86White_T/A305

Hello gents. Im toying with the idea of fully wrapping my car myself. My car has some small spots that are bubbling from rust that I need to take care of but the funds to do a complete strip down and repaint the car are just not in the budget. I used to do custom car audio for 10+yrs and wrapping panels back in the day but vinyl/pleather material is very different to work with vs gloss vinyl and the techniques of applying it is very different using spray glue etc.

I wanted to hear and see some of the wrap you guys have done and experience with a large body to apply the wrap. Im looking at getting the Vivid brand Ferrari red for the entire car.My car is red now but pretty faded.I also thought about accenting some pieces in the red carbon fiber like the hood/fender vents and maybe the top portion of the aerowing to be different.

Post up your wraps.

Lockwood

I went down a similar path about 4 years ago with my firebird. The original black paint was faded in alot of areas, even chipping in parts. I decided to tackle wrapping the car myself after getting all the high estimates shops gave out. Understanding what I know now, it's not absurd to charge $2500 for a wrap job, especially with the amount of time and focus it takes, but I still 100% support self wrapping!

At first, its gonna be quite difficult for you. I went through a couple failed attempts on panels before finding a flow that worked for me. I suggest looking up CK Wraps on YouTube for really informative in depth videos on wrapping different types of areas. For the most part, wrapping our cars are extremely simple! The hardest parts are probably the bumpers, given the complexity of the curves, but even then, its not nearly as bad as some other cars I've wrapped after the fact. Start with the door or even the front fender to really understand how the film works.

Some important things to note:
- You'll have to use inlays on the front and rear bumpers
- The hood is just slightly oversized for wrap, so some moderate stretching will be needed by the hinges (watch videos on proper ways to stretch vinyl)
- If you have a hardtop like me, you'll have to have a seam on the B pillar. Mine trails just behind the top of the window across. Its visible but not the worst given its necessity.
- Vivid is a much harder film for beginner to work with. It can be done but films such as 3M and Avery are much more forgiving. Metrorestyling.com is a great supplier.
- Wrap is super durable! Someone backed into my car in the parking lot (as seen below) and the wrap totally stayed put even when contorted

Cheers, Jarod

86White_T/A305

Ive met Christian aka CK wraps through a mutual friend.Super cool guy and knows his stuff when it comes to wraps. Wrapping panels isnt new to me,but wraping a car in automotive vinyl is new. I dont think it would be too difficult on our cars for most of the body. And inlays for the bumpers dont seem too bad to do either.I have a bit of body work to do to make the final product look more professional.

Your car looks good,thats a interesting color for a wrap.How long did you spend on wrapping the car and how much prep did your car need?

Lockwood

I'm fairly familiar with wrapping, so it only took me a weekend to do the entirety of the car. I probably could have done it even quicker, but I dont have a garage, so I was limited to the shades movement in my driveway. The car itself required alot of prep given the condition. The paint was already trash, so I just gave a sanding of the entire car to smooth out and fix any chips, dents or blemishes that would show through it in the wrap. I would focus heavily for a couple days on the prep work. Wrap shows even the smallest of flaws, so it's best to carry a test piece with you when doing any sort of bondo work. Once it's all smoothed and ready though, the next time you switch colors, little prep is needed. I'm currently about to rewrap the entire car again for a new color. It's definitely a nice luxury over paint

slow305

iTrader: (2)

A friend of mine owned a graphics shop and did a vinyl wrap a few years ago. He was just starting his business and used my car as a guinea pig, so all materials were free for me, but I helped him out a little over half on the job of applying the vinyl. The areas that were pains in the *** were the bumpers and hood (has the blisters). It's been 7-8 years, but I remember a lot of laying the vinyl down, smoothing, lifting a little and tweaking. Doors were the easiest part.




Also a PITA was trying to keep the stripes straight -- they are one piece part of the flat-black, not additional stripes overlays on top. Do a solid color if you can!

Pat

86White_T/A305

Curious where did you do some of your seem lines? Did you do the roof and pillars in 1 piece and the qtr panel seem further down?

