JAY'S TINT SHOP Brings JAKEeWRAP to LIFE

Elon's Alien Dreadnaught Brought To Life

JAY'S TINT SHOP

Makes JAKEeWRAP Real

This is a sneak peek into an intriguing story that I’ve been diligently working on for the past seven years. It chronicles my journey of bringing my JAKEeWRAP design reference for the CyberTruck to life, and perhaps most significantly, the role of Jay from Jay’s Tint Shop in Kirkland, Washington, in making my dream a reality. The accompanying photo showcases Jay in my JAKEeWRAP CyberTruck, adorned with my two-tone concept design. This design features a triangular rear sail panel, resembling a third window on the back of the CyberTruck. It completes the pyramid shape upper window structure of the CyberTruck, which, in my opinion, completes its masterpiece design.

Why I Waited So Long 

I purchased my CyberTruck several months ago, which was really strange as I was so prepared to purchase one immediately after they became available three years ago, but I held off for the following reasons:

1. CASHGRAB: Tesla’s highly nonsensical, revisionist, aggressive pricing strategy for the CyberTruck left me deeply disappointed, to the point where it deterred me from initially purchasing one when it was first released. I will point out I would not have believed this could even be possible at the time as I was so stoked to get a CyberTruck!?!!

When Elon Musk first announced the CyberTruck, Tesla extended an invitation to me to attend the official CyberTruck launch event on November 21, 2019. I was thrilled by the opportunity and promptly placed an order. During the event, Elon Musk revealed the fact CyberTruck would be available at a price of $39,000, with the Flagship Tri-Motor model boasting a range of 500 miles and a price tag of $69,000, as depicted below.

It took Tesla 5 years to get the CyberTruck to market, which was far from ideal, but I am ok with that fact, as I understand, and appreciate the fact good things take time, and Tesla had to weather a number of storms, including Covid. What I was not cool with was the severely greedy cash-grab approach Elon Musk took when he finally launched the CyberTruck, by more than DOUBLING the pricing of the Dual Motor AWD CyberTruck from $49K to $99K, while significantly reducing the promised 500 miles of range on the Tri-Motor AWD model to only 320 miles or range, despite increasing it's price over 70% by adding a $50,000.00 price increase. As Elon himself would say, "That's NOT cool!?!!" Keep in mind, these number are pre-tax, so after taxes it's significantly more...

In my opinion, this was Tesla’s most significant mistake, or misstep—a case of significantly overpromising while drastically underdelivering. Forcing early adopters to purchase the “Foundation Series” to fulfill their orders certainly seemed like a bait-and-switch tactic, if you ask me. I don’t mean to imply Elon Musk and Tesla intentionally misled customers. However, their final pricing strategy was so poorly conceived that it may as well have been a lack of integrity from the outset.

If Tesla hadn’t taken this approach, and had actually delivered all pre-ordered models at the originally promised prices, I’m convinced the CyberTruck launch would have been a resounding success, rather than the complete fiasco it turned out to be. In other words, if they had kept their original pricing for all who put down a good faith deposit, today, they would still have a line out the door and around the block of customers eager to purchase a CyberTruck, just like they do with the Model Y. 

Thank God, they didn't mess up the Model Y, as it brilliantly remains their cash cow, as it's the best selling automobile today.

CyberTruck sales unfortunately are the antithesis of the Model Y today. Instead, they have a massive inventory of unsold CyberTrucks sitting around collecting dust, and likely had to slow down the CyberTruck production line significantly. The only greater or equally significant blunder in Tesla’s history was Elon’s decision to include Falcon Wing doors on the Model X, which was equally misguided.  

Let me be clear: I am the president of the Tesla fan club. I am madly in love with Tesla, and think it's the greatest automotive brand in history. 100% of my criticism is purely constructive, as I would like Tesla to be the absolute best it can be. That being said, there is certainly significant room for improvement with Tesla.

2. Beta Tester: As mentioned, I was so turned off by Tesla doubling the price while significantly reducing range, that once the first CyberTruck models started shipping, I realized if I bit the bullet and just purchased at that time, I would essentially be a beta-tester, which was also not appealing to me. 

Also, Tesla offered me a ridiculously low trade-in value for my 2023 Model S, which I loved, so the confluence of these three variables made it easy for me to decide to just wait for a couple of years, until Tesla revised the CyberTruck, but that day never came, and I got sick of waiting, so several months ago I purchased an AWD CyberTruck.

