Swift Interior and Wiper Upgrades πβ
Hi Everyone,
Post photoshoot, the car received an uplifted interior done in stages which is now complete with the addition of inner door panels in black italian alcantara adjacent to lime green pvc leatherette trimmed pads.
Other than the patterned design across the front doors and dashboard, the new swift's panels largely mimic the layout of a mercedes benz's side trims which meant that i could inspect a friend's C-class and notice where rainwater potentially falls noting the channel flow route across the interior.
Hence, alcantara seemed fine for a vertical impression, but the arm paddings had to be in weather resistant pvc. Admittedly, i would have loved for it to be in nappa leather like the steering wheel and rati armrest πΉπ
Also visible in the door panels are german made oracal sticker reflectives. Since my cars tend to be driven globally, i've been looking for a way to amplify overall brightness at night when it is cold and visibility reduced due to fog as well as sleet.
After a fair bit of research i decided only three options would be suitable:
A: Installing a bulb style light embedded around a washer style frame mount screwed into the inward facing door trim edge like those in ferraris, which would be best as it delivers a consistant, sharp broadcast yet likely cause potential wiring issues that could be problematic in light flood encounters.
B: Affixing a puddle light system downwards to lighten the immediate area without any logos, purely utilitarian, which would illuminate the ground under the door in a wide radius and act as assistance during entry/exit in snowy terrain. Like option A, this suffers from a wiring cost and potentially cause other issues to crop up π€
β C: Stick non invasive reflective stickers of a high quality in key areas to amplify and diffuse small amounts of light from multiple angles, enough to act as a safety barrier yet passive enough not to draw from the vehicle's battery or compromise the wiring loom throughout
Located in between the reflective stickers are tactically positioned matte black equivalents designed to add contrast and allow the red vinyl to pop out more in pure darkness where even neglible amounts of light are beneficial πΊπ ππΌ
These are all done under my design and direction having driven across the world from the hottest deserts to coldest frozen tundras. Lessons learnt from the past π±
The car also received new PIAA wipers from the local official dealer which are made of a rally-spec chunky plastic exterior housing silicone wipers on the inside.
Given the swift's windscreen curvature, i've found it difficult to use frameless wipers although the convenience of not having to wait to heat the front during winter is nice - something like bosch wipers just don't wipe cleanly around the top edges π§»π€£π€£π€£ππΌ
This is a bit of "best of both worlds" and now the uneven streak is gone. I'm certainly impressed with PIAA so far and this is my first time using their non-exposed line with a frame. Reminiscent of the older Vera series in the late 2000s but with more durability heft.
Lastly, the interior's loom ambience now mimics a domestic (home) SAD lamp for winter travel. Although clearly just an LED bulb, i sought to find the closest K match that would clone SAD alleviating light hues for myself and passengers to reduce seasonal depression.
This is coupled with a convex frameless mirror to reduce blind spots and lift the front centre viewing module to be more in line with premium market vehicles.
Thanks for looking!