Project Midnight R1T

[beyondgravity]

This is Project Midnight.

About a year ago I took delivery of my Midnight, Large pack, Quad motor R1T.

It was a beautiful truck and I wanted to protect it, so I had I wrapped in stealth PPF. In retrospect I almost think that was a mistake. The satin black PPF made the truck look so luxurious and premium that the textured black plastic trim stood out like a sore thumb.

That kicked of a 6 month long process of having the only local Rivian certified body shop in my area rework the plastic trim so it could be painted to match and then wrapped with PPF to match. Black satin really makes any imperfections in the body work stand out, so it had to be perfect. I have to hand it to Dave Body Shop in West Jordan, UT. Yes, it took a ridiculously long amount of time, but they made it absolutely perfect. It looked like it was 100% OEM straight from the factory. They have on-site level 2 chargers and were really good to keep the SoC at 60% while it was there too.

Around February 2023 I loaded it back on a flat bed to take it back to BlueZero to finish the PPF (this was the company that Rivian/Xpel recommended). We decided to do some gloss black PPF highlights which I think really turned out nice. There were a few other things that didn’t look quite perfect that I wanted to address. I felt like the light bar was too white against the black. It just stood out a little too much, so I had it covered with a slight smoke colored film. It turned out really well. When the light bar is lit up it looks white, like it’s not tinted at all, and when the light bar is off it looks almost black. The headlights were covered in a clear protective film.

One issue I had with my Tesla M3P was I would lose a lot of energy to running the A/C full blast in the summer. I decided to have the windows and sun-roof tinted with ceramic heat rejection tint, and the windshield covered with clear ceramic heat rejection film. As far as the actual wrap and tint itself, BlueZero did a fine job. Unfortunately, I think they must have had one of the new guys working on trim removal and replacing the badges. The trim on one of the passenger rear side windows was damaged as well and the clips on the plastic bed side covers. They also lost the tailgate/tonneau button. They used little rectangular pieces of foam tape to reattach the badges that were so thick they left gaps between the badge and the metal that would have been a nightmare to clean:

I also worried they could get caught on something and ripped off.

I loaded the truck back on a flatbed and took it to Rivian to have the trim pieces replaced. I also bought new OEM badges so the adhesive backing would be perfect. I spoke with the owner of BlueZero. He was awesome to work with and he covered the cost of the damaged trim pieces. Rivian also performed the required camera recalibration required for Highway Assist/Driver+ to safely function.

In the end the badges turned out really nice, and I love that there are no PPF cut-outs:

This probably isn’t worth the extra $2k for most people and maybe I’m a little OCD, but I wanted it to be perfect.

Another thing that bothered me was the balloon shaped tires. I know they probably optimize rolling resistance and range, but they look terrible. I loved the custom forged Aero rims Avant Garde makes, so I went to them to have a tire and wheel package made. They told me they wouldn’t custom forge and aluminum center cap because they were afraid of getting in trouble with Rivian, but they said they could CNC the center cap to perfectly fit the OEM Rivian center caps which could be painted to match. We agreed that was the way to go. Only one problem. This is how they showed up:

They had machined the center cap opening so large that the center cap would fall right through. We went back and forth for a while but ultimately they refused to re-machine the wheels to match the spec we had agreed upon. Instead, they offered to machine an adapter. We went back and forth for months on this. The first adapter they machined didn’t fit. It was loose and rattled back and forth. I had to ship a wheel back to them so they could try again. In the end this is what they advertised.

And several months later, this is what I got:

Again, maybe I’m OCD, but this wasn’t acceptable. I ended up spending a few thousand dollars more to hire another company to design, CNC, and powder coat an aluminum center cap that perfectly fit and matched the wheels:

Initially I wanted to go with Nitto Ridge Grappler tires and I think I would have if the truck had been about any other color. With the Satin black it just didn’t look right. It needed something a little sharper. I decided to go with Recon Grapplers which ended up looking really good. One advantage to the custom rims is I can use standard tire sizes (285/55R22). I haven’t driven it on the road yet, but I’ve pulled the truck in and out of my garage to load it on a flat bed tow truck and even with the suspension in Lowest I haven’t had any issues with rubbing when I’m backing up with the steering wheel turned as far as it will go. I had it in my garage on lowest and it recently got really cold. The change in air pressure lowered it even more and I was pleased to see even with the tire up into the wheel well it still clears the plastic trim.

It was expensive, and took way too long to build, but in the end, I love the way it turned out.

So how much would it cost to build?
$73,000 Adventure Package
$8,000 Quad-Motor AWD
$6,000 Large Battery Pack
$2,500 Midnight Paint
$3,500 22" Sport Dark Wheels
$800 22" Sport Dark Spare Tire
$0 Black Mountain + Dark Ash Wood Interior
$1,500 Powered Tonneau Cover (not sure how much they’re going to be charging for this now?)
$625 Offroad Recovery Kit
$200 Regular and All-Weather Floor Mats
$150 Field Kit
$625 Cargo Crossbars
$750 Rivian Wall Charger
Base truck price: $97,650 +Taxes and Fees

