Reply With QuoteDon't do it - it's one for the pro's.
Help and advice accepted
Don't do it - it's one for the pro's.
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
I have visions of a car that looks like my attempts at wrapping the Xmas presents😂😂
I Anaglypta wrapped my Volvo 240.
Don't just do something, sit there. - TNH
Yes if you want to spend 2/3k, my car isn't worth itOriginally Posted by Chris_in_the_UK
Sounds like me, useless at wrapping presents. Not much better at wallpapering either.
Without experience and a very clean working environment I can see this ending badly! Years ago I fitted new stripes to a limited edition MGB and that was hard enough.
How good are you with removing and re-fitting car body parts. A large part of a good full vinyl wrap is removing trim panels, bumpers, grills, lights, seals, handles, badges etc. wrapping and refitting.
I know the work that goes into wrapping vehicles having designed many, and had a lot of vans wrapped. Unless you have the equipment, tools, workshop and time to do the job properly I'd leave it to a professional.
Try M4 if you're in the North:
https://www.m4uk.com/vehicles
Not a full wrap but I had a local pro de-chrome my car. £300 well spent and I could never have dreamed of doing it myself - curves, grills and door handles are best left to the experts
I won't be removing any parts
What could possibly go wrong?
BlimeyWhat could possibly go wrong?
Then walk away from DIY, trust me.
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
I've had quotes to have it done, none involving removing anything
A decent 'invisible' wrap needs some stuff removing.
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
How it's done:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ry0YoIezvH4
I’ve done 2 motorcycle tanks and that was enough to prove to me that there’s a lot of skill involved in doing a decent job on a car.
R
Ignorance breeds Fear. Fear breeds Hatred. Hatred breeds Ignorance. Break the chain.
Go for it! Let's see the before and after results. I mean, how hard can it be? Chav-looking types with a face full of metal and wearing baseball caps back to front do it. Don't be discouraged by the naysayers.
It's not the naysayers that are the issue, it's 2.5k to pay someone, the risk is I waste 300 quid on vinyl rather than another G shock
I feel like Oliver Twist holding a bowl out and been shouted at 'get a job you lazy oik'
A) the car doesn't warrant 2/3k spending on a wrap
B) I'm not bothered if I waste 300 quid on wrap botching myself, I waste that on watches every week
C) I'm an arty type and think I might be able to manage a crack
It won’t hide anything other than faded paint.
Dents and rust will show through the vinyl.
Door handles, shark fins, spoilers etc aren’t easy
Sharp corners such as the corner of the bonnet at the windscreen are also difficult.
Depending on the colour of the car and the colour of the vinyl the shuts and returns will look odd.
You’d also need a selection of squeegees, wrap tape, scalpel, vinyl tools, cleaners, a stool and a heat gun. Oh and a second pair of hands would help
Not all vinyl works the same. You’d want a wrapping grade vinyl from a decent manufacturer. Chrome vinyl etc is very difficult
What’s the car, colour and vinyl colour if you don’t mind me asking?
Other than that it can be fun. It’s the finishing that lets wraps down. Large panels aren’t too difficult but an understanding on how vinyl behaves is useful.
I’d recommend watching as many you tube videos as you can stomach. Most of the vinyl manufacturers have channels with advice
Last edited by acg; 16th April 2022 at 10:01.
Edited
MX5 soft top
Silver
Hexis matte black, need 12 MTRS so about 300 quid
Should have been able to guess an mx5 :)
Go for it. An mx5 has easy curves so shouldn’t be too hard. Front bumper probably the trickiest.
Remove the lights and badges if possible though.
The main issue will be silver door shuts and under the bonnet etc but if you’re happy with the contrast then go for it.
Don’t expect to finish it in a day though, indoors would be best obviously with plenty of space around the car and order more vinyl than you think you need
Is it possible to buy a small amount of the stuff and have a go on one of your doors or whatever.
If you can do one pannel to the standard you want then buy the full amount needed.
If it goes wrong then no big loss.
I tried, big simple flatish panels are reasonably easy, anything intricate,compound curves etc, its not as easy as they make it look.
Thanks
Great shout, think I'll do that
Ive seen lots of people fail. On FaceBook pages, as I own an MX-5. Very popular with the utes.
I owned a Westfield in partnership with a friend
We had this mad idea to wrap it like one of the old 2nd world war bombers with the ladies down the side (lady be good, lucky lady etc) with flames and bullet holes
It quickly became apparent that it’s an expensive business best left to the pros unless in our case you wanted a half decent car wrapped in tin foil
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Genuine question as I had never even heard of this before, why would you even want to?
Because a respray costs a much more and wraps have far more choice of colours and effects
The nearest I've come to doing it was putting privacy tints in the windows of a bay window vw camper. It was a success but a horrible job, and that was on flat panes of glass, I couldn't imagine pulling the same job off on the curves, contours, corners, door handles etc of a car. In other words.....don't.
Would it not run the risk of the first scrape, stone hit it etc it would look awful?
Having read this thread I took a look at a few youtube videos of this and even one where it was taken off. Can the car actually be returned back to its original look or will it look like as some seemed to, like it had bits of sellotape stuck to it?
No idea tbh, still researching
What about a spray wrap as an alternative. Should be less than £1K for an MX5 if they do it or way cheaper if you DIY.
https://www.matt-pack.co.uk/PBCPPlayer.asp?ID=2278552
Yeah just discovered this earlier today!
I’ve done individual parts and it’s pretty easy but never done a full car. Their prices seem pretty cheap for the basic service with them spraying it though.
Not sure if it's related to the link above however type in "plasti dip car" into YT's search function. I plasti-dipped the rear diffuser on my Lotus to match the wheel colour, I could pretty much guarantee it'll be easier than vinyl wrapping!
It's not easier if you have to take the car apart
Last edited by Daveya.; 17th April 2022 at 21:19.
I sprayed the diffuser in-situ, just masked the area off and went at it - once dry any overspray is dead easy to remove anyway.
I did a two-tone 'Viper stripe' over my GT86 and also wrapped the door mirror shells more recently.
You'll need to buy the heat gun, tools such as squeegee and knifeless tape - you never put a blade against paintwork! I found 80% of time was in prep work on the paint, laying the knifeless tape pattern etc. It's easyish on simple curves, once you have compound curves and are using heat on the vinyl it get trickier very quickly. I screwed up one of the silver vinyl pieces even on a 'simple' job
Last edited by J J Carter; 17th April 2022 at 21:44.
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