Let me be specific about what I was waiting for: I incorrectly assumed Tesla would almost immediately update the CyberTruck design to increase range and fine-tune and dial in all the details. The exact opposite occurred. 

In other words, Tesla ran the ball down to the 2 yard line and just stopped!?!! Features like the half-baked, at best, rear view mirror system, with the rear camera that is barely visible when it rains should have been addressed immediately, but three years have gone by with ZERO resolve, change, or improvement, which is historically unlike Tesla.

From what I can tell, Tesla has significantly improved the overall build quality of the CyberTruck, while making ZERO innovative feature improvements over the past two years. As a designer, I find this to be totally bizarre that a company like Tesla could make such an innovative vehicle, by pushing the envelope so hard, including major innovations like, steer-by-wire, 4-wheel steering, 48-Volt Architecture, bi-directional charging, and then just suddenly after launch lock up all future feature innovation!?!!

I believe it's likely just after the CyberTruck launch, Elon was exhausted with product development, and decided to focus all resources on perfecting FSD, which explains why there has been almost ZERO innovation in Tesla vehicles since they started selling CyberTrucks.

Granted, after the CyberTruck launched, Tesla updated the Y, 3, S & X, with minor revisions, but they were minimal and primarily cosmetic, adding things like the ambient interior LED lighting color bar, but no truly innovative features. For instance, the Y, 3, S & X all received the ambient lighting feature which trickled down from the CyberTruck, but none of them received the ESSENTIAL power up/down frunk feature, which completely blows my mind!?!! How in God's name does Tesla make a Model X Plaid, and Model S Plaid that are way over $100K, which still have manual opening and closing Frunks???

Then there was also the fiasco of Tesla "finally" launching their ridiculously overpriced, stripped down CyberTruck RWD (Rear Wheel Drive) model that nobody wanted, that basically poured gasoline all over the CyberDumpster fire. Launching this complete failure wasted precious resources Tesla could have instead focused on the making the CyberTruck more appealing.

On a side note, just to put things in perspective, waiting almost two complete years to finally purchase a CyberTruck and customize it to meet my JAKEeWRAP design reference has been super frustrating! 

Specifically, many readers of TeslaMagazine.org, and RolexMagazine.com have been so inspired they actually wrapped their CyberTrucks to my JAKEeWRAP two tone standard, as we see with the X.com post below, which Elon Musk personally commented favorably upon. 

Just be crystal-clear, the CyberTruck pictured above in the X.com post is NOT mine, as it belongs to an enthusiast who liked my JAKEeWRAP design reference enough to incorporate it 1:1, and he did it over a years ago, so when I would see posts like this I was stoked to see proof-of-concept, but at the same time it was frustrating to see other people rocking my JAKEeWRAP CyberTruck look, while I was not :-(

CyberTruck is The Best Vehicle Ever Made 

Let me be clear, I believe the CyberTruck is objectively the best, most innovative vehicle ever made in the history of the world. Elon's sales and pricing tactics, aside, I am madly in love with my CyberTruck. 

As with every Tesla I’ve owned, and I’ve purchased five new ones, they’re always delivered incomplete with numerous details that have consistently required me to bring all my Tesla vehicles back to Tesla service and engage in a frustrating battle to fine-tune these details to match the vehicles’ intended specifications when they were delivered. This experience is always exhausting, frustrating, and ultimately self-defeating, and Tesla has the capability and responsibility to rectify this issue, which is CLEARLY in their best interest.

The difference now is Tesla is more popular than ever, and Tesla service seems to be completely overwhelmed, in a negative way. For instance, if you want to schedule a service appointment today, there is a 30 day wait until you can get your vehicle into service, which is FAR from ideal. I was told by my Tesla service advisor this is due to the fact that Tesla vehicles are more popular than ever, and they are having a hard time keeping up with servicing all the cars they have been selling.

I took my CyberTruck in to have a number of details fixed, and most of it's done, but I have to return again, to let them finish dialing in all the details, as they were 'too busy' to fix them the first couple of times I brought in my CyberTruck.

I was terribly insulted by my Tesla service advisor who said, "Well, from your long line of complaints about your CyberTruck, it sounds like you got a lemon. Maybe you should reach out to Tesla to ask them to buy it back from you?"

The service rep knew I publish TeslaMagazine.org, and that I am pretty much Tesla's greatest fan, so I was taken aback and stunned by his careless-at-best insult/comment. I told him specifically, "You have this all wrong. I am madly in love with my CyberTruck, which is why I want all the details to be correct."

