Anyone done a Vinal Wrap?

Bosshawg600

Bosshawg600

PDP.com FireFighter
So after a few years, my paint has seen better days. So in looking at all kinds of options and different Ideas, ive been researching doing a wrap. I talked with a shop locally, and the said for a full color it will run around $4K while a paint job for my truck is about 2500-3K. To me being an older truck with higer miles.... not really worth throwing that much money into it. And I dont need any body work, so a paint job is not needed, just wanted.

Ive looked into wraps just due to the fact that its easily repairable if I do get a scratch, ding or whatever.... just re-wrap that body panel. Biggest thing I like, is I can change colors or what every pretty easily and to buy enough wrap its only 250 bucks or so, so not very expensive.

I thought it might be a good late winter project to do right before spring or around then. Plus Im tired of looking at my dull, faded and peeling clear coat!!!
 
I dont understand your questions, are you saying you can buy the materials for $250 and wrap it yourself?

i am betting for $250 the wrap is junk, and would work great on a semi trailer or something with very few curves. putting it on a vehicle with lots of curves will be challenging with a cheap wrap.
 
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Paint it.

Nothing else is quite the same. Plus nothing is cost effective. I had $700 in materials to paint my truck and that included a cab corner.

If you have no desire to paint but want to save some coin you can get the paint sprayed. Do the prep work yourself, strip the truck, take it to get sprayed. I am sure you could find somebody at a body shop to moonlight it for you for cheap.

I wouldn't do vinyl and definitely not plasti dip. I wish the auto world never discovered that stuff. Great for small parts, terrible for a vehicle.
 
B_Bail said:
Plasti-Dip
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Nope

zstroken said:
I dont understand your questions, are you saying you can buy the materials for $250 and wrap it yourself?

i am betting for $250 the wrap is junk, and would work great on a semi trailer or something with very few curves. putting it on a vehicle with lots of curves will be challenging with a cheap wrap.
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The wrap itself is cheap, not cheap quality. Its not hard to find or get. My prices were based on 3M film on a rough estimate for the Square Feet that will be needed. Ive seen a few wraps and they dont look bad at all, heck most of the time its hard to tell its not paint. Best thing I like, if it starts looking like crap, it just peels off and back to origional paint. And being a Regular cab truck, there arent too many chalenging parts, just lots of flat areas.

I thought about buying a little bit and wrapping a few less noticeable parts to see how it looks and how it holds up before I do the entire truck.

zfaylor said:
Paint it.

Nothing else is quite the same. Plus nothing is cost effective. I had $700 in materials to paint my truck and that included a cab corner.

If you have no desire to paint but want to save some coin you can get the paint sprayed. Do the prep work yourself, strip the truck, take it to get sprayed. I am sure you could find somebody at a body shop to moonlight it for you for cheap.

I wouldn't do vinyl and definitely not plasti dip. I wish the auto world never discovered that stuff. Great for small parts, terrible for a vehicle.
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I agree, nothing beats paint, Im just looking at different options. Hopefully soon this truck is just going to be a "Fun Toy" and be DDing something else, so a nice paint job isnt super high on the list of "needs".
 
I think you could easily add a "0" to your $250 in order to get a bare bones-quality vinyl wrap done. A new paint job be cheaper (and better) in the long run.
 
TheBac said:
I think you could easily add a "0" to your $250 in order to get a bare bones-quality vinyl wrap done. A new paint job be cheaper (and better) in the long run.
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More like add a 0 and double that!!! A graphics company I talked to said solid color wraps are 4-5K!!!! For some reason solid colors are more expensive then graphics..... Im talking buying the wrap straight from the factory and wraping myself. The wrap is cheap, it just takes time to get it all on. Thinking it would be a cool, fun project to do and not being permenant like paint, hard to mess up bad.
 
Bosshawg600 said:
Nope



The wrap itself is cheap, not cheap quality. Its not hard to find or get. My prices were based on 3M film on a rough estimate for the Square Feet that will be needed. Ive seen a few wraps and they dont look bad at all, heck most of the time its hard to tell its not paint. Best thing I like, if it starts looking like crap, it just peels off and back to origional paint. And being a Regular cab truck, there arent too many chalenging parts, just lots of flat areas.

I thought about buying a little bit and wrapping a few less noticeable parts to see how it looks and how it holds up before I do the entire truck.



I agree, nothing beats paint, Im just looking at different options. Hopefully soon this truck is just going to be a "Fun Toy" and be DDing something else, so a nice paint job isnt super high on the list of "needs".
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I would be curious where you can get the 3M wrap for a complete vehicle for $250. There is alot of chinese counterfeit out there.
 
Amazon sells a lot of it, along with private other companies. Figuring up Sq. Ft. needed is probably the hard part. But before I do the entire truck, I would do a few pannels as a test.

Id like to go with something differnt, and a Matte color is what Im wanting, and everyone knows paint a matte color is HARD!!! Thus the wrap idea.... much easier, cheaper and safer.
 
I have a friend who is a professional graphics guy and vinyl wrapper. It is definitely a art! Here's his car he did.
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And here is a truck i just deleted and tuned that the guy had wrapped. Not my style but pretty cool looking.
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I assume vinyl is much more difficult than tint. If that is in fact the case then I wouldn't attempt vinyl personally. Some things are worth paying for.
 
zfaylor said:
I assume vinyl is much more difficult than tint. If that is in fact the case then I wouldn't attempt vinyl personally. Some things are worth paying for.
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ya, i agree there! I just bought some of the cheaper stuff in a small sheet to lay a bit down to guage how i like it, how it will look and decide from there..... Ill see how this goes and also decide if I want to tackle the job or not!
 
What's kind of vinyl is it? Actual vinyl for wrapping has some technology built in for air release so you don't get bubbles. That's why the good stuff costs so much. The basic intermediate vinyl will be tough to get bubble free and to conform to curves. A heat gun and lots of application fluid will help....and lots of time.
 
aka_chewy said:
What's kind of vinyl is it? Actual vinyl for wrapping has some technology built in for air release so you don't get bubbles. That's why the good stuff costs so much. The basic intermediate vinyl will be tough to get bubble free and to conform to curves. A heat gun and lots of application fluid will help....and lots of time.
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Its Vivid brand, just something cheap to do some testing on. Its suposidly bubble free, but we will see.

If I like it, I have an idea of Square foot it will take and order the right amount of 3M vynal and do it propperly.
 
Im going to revive this thread. I did my car in Vvivid 8 gloss black on the roof. Its easier than window tint. I'm doing a full car wrap this winter to it. watch a few videos and go from there. I would spend the extra 100 to 200 on getting avery or 3m 1080. they are easier to work with and lay nicer.
 
I had the pulling truck done with a vinyl wrap, actually helped him put it on. The fender flares and sport bumper were a PITA! The rest wasn't too bad. He was new at it and it shows, but it was heavily discounted. Looks great from the stands which is all I was after, otherwise I would of had it professionally painted.
 
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