DIY Vinyl Wrap

In reply to enginenerd :

What specifically needs to be done?

In reply to Patientzero :

Looked like just milling a small amount off the mounting faces of the caliper brackets. You are just moving the caliper outboard slightly. Maybe run a very thin wheel spacer to compensate if wheel clearance is an issue. I don't remember exactly but I thought it was around 2mm of an offset difference between rotors when I measured them. (It's been like 2 years since I last looked at it so don't try anything without measuring!)  

My wife gave birth to our 3rd on June 28th so forgive me for the lack of updates on this thread.  

I haven't made a great deal of progress lately but I have made some.

With what was left of the 50ft roll I was able to get the trunk and side skirts done.

This leads me to me first hiccup on this project.  I ran out of vinyl.  From what I have read the rule of thumb is to order a roll of vinyl 3x the length of the car.  In hindsight I should have ordered the 75ft roll but Amazon advertised a 50ft roll as a "full car kit".  I knew I would be cutting it close but figured I could order another smaller roll if I ran out.  Well, I jumped on Amazon and went to "order again" and bought another 10ft roll so I could finish the bumpers.  The initial roll I ordered was called "Gloss Dark Grey".  I thought it looked kinda light to be considered "dark grey" but based on the reviews other people had mentioned it being lighter than they expected.  It wasn't a deal breaker so I just went ahead and used it.  Fast forward to now.  I received the 10ft roll but the color is not even close.  It is much darker and more of what I imagined in the first place.  I think the first roll was mispackaged and in fact is not "Gloss Dark Grey".  So the problem is I don't know what color is actually on the car.  Amazon was kind enough to issue me a refund for the second roll and said; "Oh, just order another roll of the color you bought the first time."  They don't seem to understand the issue,  it would help if customer service spoke fluent English.  I shot an email to Vivvid in hopes that they can help me out but have not heard back yet.  I'll try to call them tomorrow.  In the meantime I'm at a complete stopage until I can source more vinyl.

In reply to Patientzero :

Congrats on the arrival of number 3

Been seeing these pictures on Instagram, nice to see them all neat in one place. I have a buddy looking to wrap his Camaro since it's had crappy paint the whole time he's had it and then he hit a deer so now it has a black bumper cover and fender on top of that. Probably going to pass this thread on to him to see what he thinks about us tackling the job instead of farming it out. Then if it turns out horrible on his car I know not to try it on one of mine.

Full Disclosure.

As of my last post I had already emailed Vivvid through their website(it was a Sunday).  I made a similiar post on my Instagram (@patientzero.tx) just explaining the wrong color situation.  7:00am Monday morning a rep from Vivvid had already seen my Instagram post and sent me a message.  I explained that I had already emailed them with my info and he said he would send everything to the appropriate people and I would hear from them by the end of the day.  10:00am I got an email asking for some pictures so they could match the vinyl and send me more.  Couple hours later they let me know the color was in fact "Semi-gloss Grey"(it's not listed on their website or Amazon) and they were sending me more free of charge and they were very sorry about the situation.  I'm very happy with how they handled it and thought they resolved it to the best of their abilities.  I would order from them again without question. As for the original order; I bought it through Amazon but it shipped straight from Vivvid so I don't know where the issue happened.  Unless you got the vinyl out in the light it would be easy to confuse the two greys.  

Since I got more vinyl I can finish this post.  Overall I'm very happy with how the car came out.  Sure, there are a few spots I'm not proud of but I'm not a professional and I didn't pay $3000 to have it done.  I would likely do it again if I were in the same situation but after doing this maybe I would try painting a car myself in the future, not sure.  This is a race car above all else, it should look pretty good in pictures of it on the track.  That's all I care about.  I've I mess up something I can always get more vinyl and redo a panel if neccesary.  In a couple spots I made a small mistake and rather than redo the whole panel I made some "bandaids",  if I didn't point them out to you, you'd never know they were there.  

I hope this post helps somebody who was on the fence.  Please ask if you have questions or just go for it.

Looks pretty good. I agree, for a race car that is more than good enough.

I'm inclined to get some "Miami Teal" from Vivvid and see what happens. 

Go for it man.  Even a half decent vinyl job will look better than rattle can or plastidip.

Here's some non cellphone pictures of the finished car.

Great work! The car looks awesome.

I’ve painted several cars, most of them racing car. Even if it comes in as neutral cost, I’ve been tempted to try a wrap instead. The fact that you can do one section at the time, with no paint fumes stinking up the garage and no compressor walking up the kids makes it rather tempting.

I want to wrap my s600 in a ridiculous color like reflective gold or something lol. Hopefully it won't be too hard as the surfaces see mostly just wide and flat but it'll take more vinyl than a typical car. 

I came here from your main build thread on this car, and I've gotta say, this has motivated me to wrap my car as opposed to painting it. It's been painted before, and was poorly done, and has some dents and dings that need filling anyway.

Hell, I may wrap my truck first to get the hang of it.

If anything ever gets chipped or damaged, simply rewrap it.

Torkel said:

Great work! The car looks awesome.

 

I’ve painted several cars, most of them racing car. Even if it comes in as neutral cost, I’ve been tempted to try a wrap instead. The fact that you can do one section at the time, with no paint fumes stinking up the garage and no compressor walking up the kids makes it rather tempting.

This is a main reason I'm considering wrapping vs paint.  I figure the prep is the same, so that's a wash.  DIY rattle can or Maaco budget paint is roughly the same as wrap, but this has the potential of looking better, especially since I will have to do this outside.  I also considered plasti-dip, but have changed my mind, although the cost is roughly the same as the other options.  