To be precise, my CyberTruck had numerous careless flaws when it arrived. For instance, the door edges were extremely sharp, posing a significant risk of severe injury if someone grabbed the door to close it. Despite my concerns, my Tesla Service advisor assured me that the door edges were designed that way and met the Tesla specifications. I was surprised that he didn’t take the time to thoroughly inspect the edges, given his apparent haste.

Ironically, after I got my CyberTruck back from Tesla, Jay from Jay’s Tint Shop, pointed out the severely dangerous ultra-sharp door edges. In fact, they had to sand down and deburr the edges to ensure the PPF wrap material adhered properly. During the sanding process, the technician who worked on my CyberTruck cut himself pretty badly three times. 

He was so shocked that Tesla would release such a careless and dangerous product in this condition. This is just one specific example, of many careless details that were overlooked by Tesla. 

So basically, Tesla makes amazing cars, but the fit and finish still leaves a great deal to be desired. The good news, I believe, is that the fit and finish is fixable to a large extent, and my understanding is that Elon thinks its a feature, and not a bug, to have the service centers-clean up all the careless mistakes that the apparently non-existent delivery quality control team misses. Tesla, if you are listening, it would save you a great deal of warranty cost and customer frustration if you simply better inspected your vehicles after manufacturing them, instead of pushing out the door too soon without proper inspection.

Back To The Future 

So enough of the negative, and let's focus on the fun and exiting aspects of CyberTruck ownership, with a focus on my journey to bring my JAKEeWRAP design reference to life.

Let's start back at the beginning. The evening Elon Musk Showed off the CyberTruck in Austin, Texas, I ordered one immediately!!! It's important to understand I am a hardcore design fanatic of the highest order!!! I eat, sleep, breathe and dream design, and have been a successful designer for the past 5 decades...

When I first saw the CyberTruck, I was blown away by how awesome and modern it looked, but at the same time, as a designer, all I saw was an incomplete work of art. In other words, I saw what potentially was an absolute masterpiece of design, that looked unfinished and incomplete to me.

The image above was published the first evening as a PR image, and when I studied it, all I could see was a Triangular window system that had been cut off in the back, to look like a cardboard 1980s Pontiac Fiero (Yuck!!!!), and I also thought there was too much silver, or monolithic steel, so I did what I always do, and got to work trying to figure out how to improve the CyberTruck design in order to make it perfect in every way.

The two images and text below are from an article I published on RolexMagazine.com on November 11, 2019, and show my exact design thinking:

"I watched the Tesla CyberTruck launch event live, and since I am a designer, thoughts began racing through my mind on how to make the CyberTruck look much better. So I sat down at the computer and started playing with the design. In the image I created below, I extended the geometry of the rear window to complete the pyramid look, which could house optional solar panels. Then I painted the bottom of the car a matte black (as seen below) and added a wide red pinstripe, which I think looks super badass!!!! Completing the pyramid windowscape also reminds me of the Nike swoosh logo, which looks like it's in motion when standing still..." —Jake Ehrlich (November 11, 2019, originally published on RolexMagazine.com)

So basically the image above showcased my original concept on how to significantly enhance and complete the design of the CyberTruck. The image below shows my actual CyberTruck, taken on December 11, 2026, and it's almost identical to my original JAKEeWRAP design reference pictured above. 

One notable difference is that the CyberTruck in the image above is elevated significantly on its suspension, where mine maintains a much lower stance. While this may seem unusual, I perceive the CyberTruck as more of a Supercar SUV than a traditional truck. 

Consequently, I maintain the suspension in its lowest stance setting, as I believe it enhances its sporty appearance, and lowers its center of gravity, thereby improving handling. This modification transforms the CyberTruck into a more sports car-like vehicle, and I couldn’t help but notice that when the bottom of the CyberTruck is wrapped in black, it appears significantly smaller overall.

"When I first saw the Cybertruck, it looked incomplete to me. So I created my highly symmetrical 

JAKEeWRAP design to perfectly complete this masterpiece of minimalist, geometric design."

—Jake Ehrlich

Designer

Jake elaborates:

"I am a complete symmetry freak when it comes to design!!!

Symmetric design by definition achieves the arrangement on opposite sides of a dividing line or center point, creating perfect balance and harmony through a mirror-image effect, like a butterfly's wings, the human face, or a well-designed building or vehicle. 

Design symmetry embodies precise equilibrium and proportion, manifesting across mathematics, art, nature, and physics as invariance—a shape or object remaining unchanged under transformations such as reflection, rotation, flipping, or translation. 

