Wrapping a car: Dirt cheap possible?

So not long ago I bought a used rally car. One of the things that it does need is a going-over of the body, Some panels don't match and any touchup seems to have been done with a brush.

I'm pretty tempted to just buy a roll of vinyl wrap, and see if I can make it look OK myself. I'd prefer to keep the cost under 250-300.

So, to those who have wrapped, How likely is this? Are there 'cheaper' but not terrible rolls out there?

It seems that for a four door sedan the 3m stuff is about 500, Well beyond my 'mess with it and see how it works' price...

What about spraying it with one of the plastic paints?

Was wondering this myself. I believe Keith Tanner said something about friends of his using cheap wraps and it working quite well.

Plastidip falls into this price range. Check out the dipyourcar.com series of videos on YouTube.

See if a wrap company wants to slap their name on it.

I've plastidipped a rallycross car, DO NOT DO IT. Looks good briefly but holds dirt like no other and tends to get peeled off by gravel spray. Vinyl would be a better option.

If its a rally car and you want cheap why not paint it with cheap materials. Duplicolor sells laquer paint for like $25 a quart or some such nonsense.

In reply to gearheadmb:

Real paint is very cheap, especially if you find a gallon or so that was mixed wrong and returned.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Paint-Your-Car-With-Rustoleum/

I've never done a whole car, but I was pleasantly surprised with the results of spraying my kids' old power wheels car with red rustoleum. If you're into cheap, and you've got access to a compressor and a spray gun, give it a shot.

rally car sounds like the best use of john deere green tractor paint

MrChaos wrote: rally car sounds like the best use of john deere green tractor paint

go to the International dealer if you want red..

even diluting rustoleum and using a roller is capable of delivering surprising results

gallon of rustoleum or valspar implement paint, 8oz of valspar enamel hardner, 8oz of naphtha, $15 harbor freight HVLP gun

this recipe works shockingly well for around $50. It will be far cheaper than plastidip or vinyl wrap and actually will look pretty damn good

Vinyl wrapping is a pain and if it's not installed pretty damn well, it'll look worse than a rattle can job.

That being said, if you're ever in Missouri, you can have a free roll of whatever 3m wrap you want.

Nason, DuPont's value line, is cheap (not Rustoleum cheap), durable, single stage, available at most larger O'Reilly's and can be tinted to whatever color you want, just give the counter monkey the color code. I've used it with great success in the past.

The Majic implement enamel that Tractor Supply carries has treated me well for cheap paint jobs too.

Sorry no experience doing wraps, but have done the cheap paint a few times.

• Lee

Wrap: it's not worth cheaping out on the materials. The Oracal 970RA stuff may be less than 3M 1080, but it's harder to apply and doesn't adhere as well. I've seen it work well on a Miata but badly on a Catfish.

Keith Tanner wrote: Wrap: it's not worth cheaping out on the materials. The Oracal 970RA stuff may be less than 3M 1080, but it's harder to apply and doesn't adhere as well. I've seen it work well on a Miata but badly on a Catfish.

We make our 1080 with Controltac and Comply adhesive, which means that it's re-positionable and easier to work the bubbles out of. Our Controltac allows you to drag the film across the surface until you get it where you want it. Apply pressure and it sticks.

The Comply adhesive is designed to allow air out from bubbles by giving it an avenue to escape.

Oracal film may have similar features, but...3m does it the best.

alibaba 60 inch by 100 ft rolls about $300 we love the black or grey carbon fibre air release

In reply to bigdaddylee82:

Oh why did you let me know that, now I want to go crazy with laying out designs in tape and do a 3-4 color livery

The cost for a DIY wrap is the cost of (A) the materials that end up on your car when you're done + (B) the cost of the materials you threw away because you screwed up. The cost in time is also A+B.

Buy the cheap stuff and the A:B ratio gets worse. Buy the expensive stuff and the A:B ratio gets better. It's simply not worth it to get the cheap stuff; you're spending the same amount in the end and just wasting time if it's hard to apply.

3M 1080 is amazing. I've used Avery's products before and it was a berkelying pain to deal with. I have now wrapped all three of my cars in 3M and one friend's car. Love it.

1080 3M is like butter, I keep looking at the winter Camo R8 online and doing that for a few months out of the year. mainly when tracking, would be tons of fun.

A good vinyl makes it tough to really screw up. You get multiple chances to get it right.

Oracal does have the air channels, but it's also got a stronger memory and a weaker adhesive than 3M. Bad combo.

So i've read up a bit on the subject, And I figure I may be in a situation where the cheap vinyl's negatives are minimized.

I don't have a paint underneath that's nice enough for anyone to notice if the cheap stuff damages it, and shapes and patterns are always fun on cars of this nature, which looks like the best use of this stuff.

Maybe a balanced approach is required, I remember everyone on the forum going crazy over the suggested roller painting a while back, maybe a baseline with that then cheap-o vinyl for patterns. We'll see...

Karl La Follette wrote: alibaba 60 inch by 100 ft rolls about $300 we love the black or grey carbon fibre air release

Thank you!

That 1080 3M matte blue, the one that looks like grabber blue but in matte would be pretty striking I think.

But that approaches an event's entry in cost.

Have you considered a paint roller? Not joking, it can be done quickly, cheaply, and look quite good. A few folk here on this forum use it on their racers.