Animosity

Not my car, but vinyl wrapped. I think its f*cking sexy.

Royal_C!ty

iTrader: (3)

wow.. nice!

Nuubz

The blue reminds me of painters tape (but unique, so i like)

rycrkt

Dang, that is so cool! Props to you for what looks like a great job! I think I would pay to have my hard parker covered like that... or maybe better the daily?

jasonALYK

iTrader: (1)

awesome.

Fnix

iTrader: (1)

How much does it cost on average to get a civic wrapped by a shop?

Rage1524

wow thats pretty sick!! now i want to see my ek hatch matte black with vinyl!! lol

RC000E

I'm a dealer of this product and have been for a bit. I was actually in 3M's booth at SEMA two weeks ago and watched their guys wrap...they are SO fast at this. I've wrapped a number of cars, and like this guy stated...it sucks! The convenience is though, he changed the entire scheme of his car in an underground garage with barely any tools...and it looks awesome.

The facts I can tell people based on my experience are:

1. How long does it last? I've wrapped cars 2 years ago with it and they still look as good as the day I did it (minus any rock hits). 3m says 4 years in direct sunlight no issues.

2. Air bubbles must be hell to avoid! Not at all...this stuff is designed specifically for this purpose. It's applied dry and you'd be AMAZED at how workable it is...it's ridiculous. The trick is stretch the crap out of it, then squeegie away!

3. Will it lift or peel? In my experience, NO. This stuff pulled my back out when I did a removal. You MUST heat it to peel it away. If you rip it away cold, it will leave residue and be HELL. If you hit it with the heat gun, it peels right off leaving beautiful perfect paint beneath. I just removed an Porsche C4S's scheme I did and it was absolutely perfect...no residue, no nothing. It didn't peel, didn't lift...just there like the day I laid it.

You will experience some shrinkage on complex curves if you don't wrap around an edge. If you do a sideview mirror and only go up to an edge, it will shrink enough to reveal paint beneath. They have an extra adhesion primer you can use though to help it hold and not shrink...it comes right off as well...no residue.



By NO means is a car ruined doing this...it protects the paint from UV, debris, dirt, rocks...everything! It doesn't get better.

SpeedLine

so how about a ballpark figure in the cost department?

RC000E

You can purchase an entire roll online for 620.00 shipped...that'd do 1-3 cars depending on size. I'm gonna be wrapping my Z06 matte white here shortly.

Here's a vid for some of you guys just to begin to get an idea how workable this stuff is. You can crumble this stuff in a ball, with the stick exposed, rip it all back apart, heat it and it's back to new again. It's amazing technology by 3M.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XI26GvKsrOE&NR=1

Slopoke

Im not sure if its cheaper in bigger cities, but there is only one shop in my town that wraps cars and it costs anywhere from $3k-$4k.

About the same price as a paint job.

Learning to do it yourself seems like the best route.

RC000E

The area I'm in, I simply can't demand that kind of money. I also pay my guys less though, and my property costs are lower. It balances somewhat, but owning a car shop in the northeast is highly seasonal and there just isn't a ton of cash to go around.

Here, if people are payin 4k, they are getting paint...period.

just.me.ek5

since it works with heat will there be any ill effects being out in the hot socal sun during summer time?

Freshdot

how does this affect paint?

RC000E

Just.Me: 3m guarantees it in direct sunlight for 4 yrs. In my experience, the only issue I've seen is on complex shapes like a sideview mirror, where the paint ends kind of like an escalade mirror (seen below), the vinyl doesn't have a true edge to grab and hold. With that scenario you see a little shrinkage that can reveal a fine edge of paint. In these applications, 3m makes an adhesion enhancer that gives it more grip. With normal fully painted mirrors, where you'd wrap the entire mirror, the hold is fine because it wraps around the edge.



Freshdot: The effect on the paint is that it protects it damn well. As far as damage...there is none. This product will remove after years and leave a clean residue free finish, if you remove it properly. By properly, I mean, using a heat gun.

Jamie Martin

looks nice im still up in the air if i wanna wrap mine or paint it, as i dont really have a place to spray nor the $ for wrap

RobsRsX

Did you see any color change when stretching the vinyl?

NoTEC

Hey Nuubz, that looks incredible man. You did a great job. I'm wrapping the hood on my wife's car and the roof on my buddies Mazda 2 this next weekend in gloss black. I found a shortcut too, found a local shop that sells it by the yard! You've definitely upped my anticipation level now!

Quick question, did you cut around your rear window washer nozzle as you were laying down or did you remove the nozzle and then lay the vinyl?

Nuubz

thanks man! and glad to hear more people are up to the challenge, roofs and hoods are good places to start.

re: the nozel on the roof, i laid the vinyl over the nozel, gave it a quick burst of heat with the heat gun to soften it and make it conform to the shape of the nozel. I then squeegee'd it snug around the base of the nozel and trimmed off the excess. I guess i could have removed it, but what i did worked fine.

hope your project worked out over the weekend!

Nuubz

no i didn't, if you heat it properly before stretching there should be no colour change.

PatrickGSR94

iTrader: (1)

GLOSS black? Won't that show swirls and fine scratches at the wazzoo? Plus the reflections always have that "orange peel" look on glossy vinyl. IMHO matte is best if you're going to go the vinyl route.

Nuubz

/\ , ya, I was speaking to matte black, not gloss. definitely use a squeegee with a felt/soft edge to minimize scratches

macDelli

Me too if you can sir! I'm very interested in doing the same to my dc2. Thanks in advance

NoTEC

Actually, I've done it before to a hood and it looked great. They make a wax for automotive vinyl to keep everything slick and nice. And considering the vinyl only cost $8 total for the amount to cover the hood, if I don't like it I may go for matte black (which my local shop also has by the yard).

My buddy wanted the roof of his new car to be gloss black, otherwise he might have just gone the plastidip route and been done with it. Vinyl is really forgiving and oh so temporary.

jae401

Car looks great. How much of the matreial did you use? what is the cost of 1 roll?