Hey guys, recently I got new inspiration for my car and am thinking about doing a complete 180 with the look. I got a really nice price to get the whole car repainted and getting the body work repaired but after seeing some vinyl wrapping work I've been debating doing a vinyl wrap myself.

My main question is has anyone worked with glossy vinyl? Most of the wraps I see are a matte finish. While looking at wraps I've noticed that the pictures of the vinyl rolls look like they might have an orangepeel texture. Will this stay like that once it's on the car?

Also, will I need to remove the body panels if I want to wrap them or can I keep them on the car? Either way is fine with me I just want to know what exactly I'd be getting in to.

And finally, does anyone have any tips? Thanks all.

 

Patience level must be known first! It can be a beeeotch!

I wrapped my side skirts in CF a while back and the opposing edges are tough to do. I would suggest having a friend help or getting some sort of stand to hold the heat gun. I ended up peeling it after a month or so and having the skirts painted. I would leave the parts on the car if you can unless you have a big open space to do it and someone to hold it for you as you need both hands to steer material and hold over edges.

Also, I would invest in some good razor blades and a "squeegee" of sorts to flatten it down and get bubbles out. Oh, and 3M adhesive promoter to go with it in the hard to stick areas. I had to buy a couple pen sized ones for my interior door handles, but I haven't gotten around to using it... from my vinyl wrapping homie-"it's a must" if you don't want to rewrap areas that won't stick.

Again, Patience level has to be 100000000 and you have to dedicate time and material to doing it. Once you get the hang of it it goes pretty fast, but that learning curve could be a big one where you waste lots of material.

Best of luck and sorry I can't comment on the textures/colors

 

Im no way a profesional but i could help with some questions. Basic tools you wil need is a heat gun, a blow dryer could work but overall heat gun would be best and also a credit card shaped squeegee for the bubbles. Panels would to come off front and rear bumber so you can wrap around the edges so they dont lift up for any reason. Second pair of hand will be a given to help for the big panels. Youtube some time elapsed videos and also check out metrorestyling.com for any other stuff you would need.

 

I'm really wanting to do the vinyl but I'm still a bit on the fence just because my dad says he's seen plenty of vinyl wrapped cars and the edges are all messed up and terrible. Is that true or did he just see some crappy cars? lol.

 

It's very possible. Buy plenty and be prepared to make mistakes. Don't start a project if your back hurts already, or that might be for 6' me. Prep the surface and the back where it will wrap around to the back. Depending on your craftiness, you can do it. Start with the hood/roof or something you could stand to have wrapped if you can't get further on any other body parts. To me, the mirrors and front bumper would be the hardest, but I have an INGS front and the lip on it goes in/up/back/forward/left/right/all at the same time so I gave up on it

 

Sometimes if people stretch the material too much, after couple weeks it will lift. It can be stretched of course but some people get out of hand with it.