I haven't used Vivvid before, but the OG New Edge Mustang came out great.  It takes a while to learn how vinyl is going to react, and each brand is slightly different.  I've used Avery Dennison, 3M, and Oracal so far, and am on my 4th vehicle to wrap right now this winter. 

I took the Basic Wrap Class that Avery Dennison puts on, which is usually taught by Justin Pate (he's the instructor in the FESPA videos previously linked).  The class is about $800 for 2 days, plus they feed you, offer you some tools, and a full 75' roll of Avery wrap.  I enjoyed the class and do recommend it if anyone plans to wrap a few cars.  It definitely gave me a leg up on some of the harder concepts you'll encounter.

I have a few wrapping videos on my YouTube channel, which cover different wraps, how to measure the quantity you'll need, and how to figure out where to start.  It may help answer some questions for those that have been on the fence about trying it.

This video is covering my first wrap as a mashup for fun, but it'll quickly show you a car going together.

BasinMotorsports said:

I haven't used Vivvid before, but the OG New Edge Mustang came out great.  It takes a while to learn how vinyl is going to react, and each brand is slightly different.  I've used Avery Dennison, 3M, and Oracal so far, and am on my 4th vehicle to wrap right now this winter. 

I took the Basic Wrap Class that Avery Dennison puts on, which is usually taught by Justin Pate (he's the instructor in the FESPA videos previously linked).  The class is about $800 for 2 days, plus they feed you, offer you some tools, and a full 75' roll of Avery wrap.  I enjoyed the class and do recommend it if anyone plans to wrap a few cars.  It definitely gave me a leg up on some of the harder concepts you'll encounter.

I have a few wrapping videos on my YouTube channel, which cover different wraps, how to measure the quantity you'll need, and how to figure out where to start.  It may help answer some questions for those that have been on the fence about trying it.

This video is covering my first wrap as a mashup for fun, but it'll quickly show you a car going together.

 

I plan on wrapping this first and foremost and don't expect too many issues with complexity:

But not until after I secure the rest of the '80-86 front clip to swap on.

I've read that the lifespan of the color is 3-5 years, but it is a work truck so the idea of it fading and looking more flat doesn't necessarily bother me; how have your wraps held up?

On your work truck, the hardest part will be cleaning and prep.  I did my wife's Suburban and it took me 8 hours to claybar the whole thing and wash it twice to get rid of all the dirt.  We live down a dirt road and it was a challenge on the lower parts of the vehicle.

On my green widebody Mustang, it's held up pretty well.  I've had some peeling on the bumpers where edges overlap (the bumper is done in 3 separate pieces), and the front tires have thrown a lot of rocks over the last 15 months of use.  The front of the rear flares are pretty chewed up, and the next wrap I'll add some PPF (paint protection film) in these areas to prevent the wrap getting so beat up.

I did a Chevy Avalanche a year ago for my mother-in-law after she saw my car.  A couple small bubbles here and there, but nothing major.  She still loves it after a year, and may want it redone next year.

The most recent one I did was something for my wife.  She shows rabbits, and wanted a theme wrap with two colors.  It's an alternating theme in orange and black.  This was completed in early October, and I had a little trouble with the orange color sticking in a couple places.  Dirt was a problem on the Suburban just because we live down a dirt road and don't take great care of our daily trucks.

This is my winter project.  It's an '86 Mustang that I pulled out of a field last year.  Some rust spots, greasy, but was about 95% original when I grabbed it.  It will be vinyl wrapped in an Avery Dennison color that is almost a perfect match to the OEM '86 paint color in medium gray.

Good insight. The 'burb looks really neat.

Can't wait to see how that Mustang is gonna turn out.

It'll likely be some time before I get going on this myself, but it's never too early to start gathering ideas and studying up.

I'm still impressed.  I'm glad you posted about the way Vivvid handled the issue...I always wonder about buying certain things on Amazon.  Sometimes you get garbage and the only resolution offered by Amazon is to refund your money...which doesn't resolve the issue.   

In reply to Patientzero and BasinMotorsports :

What would you estimate the 'all-in' cost was for wrapping your mustangs?

Been mulling over what to do about the faded roof on my EK Civic. This might be the answer.

In reply to nderwater :

About $700-800 for me. 

Yes, it is good, But  If you’ve found a used vehicle that is perfect in every aspect except the color then inkas design can fix that as long as the paintwork is free of any major imperfections.
https://inkasdesign.com/car-vinyl-wrap/

In reply to inkasdesign :

So you wrap canoes?

Dusterbd13-michael said:

In reply to inkasdesign :

So you wrap canoes?

How waterproof is the wrap ?   Say you have it on the lower foot or 2 and use your truck to back the trailer into the lake........

SlammedStanceSpeed said:

I'm concerned as to the legality of wrapping your car a different color. According to MD law, there must be some of the original color left on the vehicle or you will get a ticket or worse. The new trend in MD is cars are being wrap two tone or half and half.. Makes 6 different cars we've seen in the last few months that have been wrapped white on the left side and black on the right side of the car. Not sure the thought process in doing this unless you're doing something illegal.

It's way to change the color of your car, no different than a paint job. But a vinyl wrap can be done without a lot of specialty equipment in the driveway of a competent do it yourselfer as illustrated on Page 1 of this thread.  If you want to do something illegal in a car it's a lot cheaper, easier and quicker to just steal a car.