86White_T/A305

Well the weather has gotten colder and just isnt great to work outside and sand/prep the body to be wrapped.But indoors is perfect to test out small panels.So I looked up best ways to take the vents off the hood and it was actually alot easier than people made it out to be. For those curious, the front vents have 2 speed nuts.There is 1 small and 1 large hole opening. I used needle nose pliers to get into the small hole and about 3-4 turns and it was out,the other hole I used a regular socket. The rear vents everyone says are a total pia and try using a long flathead to pop the clips off. Well i did exactly not that! I have a small pick set,with my hook pick and plastic panel popper..I pulled up slightly while pushing in where the vent actually slide into the hood(towards the centerline of the hood) gave just enough flex in the plastic hood vent that once all 3 tabs were slide up and out of the hood..they slide out towards the center..no fussing with the brittle clips at all. the vents have been painted over..several times with layers of red and clear

Heres what I started with:

Then I sanded them down some with 400 grit. The more sanded..the more if began flaking layers in some spots and I wasnt about to sand it all down and then build it back up on the one vent.I made them as smooth as I could everywhere else. Rear vents were easy to level out.

After t thorough clean and wax/grease remover I attempted the first rear vent.Start small,get a feel of how much give the wrap has,how much heat i can get away with.This is where I wish i had some adhesive spray to keep the tight corners down but from a distance..who cares. I quickly realized I needed to do my inlay first pressed on.

Now with a feel of things I did the 2nd vent. Getting carbon fiber pattern to match and inlay also sucked..but as I said.from a distance..not too noticeable lol.The first vent, I ended up trying and overlay to see which way I prefer to do things. Tackling the front vents i knew..inlays or overlays was not going to be nice whatsoever.I 1 pieced that as best I could. i feel as if the hood vents just arent holding well for the wrap to stick. I luckily have red ducktape on the underside to help keep things down and cleans up some of the edges. I put back on the grille mesh and need to decide if i want to keep the black or silver,also thought maybe do them gold to match the wheels but thought that would look too tacky. Now i want to get the fender vents off and do them also.I think these will be a small accent for when I get the gloss red done on the entire car.

Heres the finished set:

Highly encourage you guys to try wrapping some stuff. If you dont like the results..pull it off..heat the wrap a lil and try again

Lockwood

Didn't see your reply until now. I have a hardtop, so the only seam I had to make on the car by the roof and rear quarter. I'm not sure if you can see it in my previous picture, but pretty much I just had the seam line follow the top of the window across the B pillar. In order to wrap the A-pillars with the roof piece, it wasn't able to get coverage down both B pillars to wear the quarter flares out. If you have T-tops, you could run the main piece across that B pillar loop to that flare, hiding the seam much easier. When doing a seam, you always want to have it facing downwards, away from the line of sight, so wrap the quarter first, then the roof, so it faces towards the ground rather than straight up.

86White_T/A305

I was anxious to try a bigger panel and get more of the red carbon fiber stuff done. I removed my spoiler and had lots of sarcastic fun wrapping the top half inside but it turned out good. I plan to wrap the bottom half in gloss red if I have enough material remaining from the rest of the car. the third brake light I did in carbon,subtle touch. Then I went to do the trunk lid after a wash and wipe down and applied the gloss red. Seeing parts of the car come to life is very satisfying. I recommend everyone try your hand at this if you are thinking or painting your car or want to see what colors might look good. Here are pics along the way.






Tried to film wrapping the lid but the cold kills the gopro batteries too fast.had to record with my phone near the end.

Street Lethal

iTrader: (16)

You have the patience of a saint with the smaller pieces. I would have waited on the lower hatch panel because you're going to have to remove the glass anyway to get under the hinges up top when you do the unibody. Either way its looking really good so far. Gonna take a guess and say you're planning on hitting the side view mirrors on the doors with the red carbon fiber wrap...

- Rob

86White_T/A305

You know me too well kind sir lol. As much as I love a clean solid color car. I think the slight touch wont turn out bad. If I dont like it..wrap it to match. Thats the best part is its east to change to try again and get it better that you're happy with. Its very forgiving stuff once you get used to how you can manipulate it.Im cringing at the thought of doing the bumpers. I have a spare front bumper that needs a small part filled by the fog light,the rear shouldnt be too bad once I sand it down smooth from some peeling clearcoat.

