"Wrapping" a car

[Tony66_au]

A friend of a friend has asked me if he can borrow my 450SEL and "Wrap" the thing is carbon fibre or similar.

He wants to do it for promotional purposes and possibly to do it in a few different wraps as a finished project, take pictures over a few days and use those pictures for his website and as promotional posters.

He says he did a 420SEL but the shape made it look terrible apart from the gold foil wrap which he said was too chintzy even for him and fell in love with the 116 shape when he was brought here by my friend.

Im dubious about this and im wondering if anyone has any experience with this stuff?

Tony

[djenka018]

I failed to comprehend what is the "wrap" you're talking about.

You're not talking of vinyl sticky foil?

[Tony66_au]

Yep thats pretty much it, 3m contact type of thing

[djenka018]

I've seen delivery panel vans post wrap removal and its not something you'd want on your nicely painted car. It will require detailed sticky gum removal here and there (usually peels of nicely) and heat gun application.

But for far from ideal paint....its a brilliant way to replace paint on medium long terms.

Can I volunteer with my car for free? He can have 2 cars at the same time!

[oversize]

Vinyl wrapping is quite common here.  One of the popular magazines did a matt black wrap on a brand new Evo X.  They enjoyed it for a while and then removed it later.  They never said anything about damage to the paint and I'm sure they'd mention it if it was a problem.

I'd heard the V8 SC teams use wrap instead of paint and I have a feeling it's common for race cars generally.

What colour wrap was he thinking?  Really anything's possible!!!  How about "Red Pig' livery???  You may have to remove the bumpers to achieve a convincing job....

[Tony66_au]

Problem solved as he bought (At my suggestion) a 450SEL yesterday for $500, Havent seen it yet but it starts and drives which is a bonus.

My understanding is that the car is stripped as if for paint with chrome, door handles etc being removed and sometimes wrapped as well in carbon fibre like stuff or basically any colour you want.

The removal leaves no residue if the 3M film is used and the 3M removal system and the film doesn't UV Cure or shrink and im told lasts for years.

They now have matte metallic colours and all in all the guy seems very professional and has trade quals to back it all up.

A quick google search last night brought up a number of very colourful websites in Aus and overseas and its worth a look to better understand the concept.

eBay too has a few companies selling services with lots of piccies.

[Squiggle Dog]

Maybe this would be a lower-cost alternative to finally getting my car painted. Haha.

[Tony66_au]

I guess it would be yup!

Just a limit to the colours and finishes.

Worth a look though