[MattG]

A couple days ago, I installed the Lamin-X headlight covers on my Elise. The newest instructions from Lamin-X (see two posts up) were very helpful. I've installed headlight covers on a different car before, one with fairly flat headlights and had a tough time getting it to all lay flat there. I didn't know how I was going to do the Elise. Keeping the side of the light dry (or mostly dry) made it really quite easy to apply. The hardest part was aligning the wet half correctly to get an even gap all around, while trying to hold the dry side up so it wouldn't stick. Leave a small gap, not too much (1/8"?) when aligning.

One confusing part about Lamin-X's instructions, though, was "You will incremetally press the film down from the top to the bottom of the light". On the first light, I assumed 'top' was the end of the light at, well, the top, and started from there. It worked, but got progressively more difficult as I progressed 'down' towards the end of the light at the front of the car. The edge of the film in that area is wavy as a result of all the stretching it had to do. For the second light, I changed my definition of 'top' to mean the spine or ridge running the length of the light. Starting from there resulted in a much more even distribution of creases (it looked worse than lasagna noodles) - but these creases were easily brought flat using a hair dryer and the plastic scraper.

The result looks...like crap. It's partly my fault, in some areas where a speck of dirt got caught (typical challenge, it seems when working with this stuff). Also, each side had one crease that proved tough to beat. I thought I had it licked, it was staying flat and looked fine, but when I checked it the next morning it had lifted a little there. I should have checked it 15, 30 minutes after finishing. The last problem is much stranger and I'm hoping someone here might recognize it. In several areas, there are sharply defined cloudy areas. Has anyone seen anything like this before (see pics)?

All in all, I didn't think this was too difficult to install and, with the exception of the cloudy areas, I think the cosmetic problems are mostly a learning experience and I should be able to do much better next time.