a bump or under really aggressive cornering. 

They sit flush with the fender


----------



## ridgemanron (Sep 27, 2011)

Look's to me, the only tweak remaining to be done is to get rid of those balloon rear headrests
and replace with the lower, Euro version ones.


----------



## 02SilverSport (Jun 2, 2012)

Looks great. I like the bronze and white! Wood looks great too?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD


----------



## VWNDAHS (Jun 20, 2002)

Thanks for blazing the trail Jamie


----------



## drtechy (Jun 3, 2009)

Thumbsup


----------



## [email protected] (Feb 16, 1999)

Working on getting the project car section created for this car. Then will do slightly more indepth articles on the build so far. Just got the accessories rear valance and front lip spoiler this week. Those go on next.

-jamie


----------



## VWNDAHS (Jun 20, 2002)

Sweet! They really complete the look, what color are you going to paint them?


----------



## LindsayLowhan (May 29, 2010)

So is it safe to say we shall see this beauty yet again making an appearance at H2Oi? please please please.


----------



## Bunnspeed (Apr 2, 2013)

Bump. I love seeing a vert dipped white. Looks fantastic with the black roof.

Is factory white even available with the black roof? 

Any updates on this build?


----------



## Chrisho (Dec 1, 2012)

I would cover the area around the HVAC controls as well with that wood style vinyl. That might actually work out well on my Toffee convertible.


----------



## [email protected] (Feb 16, 1999)

Bunnspeed said:


> Bump. I love seeing a vert dipped white. Looks fantastic with the black roof.
> 
> Is factory white even available with the black roof?
> 
> Any updates on this build?


Just waiting for snow/winter to break here and we'll get some more detailed articles rolling again as well as some new photos. We put the SuperBeetle 1552 wheels on it for now. 










Also, I covered the HVAC controls background panel with woodgrain at one point and it just looked like too much wood grain going on. The panel is fairly large and flat so it just looked funny to most of us here. Personal preference of course...

-jamie


----------



## JPeezy (Mar 30, 2007)

ughhhhh that front lip looks so damn good. :heart:


----------



## [email protected] (Feb 6, 2007)

[email protected] said:


> We put the SuperBeetle 1552 wheels on it for now.


Nice! Wondered where they went


----------



## Bunnspeed (Apr 2, 2013)

[email protected] said:


> Just waiting for snow/winter to break here and we'll get some more detailed articles rolling again as well as some new photos. We put the SuperBeetle 1552 wheels on it for now.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


More pics, please!! :thumbup::thumbup:


----------



## LindsayLowhan (May 29, 2010)

O wooooooooooow, it is really going to be hard for me to say no to a VW Beetle this summer. Especially with the 1.8t back. ugh. Loving the new wheels. More pics please?! Especially a top up all windows dropped from the back pic! please?:wave::laugh::thumbup::heart::heart:


----------



## Hackintosh (Jan 5, 2012)

Is this the black with copper or the vintage gold ???


----------



## [email protected] (Feb 16, 1999)

Copper misted over black.


----------



## hussdog426 (Nov 20, 2011)

:thumbup:


----------



## [email protected] (Apr 24, 2014)

Oh wow! Love this , it's got me thinking of ideas for the interior with the wood vinyl effect.


----------



## majormajor (May 21, 2014)

How easy is it to remove the dash trim in order to wrap it?


----------