With the JAKEeWRAP for CyberTruck my goal was to complete and emphasize the naturally occurring pyramid shape in as organic a way as possible. I achieved this by extending the rear side window geometry, as well as wrapping the bottom of the vehicle in black, to make the remaining sliver pyramid shape pop as much as possible.

My JAKEeWRAP design turns a static noun into a dynamic verb in the sense the CyberTruck now looks like it's moving through space, even when it's standing still—kind of like a NIKE Swoosh logo.

On the image below I added a much fatter red side stripe, than on my original 2019 JAKEeWRAP design reference, as I later figured out it was much better this way.

In case you were wondering how I came to the conclusion the significantly fatter red stripe was so much better, years ago, I was playing around with trying to figure out the exact details of the JAKEeWRAP, as seen in the image below. My original design reference ONLY addressed the side view, and I was initially confused about how to best handle the top of the frunk panel.

In particular, I was trying to figure out if it made sense to also wrap the top of the frunk in black, which now seem like an obviously inevitable choice, as it makes the wrap look much more cohesive, and makes the CyberTruck look black from the straight on front view.

I experimented with making the red stripe the exact same height as the front running light panel it intersected with, and then it was immediately obvious the geometry organically flowed perfectly, and created a fascinating optical illusion or statement of sorts.

For the record, I am on the fence 50/50 as I still can't decide if I like it better with or without the red stripe, thus the only way to resolve this issue is to try it both ways, so soon I will add the fat red stripe which I can always later remove, if I choose to.

Step by Step

The image below represents the first step Jay's Tint Shop took, which was to add my JAKEeWRAP rear triangle panel which is cut from STEK glossy black PPF, and we also added the same along the window sills to tie it all together. I drove the CyberTruck for about a week with just the updated windows to test it out, and I thought it looked AMAZING!

Step 2, was bringing my Truck back to Jay's Tint Shop in Kirkland, Washington to install STEK Dyno Black 10 Year Warranty PPF in matte on the bottom, which has a slight almost satin-like finish to it, as pictured below. Jay was so stoked on the design of my JAKEeWRAP he asked me to create a sign for him that featured my CyberTruck wrap for his rear wall, which I included in this image, and I think it looks pretty RaaaaaaD. 

It took us 3 generations of testing to complexly perfect and dial in what I call the JAKEeWRAP Sunglasses Window Design, which consists of 3 key ingredients:

The Rear Pyramid Shaped window panel which completes the pyramid shape, and we used STEK 10 Year Dyno PPF in Glossy. We chose Glossy over matte for several different reasons. First and foremost, its highly reflective nature makes it look very similar the actual tinted windows, which are tinted with a 15% STEK Tint. 

We used the same STEK PPF to wrap the entire window sill structure and on our first attempt, we took a quick and easy job, and did NOT remove the mirrors, nor did we wrap the edges as seen in the image below on the left. Also, we experimented with running the PPF wrap over the rounded edge, which didn't look good. The image below on the right shows the final details, where we stopped the mascara edge just before the curvature, and we removed the mirrors so we could get a really clean wrap that could wrap around the edge, which is no longer visible as seen below.

The two images below show the Window treatment that I commonly refer to as the Mascara, Eye Liner, and Sunglasses that complete the perfect pyramid shape, and if you look closely you will notice the trick to tying it all together perfectly is the use of the STEK 10 Year PPF in glossy for both the rear pyramid window, as well as the window sill flat edge area at the bottom of the side windows.

The detail is really subtle in the image below, but that's the idea, in the sense that the JAKEeWRAP is largely based upon a number of optical illusions that work together in perfect harmony so that no matter what angle you look at the JAKEeWRAP CyberTruck, it looks great, and it looks organically so. We spent a great deal of time carefully measuring distances in order to figure out how to perfectly position the rear pyramid panel, which was not easy. It's worth noting there are a number of very peculiar lines that comprise the CyberTruck geometry that you have deal with when wrapping it, and there Jay's team was even able to make a slightly crooked or misinformed rear side door look much better by optimizing the wrap around the imperfections in it's kind of imprecise geometry.

Our next experiment is to try cutting (on the plotter) very precise and shiny pyramid panels from matte PPF to add to the top and bottom of the rear Pyramid panel to simulate an extension of the shadows cast from above the cantrail and from the lower window sill edge. I created the graphic below which shows two alternative styles. The top has more tapered edges, and the bottom middle version is more pronounced. We will try both methods and see how it looks. This is a very subtle detail, but if it works, it seems like it could result in making the rear pyramid panel look way more like real window, and less like sticker.

