I'm having trouble deciding between getting my 1989 RS Camaro Wrapped or Painted. I been trying to get the car painted since 2011 but its constantly been put aside due to other more important financial things. After looking into getting a wrap it was surprisingly wayyy cheaper then paint.


I would like to have ya guys opinions both options.

 

 

Having designed and installed lots of wraps on everything from cars, boats and even an airplane, if you're gonna go solid color, go paint. Decent paint will last a lot longer, look better, and is just overall superior.

Wraps are great because you can print crazy graphics first of all. Second, you can remove it yourself down the road and it'll actually protect the paint underneath. Third, there are some really cool chrome, satin, metallic finishes available, not all of which are available with paint. There ARE benefits, but for a quality wrap, you're quickly closing in on paint prices. Sure, a deep flawlessly smooth show caliber paint job is gonna cost more than a wrap, but you can get a good paintjob for a LOT less than a show car paint job.

 

If you want a cheap alternative to paint you can always plasti-dip. When done correctly it looks like a decent paint job, and has the removable option like a vinyl wrap. If you are only interested in paint or vinyl, go paint. They are getting closer in cost now and for the price something that lasts longer, is more durable, and is easy to maintain would be ideal IMHO.

 

wraps turn into burnt stickers after about 2 years here in az.. have fun removing an entire burnt sticker from your car.

plasti dip is the worst thing anyone ever came up with. i charged a customer nearly 3k to remove it from his car since it literally burnt to the car

paint is your best bet, but its not cheap. you can go to maaco and get an under 1k paint job that will be decent, but anything over that you can expect to pay up above 3500

 

If you are willing to do the wrap yourself you can save a TON of money. I'm about to wrap my 06' GTO and I'm only looking at about $600.

 

It's not whether or not you're willing, but rather are you ABLE to do it yourself. I have about 50 wraps under my belt, and doing it right isn't nearly as easy as it looks.

 

I agree to an extent. The difficulty of the job plays a HUGE factory, but as far as the technique there is a ton of videos, help, etc to be found on the internet.


I think it takes a certain type of focus to wrap a car. You need to be detail oriented and very thorough.


Thirdgens aren't very curvy either, so that helps a lot for a beginner. I'm not expert at all, but have wrapped two vehicles. I found there to be a little learning curve but nothing I couldn't handle.

 

Can the OP's car even be wrapped? A good wrap still needs prep work just like paint - looks like the door surface may have some unevenness.

I think your best bet is keep saving and grinding until you can get a paint job.