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I never wrapped before, but it's my truck ????

decalman

decalman

New Member
Hi y'all.
I been thinking. ( Oh O)
My old dually totally needs a paint job or something.
I'm thinking of wrapping it white .
I never wrapped before, but I been working large graphic vinyl 18 year's.
It's not that hard....is it ?
I'm looking for some pointers. Removing molding etc.
Should I sand it a little? There's lots of worn paint.
What kind of wrapping last longest ?

Thanks for sharing.
 
I

ikarasu

Active Member
I've done hundreds of wraps, maybe 20-30 on cars. I still want to pull my hair out on cars - every make of car has a new problem. Wrapping isn't easy, I still consider myself a newbie.

You can probably do anything flat ok enough - but anything with indents, or curves... I'd say you'll be wasting lots of money.

Watch some videos - look at mirrors, indents, hoods, etc. Then realized they've done thousands of wraps, and it still looks tricky for them.

I mostly do utility boxes, but I've done maybe 10-20 cars with the help of someone who's been doing this for 30+ years. There's still sections I pull my hair out on, rip the vinyl off and start over, and as for advice on.

Wrapping is an art - there's a reason it costs so much in labour. It may look easy, but it's not.

Buy a few yards... Practice wrapping your mirrors, remove a tail light and practice wrapping the indent on there... Then decide if you want to wrap the other 99.5% of the car, and if it's worth it to you.
 
Billct2

Billct2

Active Member
Your own vehicle is the perfect opportunity to see how it goes. I would choose a color that goes with the existing paint job just in case you discover that wrapping some areas is beyond your level. For instance I know someone who has a grey Mazda and they wrapped it teal, when certain areas didn't work the metallic grey was a nice contrast to the teal, actually looks great.
I would use the a good color change vinyl, better materials are easier to work with.
 
Modern Ink Signs

Modern Ink Signs

Premium Subscriber
Wraps are one of the most complicated vinyl/vehicle applications there is! I've seen some real horrible stuff out there.

Tons of primer!
Heat the crap out of it and jam it in there!
Poor corners!
Poor seams!
Cuts in the clear coat/paint of vehicles!
Poor registration from panel-to-panel!


If your paint is in bad shape, don't wrap it expecting that to look good. It won't!


All I can say is like ChicagoGraphics said, Try it and tell us if it is hard or not. Oh ya, use as little heat as you can during the install then post heat it once your done.
 
Texas_Signmaker

Texas_Signmaker

Very Active Signmaker
AKwrapguy said:
Nope not anymore you just jinxed yourself, oh well better luck on [HASHTAG]#202[/HASHTAG]
Click to expand...

Maybe if I stop trying i'll get a good one, like when I discovered I can "rip" vinyl in anger to weed it in less then one second and it comes out perfect. Too bad I can't just squeegee the wrap blindly like a mad man and it be perfect. ::sigh::
 
A

AKwrapguy

New Member
decalman said:
Hi y'all.
I been thinking. ( Oh O)
My old dually totally needs a paint job or something.
I'm thinking of wrapping it white .
I never wrapped before, but I been working large graphic vinyl 18 year's.
It's not that hard....is it ?
I'm looking for some pointers. Removing molding etc.
Should I sand it a little? There's lots of worn paint.
What kind of wrapping last longest ?

Thanks for sharing.
Click to expand...

It depends on the vehicle and the material. There are a lot of variable that go into a vehicle wrap and it depends on how far you want to go. If it's a pick up are you going to remove the bed so that you can go behind the cab? Are you going to remove the lights, door handles, window seals, antenna mount, mirrors, etc... You mention that you have paint issues, if that's the case don't wrap it till you get it fixed or you will be able to see the issues through it. Worse yet if when you go to remove it, it could start to take the paint with it. Are you looking to go with a gloss, satin, or matte finish, each one has different quirks like no fire in matte only use a heat gun. The best thing to do would be to watch a few videos of people wrapping specifically trucks.

Other things to think about are seams and where you might need to place them. Most manufactures make 60" material that should cover almost anything you need but it's something to think about.

As far as tools I'm a big fan the Silver Streak from Geek Wraps. It's flexible wet squeegee and I use on almost all my wraps.
 
