Finished my vinyl wrap.

[JR]

Finished my wrap today. Still have a couple of small details to hit, but it's practically done.

The color is 3m 1080 Satin Volcanic Flare. Absolutely thrilled with the outcome. The vinyl can be removed from the car up to three years later with no damage to the paint underneath.

[JR]

I can hear the purists already boiling in a fit of rage, lol.

[JR]

And finished.

I will probably leave this color on for a year or so, then do it in another color next summer to keep it fresh for advertising purposes.

I'm thinking I may go satin black or something like that next time. We'll see.

In the meantime, I'm loving this. It's all of the colors. It flips from burgundy/purple to copper/gold/green to grey.

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

Said it on FB....good for you to dare to be different.  You have a skill there as well....I remember my days of screwing up window tint!  LOL!

[JR]

Thanks Chris.

Funny enough, I was using this car as advertisment to land a job in the industry, and ended up getting one last week.

As a bonus, the owner is sending me to window tint training asap. He seemed to think if I could do this, I can learn tint. So that's a whole new can of worms I'm about to open. I've already been practicing tint as well. It's a whole art unto itself.

Beats the hell out of the factory work I was doing, so I'm all in.

[Kern Dog]

Without the door scoops, how does the wrap bridge over the mounting holes?

[JR]

Without the door scoops, how does the wrap bridge over the mounting holes?

The holes should be punched, the vinyl won't last going over holes like that. It will cause it to "blow out".

I'm still deciding what to do with them. I may wrap some small "Christmas tree" trim clips and stuff them in the holes for now, or I may end up wrapping the door scoops.

I was hesitant to wrap them because I didn't want to risk damage to my brand new emblems removing them.

I still have to figure out what to do there.

[Moparpoolman]

I would get another set of door scoops so you don't have to mess with the yellow ones  

[chargervert]

The wrap came out good, but I prefer the yellow on a 70 Charger R / T, but I may be a bit biased in my opinion having owned this one since 1981.

[Mytur Binsdirti]

It looked better yellow.

[cincyboy]

So I gotta ask,  How long did it take you?  I've thought about doing my 370z Nismo and I was curious what the learning curve would be. 

[Derwud]

Said it on FB, it looks AWESOME... Good Luck on the new job..

[chargervert]

I am considering wrapping my Daytona stock car project, but I wasn't planning on painting the car at all. I  am going to get the car into urethane primer, then wrap it. I am glad to see that your car came out so well.  I would be concerned about removing the wrap from a painted car,because I have had masking tape pull paint off a car while painting on stripes.

[JR]

Thanks guys. I'm really lucky I finally landed a job in the industry.

Chargervert, if the paint isn't prepped well before spraying, paint could definitely lift. However given the quality of your builds, I doubt that would be a concern. If I were building a car from scratch to be wrapped, I'd paint underhood and all the jambs in black. That way no bright colors show through any panel gaps. I had to wrap pretty deep into my panel gaps because of this. That would also be compatible with almost any color.

As far as time, I had a big head start because I attended a week long training course in wraps back in March. So I didn't have to learn by trial and error. Not counting teardown and assembly, I probably have 10 days of 8 hour days wrapping time. A pro could wrap everything here in 2 or 3 days, but this was my first full solo wrap, and vintage cars present problems modern cars don't have that I had to figure out.
I am wrapping a 4Runner next, and I'm confident I can do it in 5 days. Of course, you'll get faster the more you wrap.  After a few more vehicles I'm sure Ill hit the three day target.

[chargervert]

I am trying to decide which way to go with the Daytona stock car. I like the idea of wrapping it,because it can be changed if I want to give the car a new look at anytime. The other thought I had was doing it in old school metal flake.  The car would be stored inside most of the time so I think a wrap would hold up well on it. What is the average cost to wrap a Charger these days?  I know the price can vary depending on which material is used.

[JR]

If stored indoors, the wrap can last up to three years before needing removed.

