Vinyl Wrap

[cudabob496]

Get the impression from watching the show Unique Rides, that vinyl wrap
is the way to go, over new paint?

[moparman82]

Way cheaper, not exactly paints equal tho.  Won't last as long, can tear, I've seen a truck that was wrapped get a rock chip at the front of the hood, and it just started to fail in every direction from there.  You can do a lot of cool things with a wrap tho, and they are 1-2k versus got knows how much for body and paint.  But there will still be metal problems underneath unless you go through the trouble of metal work etc

[YellowThumper]

For the basic color change and limited graphics it is really not worth it but if you are going for multi layer graphics then the wrap can save substantial coin. As with anything there are a multitude of quality levels with them. Along with a wide variety of adhesion levels. From permanent to what is considered temporary. They will never last as long as a quality paint job. But they do offer the ability to change your vehicles look more often. I have suggested the temporary version to others  (another forum) when they were undecided if they wanted billboards on their Cuda. Also the butt stripe on a  Challenger. They could try  it and if they liked it it stays if not, remove it and forget it happened. My wife works for a company that does wraps. Pretty slick deal wrapping cars, busses and now they are wrapping trains.

[cudabob496]

I've heard lifetime of about 5 years, but longer if kept in garage.
Seems they would have the rock chip repair down pretty easy, or
they would not be doing this to the cars of people that have a lot
of money.

If you want to have a great looking 20 footer, then it may be the way to go,
though I have seen articles of how to paint your car with Home Depot latex
paint and a brush!

[70chall440]

I have seen a lot of wrapped vehicles; it is very common in Asia especially. It is true it can tear but it is pretty durable, especially the new types. I would wrap a vehicle without a thought. In Asia they do it on new vehicles to keep the value up. Several years ago I watch a company wrap a new Challenger back half in about 30 minutes while explaining what they were doing. it looked really good. It doesn't hide much though.

[Cudaragtop]

Our Company rigs have been wrapped for years. NASCAR cars are all wrapped...
I've thought that a Sox & Martin wrap on a 68 Barracuda would be cool.

[GreenFish]

The thing about a wrap (not that i'm an expert) is you still have to have all the body work done underneath. This is why i think you typically see new cars do wraps and not older hot rods. IMO, if you have a good body, no rust, dents or anything else and just want a color change a wrap will work just fine. They are not cheap though

[YellowThumper]

The thing about a wrap (not that i'm an expert) is you still have to have all the body work done underneath. This is why i think you typically see new cars do wraps and not older hot rods. IMO, if you have a good body, no rust, dents or anything else and just want a color change a wrap will work just fine. They are not cheap though

Yes what he said.
New "smooth" paint allows it's removal better.

[soundcontrol]

That would be cool on a Pro Touring car, or a restomod. Wonder if they have a wrap with a "barnfind" look

[GreenFish]

the nice thing about a wrap, even if you get a nice paint job is if you are like me and can never decide on anything ever, its not permanent. You can take it off and switch to something else anytime. 

[Mpdlawdog]

you can do the same with plastidip....they have some cool new colors and color changing stuff...more labor intensive but alot cheaper than the wrap....I dont have the $$ to paint my car right now....Im going to plastidip it...and probably change color several times because Im like a fart in the wind when it comes to making a decision

[soundcontrol]

I want mine black, but a great paintjob is about 10-15 grand here, and I would hate making a scratch in it, and I will!
Does a black wrap look good? Never seen one. Looks great on pictures, those cars are wrapped. Flat black would be cool also.

[Mpdlawdog]

our cruiser doors are wrapped and they suck!  our cars come all black and they wrap the doors white....they scratch easy and the black shows through...there is not way to fix a scratch once you get one other than redoing the section...which is why Im going with the plastidip...a wrap is like $2000-$3000 if Im not mistaken....a plastidip kit is $500 and can be fixed if there is a cut or scratch....a friend of mine did his wifes crv in flat black...it held up for two years and still looked good..the only reason he took it off was to change the color

[Challenger in NC]

you can do the same with plastidip....they have some cool new colors and color changing stuff...more labor intensive but alot cheaper than the wrap....I dont have the $$ to paint my car right now....Im going to plastidip it...and probably change color several times because Im like a fart in the wind when it comes to making a decision

I'm going to order a spray can of the plastidip and test it out on a scrap or small panel section. I'd love to save thousands of dollars on a paint job, just not sure about the plastidip without having seen it in person. A few questions I have are 1) How does it hold up if the car is in the sun 2) How durable is the coating and how easy is it to repair. 3) How well does it seal at the edges, does it have a tendency to peel?

The other potential issue I have is that my car will be in primer when the bodywork gets done. Should the car have a base paint job before applying the plastidip? I think I was told that it would bond fine with primer but I'm a little hesitant to leave the car in primer permanently.

[wantone]

well the plastidip stuff is used all over the place on the internet.   It's expensive in the sense that there are tons of different add-on's you can use.   Sprayer / cleaning stuff etc.    On the plus side, i've seen this done to a whole slew of 30 k cars on the web.   Youtube has video all day of people doing applications.