advertisement


Vinyl Wrapping a car

M

Mongeddavid

pfm Member
Anyone had any experience of this ? There seem to be some very nice satin finishes available and the cost is comparably cheap to resprays etc plus you can return the car to stock at a later date.
 
I've done a few through work whereby we have wrapped a few for marketing which can be quite effective. The finish is OK from a distance.
 
I sell wrap on ebay. It's the cheap Chinese stuff. It's about 5 times cheaper than the 3M stuff. But I'd probably still wrap a full car with the 3M stuff, not mine. The cheap stuff is OK for easy flat panels and stripes et. But for tricky parts it is harder to work than the 3M stuff so either the wrapper does not achieve as good a finish or the wrapper gets pissed off because it takes longer to apply. So you end up paying more in labour.

Done well the finish is stunning and some of the effects and shimmers you get are interesting.

It's not cheap. Maybe a grand for a full car in 3M incl Labour.
 
It does suffer from stone chips like paint. I'd say 3 years and it might start looking tired. Less if parked outside etc.
 
I've had 2 previous cars professionally wrapped and they looked like they'd been through £5k's worth of bodyshop respray etc...

Done properly; they look amazing. But, IMO, all door shuts and bonnet shuts must be done, otherwise it looks like a DIY effort!

My previous Integra DC5 was in Championship White from Honda; but I had it wrapped in Arctic White and it looked stunning... It's something I'm considering for my current 530i, if/when I buy a 2nd car as it's not worth the expense of a partial re-spray (which is all it needs) when a decent vinyl wrap will come in at the same cost etc...

Plenty to read here: https://www.google.co.uk/search?saf...-ab..1.20.1648.0..35i39k1j0i131k1.82CrQHfy3kY
 
mpj88 said:
Any residue that's left over when removing?
Click to expand...

With the good quality 3M and similar stuff no, it comes off easy enough (with patience and knowledge) and the car just needs a good wash and polish thereafter

The good stuff is designed to last very well; my DC5 had a 5 year warranty, some do up to 7 IIRC!
 
I thought they were the preserve of drug dealers and rap artists who take a good car and ruin it. Obviously not the case.
 
There was a recent programme on TV with eamon Holmes and his wife in Dubai and they interviewed a young guy who ran a business out there wrapping expensive cars, thinkhe said it was about £10k for something like a Ferrari, personally I thought it looked shite and who would pay that to wrap something as beautiful as a Ferrari in vinyl?
 
Cheap wraps will make any car look crap, so will camo wraps and similar, IMO

However, a quality vinyl, professionally applied and done properly (as mentioned above with all shuts being done etc) makes a car look new again (as long as alloys are in good nick etc).

The colour choices are amazing, matte to gloss etc... I personally love the matte look, but it suits certain cars and not all...

Very much personal taste, a bit like deciding what shirt & tie to wear etc
 
Round here, all the private hire cars of whatever make are wrapped to the same colour - some sort of Crimson/Red.

Lightfastness will vary by colour - it is do with the actual pigment used in the film. Traditionally - same as car paints - Reds and Yellows are harder to get stable. Very few red cars look good after a few years.
 
JensenHealey said:
Round here, all the private hire cars of whatever make are wrapped to the same colour - some sort of Crimson/Red.

Lightfastness will vary by colour - it is do with the actual pigment used in the film. Traditionally - same as car paints - Reds and Yellows are harder to get stable. Very few red cars look good after a few years.
Click to expand...

Yup; Honda Milano Red is the worst of them all IMO; turns Milano Pink within a year or so!
 
didn't this red thing going pink disappear about 20 years ago when all cars stopped having cellulose and started getting 2k with lacquer coating?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top