Street Lethal

iTrader: (16)

Christian over at CK Wraps got me interested in this too, but I never touched wrap before so I always hesitated with it. There is no question that the front bumper will be the hardest part to wrap down by the fog lights. If I were to do this I might consider buying a color matched paint from say Advanced Auto, and hit the front and rear bumpers with a few coats and some clear, then wrap the rest of the car. How is it sticking so far, are the ends coming up in any areas...?

- Rob

86White_T/A305

I havent been able to wrap anything else yet.Its been warm but raining most days,or the days that were nice..Im at work during the day. I did prep the hood as much as Im comfortable with accepting how it should be once wrapped. The driver qtr panel I might touch up one spot before I make that attempt. But regardless the rust spots I really wanted to slow down or eliminate. Sanded things down to bare metal,treated with rust converter, body filler ..primed and gave a coat of red . Here are some pics/vid:

Warnd

Very cool! Always wanted to wrap my car. Its just such a cool concept considering the cost of a decent paint job. I know for a fact it will be a pain in the *** for me, but I think im willing to struggle through it after seeing a bunch of other people have success with it. Very excited to see the final product.

86White_T/A305

Wrapping a car..along with painting a car is a game of patience being mainly labor vs cost of material. But unlike painting a car, you can wrap things in stages. You have less chance of doing any harm by wrapping your car if it doesnt require much for body work.Unless your willing to live with some spots that show through(which I am) but overall the car will look better at the end. I think I have maybe $600 invested in wrapping it so far aside from my time. Alot of car wrappers do not want to work on anything this old and if they do take on the job..it would cost alot in labor. Plus..doing it yourself is very satisfying. Id still say,wrap the big easy things you can..and pay someone to wrap the parts you dont want to tackle on your own and you will still come out ahead.

pwdbychevy

These were my attempts at wrapping a thirdgen. The 91z one was done in black Aluminum vivvid vinyl while the 87 Iroc was done with Avery Cardinal red vinyl.

Street Lethal

iTrader: (16)

That came out pretty damn good! Great job! But herein lies the question, our dilemma with the birds is with the front bumper down by the fog lights. You did something similar with the 91/92 front ground effects on the side,where it goes in like that. Did you use multiple pieces for that area, or just cut and stretched one piece...?

- Rob

pwdbychevy

For the 91 I used a whole piece of black aluminum vinyl that wrapped around the corner to the front and made the cut right where it transitions into the air dam. At the side where the vent is I used a piece of satin black vinyl as an insert to give it a 2 tone effect. I never got around to doing it to the vents under the side doors though. Ran out of satin black.

86White_T/A305

Getting back to this project with the many different things Im trying to do with this car this yr. First off I will say for large pieces..always better to have a helper. Doing the hood on my own poses its challenges when you want a 3rd direction of pull to truly glass out the vinyl. However I still recommend this to anyone who wants the gratifying sense of accomplishment watching their car transform from ugh to thats my whip! Things are far..far from perfect with my wrapping trails thus far but from a distance its going to look new again. My 1st attempt at doing the hood and stretching was a complete fail..not because of trying to glass it..but as i lifted up to get more material to stretch..the whole piece came up and caught itself where it was a big stuck ball of 5ftx5ft waste. Doing this outside in heat is also very bad idea 2nd attempt went much better and faster now that I knew what to look for. After a couple hrs..it was done..my big gripe was the edges for the hood being stretched as much as i had for the top corners left very little material to fold that wouldnt lift back up. I didnt have any adhesive to help keep it down. Then i did the headlight tops which was no big deal. Moved onto the driver door..which in theory should be the easiest,my dumb self thinking just leave the mirrors on it cant make things that bad to work around..costed me another 1hr to straighten out wrinkles and bubbles to no end. The handle area is where it got messy and i got 2 big wrinkles and my arms were beyond tired to pull back and try again so it stays for now. I took a much needed break..went for a drive and then the tears started when the turbo heat made the passenger side edges peel and wrinkle pretty bad.I had to patch it and its an eye sore upclose to see the overlay and seamline. So note to self for the rest of things I tackle,get adhesive,you need to constantly blow air/dust off your panels before you press it down or it will bubble or show anything under the vinyl,thorough clean the edges with alcohol,wax/grease remover leaves a residue.

