Chrome comments/cautions

[Bosh]

Perhaps of little interest, but I only post here when I have comments about things I haven't seen. . .

-The Boss wants to wrap the front end of his car in chrome - quarter panels, front bumper, and hood (the rest is print).
-Avery SF100 with DOL 1460 for fenders and bumper
-The hood is too large for seamless Avery (48" material limitation, bummer)
-Seams are terrible, especially on hoods, especially with chrome
-APA (Italian company, new to north america) makes 60" "chrome wrap"
-We like to try new products at our own expense for R and D, so we order a few yards of APA chrome for the hood. . .

APA chrome is a terrible (expensive) product. Really.

-It's not chrome- more like aluminum foil than a mirror. I could shave in Avery chrome, but wrap up leftovers in APA.
-The adhesive is very aggressive, but has serviceable air egress. Difficult to work with, for sure.
-It actually "conforms" OK- in terms of whitening etc. But. . .

The hood wrapped in APA didn't make it through the night. Bearing in mind that a hood is typically the easiest section to wrap - hoods don't fail. By the next morning the material was lifting in a dramatic and ridiculous way- pulling back from all edges, even those under minimal tension. The bumper/grill (seamless) in Avery look great (and will forever based on prior experience).

I try to be humble and scientific, but I refuse to accept that this is installation error- yes I clean really well, yes I post heat, no I don't over-stretch, etc.). Ridiculous.

This is of interest to me because in the print wrap world everyone has their favorite material - 3M, Avery, Oracal, Arlon, for a variety or reasons. But, realistically whatever your preferred brand name, none of those films are garbage- all can be installed correctly for long-term durability. With the rise of color change/cosmetic wraps there is a opening for the use of unfamiliar products - Hexis, KPMF, APA, RitRama, Etc., based on specific finishes/colors. Buyer beware.

On the plus side, when we decided to remove the APA hood, it came off easy - like low-tac transit film. Expensive research($100ish a yard)

I'd be interested in anyone else's experience with this or other APA products.

 

[scott pagan]

thanks for the review of these materials. i have customers asking about printed mirror chrome. your comments are very helpful.

 

[Dennis422]

Did you check manufacturer instruction on the install technique?
I believe that the material has to be post heated and it has a "72 hour" "adhesive time" (Not sure how to word that)
Their adhesive needs 72 hours before it is fully adhered (Silly, right)

And yes, their chrome is not really a "Chrome" looking. That is how they are able to get you 60" width and to be easier to comfort to the curves of the car.

 

[worthy1]

The main problem with low or mid range vinyls is that they usually take longer to install. This means the labour cost goes up which cancels out any money that was saved on vinyl pretty quickly. The customer then ends up with a lower quality vinyl for the same price (or more)

I would rather have a smooth install with as little cussing and cursing as possible

There s vivvid vinyls that seems to be getting popular as a mid range vinyl. We have a roll but haven't tried it yet. There customer service is pretty crap though, atleast internationally anyway. What we liked about them is that their spec sheet includes testing e.g Removability, fading etc