pityocamptes

Thinking about getting my civic repainted, pretty pricey though, but a friend was saying that some of the new wraps look just as good, if not better than paint, and cost considerably less. Any thoughts?

ThatGuySkye

Why are you getting it repainted? If the paint is messed up now, they can't just wrap over it... a wrap doesn't look as good as paint, unless you want a single stage paint look... it can be more durable, but correcting a wrap isn't as easy as correcting paint...

Fliptard

from what i read, it's not bad. One guy said it'll last 7-8 years if done correctly before it starts peeling and stuff. I've seen some nice cars that are wrapped.

Hidenplanvew

You wont get the same finish as something pained correctly. Wrap looks nowhere near as nice as any paint job. Even single stage looks much nicer. even as a flat, it dosent look as nice as a car that was painted with flat clear.

Street_Reaper

It all depends on the material too if you go with cheap vinyl = cheap paint job, i'm not saying is gonna look the same but I've seen some nice vinyl wraps and i've been tempted too, but price for a professional wrap is between 2600-3500 depending on the place and the materials they use, so it can get pricey too...if you are brave enough and have skills and patience you'll prob spent a third of that, but like everything Research first!

Street_Reaper

or you just caN DIP your car too....

Jda9

Well a new paint job can cost about the same as a wrap cause me myself works at a place where we wrap vehicles and and what not basically everything film we do, it cost about 4 g's at my place. I agree with the finish it's somewhat nice buh will peel after about 8-10 years depends on how you take care of it, buh if say go with a paint job to be safe. I mean it does chip and what not throughout the years buh it's much better than having bad paint then a wrap to cover the bad paint, and then the wrap starts to peel, then at the end you spent money on the wrap and still have a bad paint job yaknow

jlk16188

i wrapped my car with Oracal premium cast car wrap. its not bad. its a good 10 foot car. most people cant tell its wrapped even touching it. Ive waxed it and ran it for almost 1.5 years now with no issues. been parked out in the snow in PA for winter and hasnt shown any signs of wear.

I have stone chips on the hood and they look just like paint chips. the vinyl manufacture said dont wash it with a presher washer and i do all the time. has held up very well.

I only did it bc i dont know how to paint and do body work but i am good at installing vinyl. I will be removing the vinyl in the next year or so to attempt my first complete color change to my CRX

jlk16188

BTW mine did not cost me $4000 to wrap. I did it myself for under $300

Darmok

I would look into plastiDip for your ride, should be a lot cheaper and you can achieve some great results

adelsoPS

Plastidip is junk... PLease dont do it! just do some of the prep work yourself to lower costs.

K'netic

I've been wrapping vehicles for about 7 years now. I own my own graphics company specializing in full non-printed wraps, so I'll make this as definitive as I can.

I'll begin with this. Vinyl wrapping is a GREAT alternative to paint, but it isn't for everyone.

If you like the color of your car, but want to change it up a little, and the current paint is in fairly good condition, then a wrap might be right up your alley. While not as durable as paint protection film (Clear Bra), wrap vinyl does protect your paint job from the majority of small rock chips and from the UV rays of the sun. The longevity of most wrap films these days (3M, Avery, Oracal, Hexis) is between 6-9 years depending on care and location (If you live in Arizona, sorry bro). If you decide you're tired of lime green after a few years, OR you decide to sell the car and you have a potential buyer who doesn't like lime green, you can remove the wrap and it will look the way it did the day you had it wrapped.

This factor is the reason why most wrapped cars you see are in the $100k+ price bracket.

If you PAINT a Ferrari lime green, you can kiss $40k of your resale value goodbye. But if you WRAP it... Well, you see where I'm going with this.


HOWEVER:


If you are thinking of painting your car because the clear has faded and/or is peeling, OR you just fixed some body damage and have spots in primer, wrapping probably isn't the most feasible option for you.

Many wrap films these days are so focused on being highly conformable/stretchable that they are very thin. So thin that the color underneath affects the intensity of the color in the vinyl. Avery Supreme Wrap Film is particularly bad about this. I found this out when I was preparing to wrap an S13 in Avery Gloss White Pearl. Some of the body panels were Champagne colored, some were primer gray, and the body kit was white primer. The vinyl over the gray was noticeably darker than the vinyl over the white. I ended up having to spray the whole car in white primer and wet sand it before I could even begin the wrap. I'll include some pics of it later in this post.