Finally here are the pics:

pwdbychevy

Turbo heat was my main concern when i wrapped the 91 hood. I could barely touch the passenger side of the hood after driving around it was so hot. I lined that area under the hood with heat insulation and added the side hood vents to expel the heat which helped a ton.

Street Lethal

iTrader: (16)

Come on now gents, I don't want to be hearing that...

In my case I might have to just paint the hood to match, and wrap the rest...

- Rob

86White_T/A305

No you wont need to paint it instead..Just gotta leave enough material around the edges to not lift up and glue them own.Touching up small spots with glue now has fixed some edges. Im going to try the fenders next round.

Street Lethal

iTrader: (16)

Gonna wait to see how your fenders came out before getting started, I'm very curious. So far it's coming out great though, but yes, pictures can be very deceiving. I just finished tig welding the BOV flange in, and now resuming the tuning for fifteen pounds very soon. Need to start on the appearance next, as this poor GTA has been neglected for quite awhile. Gotta show her some love...

- Rob

admathi

As stated above, watch ckwraps on YouTube , and be patient. There is a learning curve. Start with the smaller flat portions first. Do the fenders and hood last, after you have practiced. Get the knifeless tape that Christian recommends on ckwraps. Take off the ground fx and mirrors and small pieces, it is worth the time. This is wrapped by me in my garage. VIVVID marina blue. It's not too hard, but it does take time. With that said, i'm a vinyl believer and will probably always have a wrap on my camaro from now on.


Keep in mind the better your body work/prep work is, the better it will look. Every little imperfection in the paint will show through the vinyl.

Venom_1138

Man, here I was all set to paint my car and now I'm seeing these results and having second thoughts, lol. Seriously impressive looking results, from the photos I would never have guessed any of the cars here were wrapped. Just out of curiosity, how many square feet of wrap does it take to do an entire car with T-Tops? I'd be interested to see the cost comparison between vinyl wrap and the cost of the paint I've been looking at, especially since the vinyl wrap doesn't require a paint booth setup.

Keep cranking out those progress pictures, 86White_TA, your results are looking good!

StevenK

iTrader: (1)

That blue is so pretty. I must now wrap my multi color Camaro!

pwdbychevy

Love the color. I see you ran into the same issue i did on my first wrap job with the vinyl lifting at the fender crease. That happens when you bridge the vinyl across the crease and squeegee it down. Alot of tension in that area and it will start to lift up when the heat gets to it. I tried a different method by not bridging it across the fender and squeegeeing it down to the crease then the pull the rest down over the fender lip. No more lifting at the crease.

admathi

I bought mine for a regular size car off the vivvid site. I cant remember exactly how many sq. feet i used, but i know it was about $300 bucks. I think i ordered the 45ftx 5 ft roll. Then i messed up on the hood and ordered like 10 more feet. Tools, squeegees, tape and all i spent about $400 on my wrap.

Street Lethal

iTrader: (16)

Hopefully the po po didn't impound Torch's Trans Am as per his last video...

Gotta be more careful on those Canadian streets my bro...

- Rob

Venom_1138

So here's a question for you gents who have wrapped your cars: what did you do about wrapping around your power mirrors? My understanding is that even if you unbolt the mirror, the cable doesn't have a disconnect, so even with the mirror unbolted from the car, you would still need to work around the mirror attached by the mirror cables. I was looking at my car last night after watching some of the CK Wraps videos and saw that to be one of the few potential challenge areas. I had a couple of ideas about ways to tackle it, but I wanted to see what other people have done and found to be the easiest way.

admathi

I don't have power mirrors on mine, so i can't really help. Sorry. I just took my mirrors off, and used the knifeless tape to do the overlapping technique that Christian showed on ckwraps.

pwdbychevy

The cable can't be disconnected but you can remove the toggle from the backing plate. There's a metal clip on the backside that you have to grab with needle nose pliers and twist to get it off. then you can snake the toggle with cable through the hole on the door. I did my mirrors in 3 pieces - one on the window side first, one on the bottom second and one on the top last. All the pieces overlap each other and i used knifeless tape for cutting.

86White_T/A305

Lol sorry for the lack of update.

