Vinyl Wrapping.

[kadman]

Just had a brief look at vinyl wrapping, and I must say I am strongly tempted to look further into it.
And the fact that the materials are readily available here in Ireland rather than the long hassle of dealing with the UK what with brexit, customs, blah de blah.
So i am going to try some small panels on the classic fastback.Material and tools are cheap and the car body surface is excellent.

[Hairy-Joe]

I'd be interested in your feedback. I'm a small bit tempted to go for clear wrapping / paint protection film on specific high wear areas of the car such as door sills, boot sill etc.

[kadman]

I am just going to do the two side rear wing panels partially to see how it works for me. If I like it, I might do the whole car as its a good option finish wise as I dont have suitable areas for spraying a car. Although I have done in my shed, but everything else gets sprayed as well because its impossible to segregate a partial area.

[kadman]

With the new air drain technology of the vinyl its a huge help in removing air bubbles from below the vinyl when applying it to the car body. So I have to give it a lash

[Scotty]

It's notoriously difficult and you really only get one shot. Get plenty extra for practicing.

Good luck!!

[kadman]

It's notoriously difficult and you really only get one shot. Get plenty extra for practicing.

Good luck!!

I have spent months looking at materials and methods of application. I do not see any problems forthcoming at all. Its very user friendly once you have the right tools, knifeless cutting tape and a heat gun. And good hand / eye skills, which I have plenty of after rebuilding the bottom 15" of the fastback you see in the previous post from metal sheet as panels were unavailable at the time, and still are unless you live on the european mainland and have bottomless pockets full of cash.

As Clint Eastwood says " A man has got to know his limitations"
I know I wont even brake a sweat on this one

[kadman]

Quick headsup on the supplies for vinyl ect.
The 2 irish based companies that I have dealt with for vinyl supplies and tools were excellent in both communications and turnaround times for my parts.
Both companies have dealt with my enquiries and purchases and have shipped all parts so far by this morning. Some will be an post deliveries and some DPD.
And between these 2 suppliers I can get everything I need from tools, tapes, vinyls as well as tutorial videos. I cant ask for any better than that.

https://www.wrapdirect.com
https://www.walshgraphics.ie

[Scotty]

Keep us posted. Unfortunately I reversed a brand new Landcrusier into a wall last week and scratched the spare wheel cover. It has a reverse camera but there was a bit jutting out of the wall that I didn't see. It's not bad, but it's annoying. I was thinking of just getting some 'carbon fibre' wrap and covering it.

[kadman]

Keep us posted. Unfortunately I reversed a brand new Landcrusier into a wall last week and scratched the spare wheel cover. It has a reverse camera but there was a bit jutting out of the wall that I didn't see. It's not bad, but it's annoying. I was thinking of just getting some 'carbon fibre' wrap and covering it.

Yeah you could cover it ok, but the surface would have to be good under the wrap. Any indentations or surface damage below the wrap would transfer through and be seen on the wrap surface of course.

[kadman]

Would the land cruiser not be covered under fully comp?

[Scotty]

Would the land cruiser not be covered under fully comp?

It wouldn't be worth it. It's only a scratch, or rather, a row of scratches. You can't see them unless it's just washed. It's annoying though!

That https://www.wrapdirect.com looks good. They sell sheets large enough to do the whole cover in one go.

[kadman]

It wouldn't be worth it. It's only a scratch, or rather, a row of scratches. You can't see them unless it's just washed. It's annoying though!

That https://www.wrapdirect.com looks good. They sell sheets large enough to do the whole cover in one go.

Remember if you can feel the scratches with yours eyes closed, then thats going to transfer through, so be careful.

[kadman]

I must say i am impressed with the speed of Wrapdirect.com for my items.
Its out for delivery to my address for this morning which is very fast considering I only ordered early this week.
It will be interesting to see my purchases.

My other items from Walshgraphics is also marked as shipped which is fast too.

[kadman]

I got the parcel 20 minutes ago. Its the best packaged item I ever got from an irish supplier. Considering it was a small money order for my first purchase, it made no difference to the packaging. It was well wrapped and protected,, the squidgee tool was simple and strong construction.
The trimming knives surprised me in that they sere completely metal construction which I never expected. These types of knives are normally sharp blades in a cheap nasty plastic handle. I will post up pictures later today.
First impressions for Wrapdirect are top marks so far

[kadman]

Vinyl and tools arrived in a strong well wrapped cardboard tube,

[kadman]

Squidgee tool.

[Seanybiker]

Friend of mine got his BMW something or other wrapped a few months back off some lads in Ferrybank down this way (waterford). 1200 for the full car wrap and it turned out perfect. Its gone from the usual silver beemer into some blue shade now. Tis fairly snazzy , Id nearly get me whole bike done for the craic.

[kadman]

Friend of mine got his BMW something or other wrapped a few months back off some lads in Ferrybank down this way (waterford). 1200 for the full car wrap and it turned out perfect. Its gone from the usual silver beemer into some blue shade now. Tis fairly snazzy , Id nearly get me whole bike done for the craic.

Sure if you are anyway handy at all abike should be no problem as the parts are all small. Biggest bit is the tank. Go for it, you cant damage the bike, only waste the vinyl which is cheap.

[Seanybiker]

Sure if you are anyway handy at all abike should be no problem as the parts are all small. Biggest bit is the tank. Go for it, you cant damage the bike, only waste the vinyl which is cheap.

That's true alright. Can't imagine it's that expensive at all to get the vinyl. I'll have a little gander and see what the craic is sure.

[kadman]

Well I had a fun couple of days playing with the vinyl wrap material and just getting the feel of it. I concentrated on a couple of decal stripes on wings and front hood. I dont want to get too ambitious until I get used to it, or I could end up with a load of vinyl scrap.

Anyway some things I noted for future reference.
1. Your car body area thats going to be wrapped, needs to be spotlessly clean and dry. "MUST BE"
I used Isopropol alcohol for the job. A dilute solution of 10% and water.

2. If you are using knife less cutting tape, which I did, then that has to be well pressed down and attached well to the metal. You dont want this loosely attached where it could move.

3. When you place the vinyl onto the bodywork you must be very particular to place the vinyl in place correctly. You dont want to be removing and replacing vinyl onto the knifeless tape too often as its easy to move the tape underneath, so it needs to be done care fully.

All in all it was a worthwhile task as I learnt a lot for the next go with it.

[kadman]

I had some wrap left over so decided to play a bit more with it to see how easy it is to make a small decal, and does it lend itself to being easily manged for such a task.
End result was very good, I found it easy to get some type of fine detail . I strongly recommend it for sure.
I made up a VW Wolfsburg type emblem for the back boot area, but with a twist.

I also put some detailing on the front boot.

[CelticRambler]

Is that a two-colour strip you've used (blue and red) or did you make up the two lines yourself from different sheets?

[kadman]

Is that a two-colour strip you've used (blue and red) or did you make up the two lines yourself from different sheets?

The pinstriping was two colours and various widths available. I just applied it myself to give the look I wanted.
The gloss black decal was cut by me carefully from a tracing I took from the PC. Once cut the pieces were placed to give a seperation white line between the top of the 2 towers and the base.
Simple enough process and the vast collection of different type materials means you can virtually cover every item in the home.

[kadman]

https://www.halfords.ie/motoring/car-ac ... 08018.html