If you closely examine the JAKEeWRAP, you realize we left nothing to chance, and all details are by design. Particularly the visual contrast between the glossy STEK PPF wrap located in the upper pyramid window structure versus the matte black STEK PPF on the bottom. Speaking of STEK PPF, it is an absolute please working and experimenting with STEK PPF, which Jay absolutely swears by, as being the best PPF wrap, and window tint.

In our absolute quest for perfection, we went so far as to even experiment with wrapping all the upper exposed stainless steel pyramid shape area which consisted of the contrail area, and the silver area below the side windows with both glossy and matte PPF, which is pictured above. There are three pieces of STEK PPF applied to the silver area in the image above. There is a piece of clear SPEK PPF with sparkles in it, which sticks out like a sore thumb on the upper contrail, and it looks much whiter. Then the glossy PPF is located on the lower area up toward the front, and even though it's not cut precisely, it looks like clear vinyl protection for furniture from the late 1960s, in a bad way as it make the stainless look plasticy. The matte PPF panel is located behind it, and it looks way better, but it knocks out way too much of the organic stainless steel metallic shine, and makes it look whiter.

The objective or reason for experimenting with putting clear PPF over the upper stainless steel pyramid area is to was to help protect the stainless area from showing fingerprints, but it basically made it look like a stainless steel refrigerator that was covered with the fingerprint proof clear plastic, but in a bad way. In other words it took away from the metallic organic look, so we learned it's probably better to leave it alone, although we are exploring the idea of ceramic coating the upper stainless pyramid area, and once we conclude, I will update this story with the results. 

As you have probably realized, we have been experimenting like crazy in order to best optimize and bring the JAKEeWRAP to life, in order to make it look as cool and profound as possible!!! Speaking of looking cool, here is a great nigh shot:

The Franzipper's Pyramid Shaped

 Rear Window Magically Appears in 2023!?!!

It appears Tesla Lead Designer, Franz Von Haulzhausen may have been inspired by my rear pyramid sail panel. The photo below from 2023 appears courtesy of the Wall Street Journal and it shows Franz Von Holzhausen sitting in the back of a prototype Tesla CyberTruck, and I could not help buy notice on the wall behind Franz is a conceptual CyberTruck drawing, apparently of his, that show shows a concept CyberTruck, which has similar rear pyramid shape windows to mine!?!!

The drawing on the wall pictured above is also pictured below, and you can really see the rear pyramid window that is remarkably similar to my JAKEeWRAP design reference I published back in 2019.

Below is another drawing from Franz that features what appears to be a CyberTruck coupe, with the rear pyramid completing window. The thing that really confused me, is Franz didn't release these to images until 2023, so my question is if they were conceptual sketches originally, before the CyberTruck lines were finalized, why didn't the CyberTruck end up with the rear sail panel window? 

This caused me to second guess myself, and wonder if somehow I had seen these during the launch event, but I am fairly certain that was NOT the case. In other words, my similar design came directly from my imagination. I did send copies of my Tesla Cyber Vehicle Family design reference to Franz and Elon Musk back in 2021, which also featured my rear pyramid completing panel, which made me wonder if perhaps Franz was inspired by my design enhancements to the Tesla Cyber Language?

Ironically, the JAKEeWRAP CyberTruck is far from done, as there are several more steps we will be taking, including adding the red fat stripe, as well as figuring out exactly how to handle the top silver area. We are contemplating several different approaches for how to handle the top silver triangle area:

1. Keep it naked, meaning just leave the stainless steel exposed. The drawback of which is that it will show fingerprints, and can look dirty easier.

2. Cover it with clear PPF in Glossy or Matte, then ceramic coat over it.

3. Maybe just use Bar Keepers Friend Gel to get it bright silver, then simply ceramic coat over it as featured in the following detailed videos:

So please stay tuned, as I will be documenting the additional steps in articles and in a my upcoming complete video review of the CyberTruck. It will be filled with all kinds of unique insights you won't find anywhere else, like a head to head comparison of the CyberWheels versus the Core Wheels.

If you are located in the Puget Sound area, or anywhere near Seattle, be sure to reach out to Jay's Tint Shop in Kirkland, Washington, as they do amazing tinting and PPF wrap work. You can call them at (425) 825-5560, or check out their website at JaysTintShop.com. Special thanks to Jay and his AMAZING team for taking the time really dial in all the details to make this long held dream a reality!!!