FOR THOSE DAREDEVIL "DO-IT-YOURSELF"ers out there:

I'll be straight with you about this.

First of all, STAY AWAY FROM NO-NAME FILMS! They're ALL junk and you'll kick yourself for wasting money on them.

Now that that's out of the way...

Yes, you can get enough vinyl to wrap your car for around $350-450, and if you're patient, you can probably get most of the car done yourself. HOWEVER, I would recommend making sure there is a qualified wrap installer nearby to take it to if you decide you're in over your head and don't want to waste the material investment. This usually happens when you get around to the front and rear bumpers.

Because of the advent of structured adhesive, it has become quite easy to install vinyl on relatively flat and mildly contoured surfaces. Your door panels, hood, roof, and fenders (for the most part) fall into this category. Bumpers are usually in a league of their own (if you want to do them with a single piece of vinyl).

It takes a good deal of experience to be able to go from this:



To this:





These are a few of the cars I've done in the last couple of months:


Nissan S13 hatch...

Before:





After:







Even did the cage.







I did this EG Hatch in a total of about 20 hours straight (working alone)...

Before:



During:



After:






02 Accord Coupe...






I won't debate how comparable vinyl is to paint in terms of appearance.

No, vinyl will never look as good as a professional paint job with 3 coats of clear. It's just not gonna happen. But it comes DAMN CLOSE!

These are some cars done by colleagues of mine from around the country.

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.


3M 1080 Gloss Orange GTR




I'm sure many of you are familiar with Armanda Zukic's CRZ?

Avery Matte Purple Metallic




Hexis Lapis Blue (HX30BLAB) on several cars...








And when it comes to attention to detail, Matt Wolynski is second to none...

Hyundai Genesis in 3M 1080 Gloss Blue Metallic








Maserati Gran Turismo in 3M Satin White Pearl




Mercedes in Oracal Matte Purple Metallic




Corvette in 3M Matte Blue Metallic




Oh yeah... And about Plastidip...

^ THIS. Never dip your car if you care about it. Plastidip is "ok" for wheels, MAYBE emblems, but not a whole car (or even a single body panel for that matter). Lol

digital sol

iTrader: (1)

When you wrap entire cars are you typically remove the panels such as fenders, front and rear bumpers etc? Are you tucking the vynl on the backside on the parts or simply making precise cuts along the way? Just curious, thanks!

malibuh82luz

I agree with others on here, wouldn't wrap a car with a bad paint job. plus its about the same cost in my area.

K'netic

To have a clean installation, the vinyl needs to be wrapped at least 1/4" to 1/2" around the back side of the panels. It also gives the vinyl a place to anchor so it won't lift back up. It's particularly helpful to anchor it if the edge of a panel is right at the end of a complex curve.

As for taking panels off, it depends. I almost always take the bumpers off, but sometimes you can get to the edges and behind the bumper by just loosening it.

I rarely ever take fenders off because you can access all of the edges you need to with them on the car.

The thing that sucks about taking panels off is that they're loose. When you're wrapping around curves you are pulling and stretching the vinyl pretty hard. If the panel you're working on isn't solidly mounted to something, you're gonna be pulling the part all around the shop trying to stretch vinyl over it. Lol.

I use sawhorses and ratchet straps to anchor bumpers when I wrap them off the car.

K'netic

It's also worth mentioning that even though I don't take many large panels off, A LOT of my time is spent taking the little **** off.

Mirrors, badges, door trim, headlights, grills, tail lights, side markers, window trim, roof trim, washer nozzles, door latch hardware (if I'm doing the door jambs), mud flaps...

Oh yeah, and door handles (******* PAIN IN THE ***)

And then it all has to go back on when I'm done, which usually requires replacing any pop clips that may have broken along the way.

That's one of the reasons why a good wrap can run anywhere between $2000-3500.

It's also the reason I LOVE wrapping black cars. Unless the customer asks for it, you usually don't have to worry about door jambs or small, obscure crevasses because the black makes it look like a shadow.

Black cars cut my install time down by at least 3-5 hours. Lol

dan.

ill paint your car for 400 bucks lol

JDM.RoRo

wow those wrap jobs look amazing!

somalia757

It is and if it starts peeling it looks disgusting.