Modifications:
Original quoted price:
$6,000 22" Custom forged aluminum alloy aero wheels
$2,020 Nitto Recon Grappler Tires
$6,500 Custom body body work by Rivian certified body shop to eliminated cheap looking textured plastic and paint-match lower body
$6,200 Full Stealth PPF Wrap with new blacked out badging over PPF for seamless appearance. (probably more expensive than standard Rivian even with badge removal because it cannot have PPF over lower body due to textured plastic.)
$499 Ceramic window tint
$200 Ceramic sunroof tint
$200 Windshield Transparent (non-tinted) ceramic heat rejection film
Quoted price for mods: $21,619

Actual Price for Mods:
$10,470 22" Custom forged aluminum alloy aero wheels
$2,020 Nitto Recon Grappler Tires
$2,986 Custom aluminum Rivian logo center cap for custom wheels
$12,295 Custom body body work by Rivian certified body shop to eliminated cheap looking textured plastic and paint-match lower body
$9,112 Full Stealth PPF Wrap with new blacked out badging over PPF for seamless appearance.
$499 Ceramic window tint
$200 Ceramic sunroof tint
$200 Windshield Transparent (non-tinted) ceramic heat rejection film
Total $37,782 in modifications

All together, if I were to do it again today it would be about $135,431 plus tax, title and registration. I got my truck pre-price hike, so it only cost me about $125k despite the delays and cost overruns. If you are lucky and have good people doing the build and aren’t paying interest on a vehicle loan, it could be done for $119,269.

Worth it! #NoRegrets

Hello Perfectionist with no family (too much assumption here)

Here is a semi-perfectionist with family, I absolutely love it. ? Had I done it, i would be a Thanksgiving roast. So I will enjoy it vicariously.

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[Jnz]

Thank you for posting all of the details on your build and journey. The truck looks absolutely incredible! Love the way the trim came out. And the wheels and tires look awesome. That's a great combo. Enjoy it!

 

[Whataboykie!]

Amazing looking truck! Thanks for including all the costs. This allows one to select one of the things you've done knowing about how much it will cost.

 

[virgnia_rivian]

They just told me that any time a Rivian certified body shop removes and reinstalls a piece of the body work that has a camera built into it (in this case the front grill/vent, camera in the trim by the front tire, and camera in the rear bumper), they require a camera recalibration to ensure that Driver+ features function safely. I assume they put that rule into place more because normally body work would only be removed and replaced if the vehicle was involved in a collision where things could potentially be bent or misaligned, or you're replacing one camera with another and the computer needs to "re-learn" the new camera, but I'm not sure.

We are having our windshield replaced by a Rivian certified body shop and as part of the work they have to take it to a service center for recalibration. They told us it's a step in their work process and it's required as part of their certification from Rivian. So it sounds like they told you the same thing that we were told.

 

[SASSquatch]

Absolutely stunning mods and truck. Use it in good health and stay the hell away from other people and vehicles that could ruin this beauty.

Also - did you wipe down the tires in the beach shot? I think you did unless you had that bad boy dropped on the beach by helicopter...

 

[dcramm]

Wow! Well done.

 

[ProjectMidnightRivian]

PAAK ya! Coolest R1T I've seen! The T in that background! Stunning!

Your wife must be very nice or you just got divorced! j/k

In the beginning she was cool with it. We both like cars and she drove BMWs for the first 15 years we were married while I drove the same beat up 2003 Honda Civic and invested everything I could. Then I got laid off this past spring. All the mods besides the center caps were paid for at that point, so not much to do about it. She's just upset about the car payment now and wants me to get rid of it. I told her I'd "look into it" (If your reading this babe, the air quotes there are just for show. I really am looking into it), but the new business just broke even and should be profitable soon, so I don't think it will be an issue.

 

[mini2nut]

To each his own, but I’m just not into matte or satin wraps. You do you however.

 

[ProjectMidnightRivian]

Absolutely stunning mods and truck. Use it in good health and stay the hell away from other people and vehicles that could ruin this beauty.

Also - did you wipe down the tires in the beach shot? I think you did unless you had that bad boy dropped on the beach by helicopter...

Well, full disclosure. All the pics were taken in my driveway when I finished the truck, but my driveway is all pitted and nasty because this build was way more exciting than spending $10k on new driveway. I used AI to fill in the backgrounds. On the main photo with Moab in the background if you look closely at the light bar you can see a reflection of my house (which I only wish was in Moab).

 

[SASSquatch]

Well, full disclosure. All the pics were taken in my driveway when I finished the truck, but my driveway is all pitted and nasty because this build was way more exciting than spending $10k on new driveway. I used AI to fill in the backgrounds. On the main photo with Moab in the background if you look closely at the light bar you can see a reflection of my house (which I only wish was in Moab).

Well done, sir! You fooled the hell out of me.

 

[strangelove]

#1 Stunner. F'n gorgeous.

 

[ThisIsMyHandle]

I love it, especially the lightbars. typically black works well on any vehicle, but I had the same misgivings as you and crossed it off my list.. (I also don't have the budget )

 

[ThumprMN]

Can we see pictures of it at night? And maybe with a view of the door open with the black interior?

Just Gorgeous!!!

 

[Summi99]

I’d be doing the same exact thing to my R1S only if my kids were done with college, house mortgage is paid off and my wife is tired of complaining that I spend more time with my truck.
Great job! It looks amazing

 

[Blueassassin]

Wow! Great job the trim came out amazing.

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