Cost is entirely regional, and subject to Vary around the country. I'm two hours Southwest of Atlanta, and around here most shops seem to get 2k-2500 for a solid color wrap without full jambs.

Of course, if you want a printed wrap or full jambs, the cost goes up.

Just like with paint, you're paying for more labor than materials. I have about 700 ish in vinyl using 3M. (This could be a little cheaper using other brands) The other 13-1500 a shop would have charged me would have been for the labor.

Oh, and check out the 3m 1080 line. They have some 70s old school gold bass boat metalflake colors in gloss if you want to check them out.

You can order samples of any color you're considering from www.metrorestyling.com for really cheap.

I think a square foot sample is a couple bucks.

[chargervert]

Thanks for the information on the cost of wrapping a vehicle, it will definitely help me decide which direction to go with my Daytona stock car project.

[alfaitalia]

Chargervert, if the paint isn't prepped well before spraying, paint could definitely lift it. However given the quality of your builds, I doubt that would be a concern. If I were building a car from scratch to be wrapped, I'd paint underhood and all the jambs in black. That way no bright colors show through any panel gaps. I had to wrap pretty deep into my panel gaps because of this. That would also be compatible with almost any color.

Like it...I might have been tempted to wrap the chrome around the grille too. You say you had to go deep into the gaps to stop your yellow paint showing. I'm surprised at this as all the wraps I see over here (matt wraps on high end cars is big at the moment...gives the car a new look and protects the paint underneath from stone chips and scuffs) have been wrapped right up to the door seals...as well as all around the edges of the doors and behind the fuel flap. Usually you can't see any of the original colour unless you look in the engine bay.

[cdr]

If stored indoors, the wrap can last up to three years before needing removed.

Cost is entirely regional, and subject to Vary around the country. I'm two hours Southwest of Atlanta, and around here most shops seem to get 2k-2500 for a solid color wrap without full jambs.

Of course, if you want a printed wrap or full jambs, the cost goes up.

Just like with paint, you're paying for more labor than materials. I have about 700 ish in vinyl using 3M. (This could be a little cheaper using other brands) The other 13-1500 a shop would have charged me would have been for the labor.

Oh, and check out the 3m 1080 line. They have some 70s old school gold bass boat metalflake colors in gloss if you want to check them out.

You can order samples of any color you're considering from www.metrorestyling.com for really cheap.

I think a square foot sample is a couple bucks.

Last only 3 years stored inside ? WOW

[JR]

Yes cdr. A big part of a wraps appeal is that it is temporary. It can completely change the look of a car, then afterwards be removed without a trace. It's common to see brand new vehicles (often
a lease) wrapped immediately upon delivery, then have the wrap removed before trading the vehicle back in. It has a functional purpose as well, it protects the paint while it's on, so if you lease an exotic car then turn back in at the two year mark, the original paint will likely be pristine.

Alfa, the thing about the panel gaps is for two reasons. First, the car has bright yellow paint, which clashes big time against the purple/bronze color, so I have to go deep in the jambs to make sure no yellow showed. (I still have to plasti-dip the rocker pinchweld black actually.) Even on a modern vehicle, when you wrap a wildly contrasting color on top of paint, you have to go deep in the jambs to ensure no original paint shows through and ruins the effect. Plus, the gaps are larger on old dodges than anything modern, so it's even more necessary.

I'm already thinking about what color to do next. I took the car out to a local meet tonight and reactions were polarizing to say the least. Everyone under 40 loved it. The Mopar purists wanted to hang me on the spot. Which I find hilarious.

[JB400]

It's unique, that's for sure.  Looks like it has a satin finish to it

[cdr]

Thank you JR !!!!

[JR]

No problem man.

Here's some of the other colors I came close on. They look great, but they look too much like paint. I need people to know it's a wrap immediately. That leads to more jobs. I'm fortunate it has already gotten some interest. I encountered three possible future clients tonight.

Here's some of the other colors I liked, but they just look too much like paint so I couldn't use them now.

[JR]

Here is the copper. I came so close to using this one.

[JR]

Love this color