A

AKwrapguy

New Member
Texas_Signmaker said:
Maybe if I stop trying i'll get a good one, like when I discovered I can "rip" vinyl in anger to weed it in less then one second and it comes out perfect. Too bad I can't just squeegee the wrap blindly like a mad man and it be perfect. ::sigh::
Click to expand...
Sometime when I've gotten to the 'Fuck-It' stage I do my best work.
 
Texas_Signmaker

Texas_Signmaker

Very Active Signmaker
AKwrapguy said:
Sometime when I've gotten to the '****-It' stage I do my best work.
Click to expand...

I was taught to use to use masking tape to tape up window perf panels and I would get so frustrated when the tape would not stick to humid glass, taping it to the top of a mullien, the panel would apply crooked and get wrinkles... I said fuck it and just ripped the backing off the top 2' and just eyeballed it and ran a squeegee down the middle and blamo, goes on perfect every time!
 
papabud

papabud

Lone Wolf
lol yes when i have big long runs of window perf its a must to tape it, but smaller windows i almost always take the backer off and slap it on. window trim and lips normally create a big enough gap to help hide small issues.
it doesnt matter how perfect a wrap is. it only matters what the customers eyes see
 
Circleville Signs

Circleville Signs

New Member
I gotta tell ya - these kinds of posts from people claiming to be "professionals" REALLY chap my hide. As a graphic install professional, you should know better than to assume something you've never done is "easy". My guess is you're gonna run through at least an entire roll of color change material, and still end up with something that looks like a choad. GTFOH with that "it can't be that hard, can it?" BS.

I've been installing vinyl for 12 years. I've probably done 300+ wraps of everything from Ford GT's and Porsche 911's to 60' food trucks. EVERY SINGLE ONE IS DIFFICULT. Do I make it look easy? Sometimes, yes - because I know WTF I'm doing.

The fact that you think it's easy makes me understand just how much of a professional you AREN'T.
 
Craig A

Craig A

New Member
If you've never wrapped before get lots of vinyl. Start with 25 yards of something with air release/egress. Remove everything you can (handles, fender flares, mirrors when possible, etc.) for as seamless a wrap as possible. Wrap the vehicle using the advice and pointers you've gleaned after watching lots of YouTube videos and reading pointers from very experienced installers (Justin Pate, etc.). Do a mostly horrible job, realize you're going to have to re-wrap most of it (especially mirrors, etc.), tear it all off and buy a new roll. Start with 25 yards of something with air release/egress. Remove everything you can... well... repeat the process until you figure it out or hire a pro, but hey; at least it's your vehicle so there's no deadline.

Oh, but yeah, for sure do it. You'll learn more by trying and failing than you will from watching tons of YouTube videos and reading blogs!
 
B

BAD NOVA

New Member
The material is the SHIT compared to graphics film for lettering. Try it go to a wrap class
alot of cool tools and knifless tape so no razor blades cutting on vehicle.
I wrapped my race car in AVERY satin black. Just did my first wrap on a customers car
digital print, the material is amazing just need to take your time..
 
Tony Rome

Tony Rome

New Member
decalman said:
Hi y'all.
I been thinking. ( Oh O)
My old dually totally needs a paint job or something.
I'm thinking of wrapping it white .
I never wrapped before, but I been working large graphic vinyl 18 year's.
It's not that hard....is it ?
I'm looking for some pointers. Removing molding etc.
Should I sand it a little? There's lots of worn paint.
What kind of wrapping last longest ?

Thanks for sharing.
Click to expand...

Since you are getting beat up a little, let me help out.
Borrow a motorcycle helmet from a buddy if you don't have one. Try wrapping it.
See how that goes.
Or, start with your bumper. DO NOT print anything on the vinyl just use plain wrap vinyl so you don't waste any more money than you need to, laminate (use the right material cast vinyl w/matching lam)

You never know, you could be a natural, or you will see that is is a lot tougher than you thought and save yourself a lot of money and a possible mental breakdown.

Good luck.
We are here to help each other, but there are a lot of hacks in the field and it makes some of us a little testy.
(coming from a former hack).
 
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