No my car hasnt been impounded..not yet anyways :P I took a break from wrapping stuff just due to dealing with my underhood temps issue with the fresh motor. As stated though time and patience with great prep work is key for great results. By all means Im not taking that route too seriously nor am I removing any panels. I dont mind the imperfections as much or parts that are lifting from overstretched areas or heat lift so much as i care about the car being a solid color again. So in pics from a distance the car would look great,upclose you will see where I literally cut corners. I dont have a garage I can work in to do things to the degree of being perfect,I can barely open the door to get out when its parked in there driveway hot sun vinyl wrapping is not the way to go but its my only choice for now. For most guys if you do try this and do it this way..know that the 2nd time around would be cake. Im ordering another full roll as 1 just isnt quite enough when you make a massive panel mistake lol. I might just try the fenders tomorrow with the rest of wrap I have.

Here is what the car looks like from a distance right now.

86White_T/A305

So ontop of things that set me back, the factory hood latch let go and randomly the hood would pop open and ride on the 2nd latch as im cruising. So knowing I want to hit higher top speeds..hoodpins were going to be another safety mod in the future and I added these for a stealthy look.

Street Lethal

iTrader: (16)

This is one hell of a shot for a 3rd Gen Trans Am. Love it...!

- Rob

86White_T/A305

Yes I agree lol. I took the pic and looked at it on my pc and was like..Damn..looks pretty good right there,new background pic.

86White_T/A305

Well ladies and gents, its long overdue but there is progress. I managed to wrap the fenders..barely. The goal is to wrap the car as much as possible without removing anything and add some life back to the car on the most basic budget and skill set to show you guys just how much this can be diy at home with alot of patience. Ill keep it short and let the pics/vid the change. Enjoy

freaky

is there anywhere you can order vinyl with the irocz already printed on it . like a nascar car has all there names printed .
?

tylercamaro

iTrader: (1)

Id be interested in hearing more about the seems this leaves. its probably my biggest worry have a super evident seem somewhere in the quarter

Abubaca

iTrader: (3)

Most of the guys who are doing color changes are using a colored vinyl. The Nascar stuff is white, and has ink printed on it. So yeah, you could have a wrap printed, but it's expensive, especially if you only want the "IROC" printed. -Plus, you can't really do any metallics. Well, you CAN...but most shops can't, and it's REALLY expensive. Technically, the answer is yes, but.....not really. I'd have to say the answer is no.

Most of this stuff comes in 60" rolls. I've considered doing it, and the only place my hardtop would need a seam would be somewhere on the roof, running front to back. Of course you could put the seam anywhere you wanted I suppose, but that's where I'd put it. I think you could do a T Top car without a seam, but I'd have to measure. Might not be economical either, but I think it can be done.

tylercamaro

iTrader: (1)

Most of this stuff comes in 60" rolls. I've considered doing it, and the only place my hardtop would need a seam would be somewhere on the roof, running front to back. Of course you could put the seam anywhere you wanted I suppose, but that's where I'd put it. I think you could do a T Top car without a seam, but I'd have to measure. Might not be economical either, but I think it can be done.[/QUOTE]

ive done a subaru with vinyl wrap but it had roof gutter molding to hide the wrap in so hiding a seam perfectly just seems insane. my first time came out ok. the other little pieces ive done for friends trucks and stuff was ok. the harder bends and fascias were very meh in some spots but lining two sheets together perfectly id deem out of my level of control. Id be interested to see a close up of peoples seems.

Abubaca

iTrader: (3)

You can do it using knifeless tape. There's a method to it. That being said...over time....well...you know.

obeymybird

iTrader: (4)

Just helped my friend wrap his evo the last few weeks and I was very impressed with the turn out so looks like I will be joining the club very soon.

Abubaca

iTrader: (3)

Nice! ....I've actually decided that I'm gonna wrap my 88 too. Paint isn't very good. That being said, for the record, ideally you don't wrap over bad/peeling paint or clear. What I plan to do is to just do some spot fixing to the clearcoat. It won't look very good, but it's gonna be covered. The vinyl needs decent clear to grab/stick to. ...anyhow...not gonna go just ONE color...gonna have some fun with some graphics! ...ultimately...it'll get new paint start to finish, but hopefully the wrap will buy me some time.