Vinyl Wrap

[John Green]

I would fail a paint by numbers class, so painting my Reynard is a scary proposition. Anyone wrap a FC? No fancy graphics just a solid color.

[Steve Demeter]

I would paint before I tried to wrap it. Way too many compound curves to get the vinyl to lay nice.

Just my 2 cents.

[RSS]

Or paint first and vinyl to cover the mistakes!

[Ray Rivard]

My car is vinyl from a friend at DesignFuel Graphics. PM if you want contact info. Yellow is base paint. Blue, red and chrome are vinyl.



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[2BWise]

I vinyl wrapped my last car. It was the first time I'd ever done something large and complex. It was a learning experience and there were mistakes a long the way but I was very pleased with how it turned out. The whole thing is wrapped, no original paint exposed. It helped to hide all the fiberglass cracks that were underneath.

[SEComposites]

I would definitely give wrapping a go. You’ll need at least one extra pair of hands, but it’s not too hard. I’d buy a small amount and have a go. I’ve just wrapped my helmet (it’s a simple design) but it turned out great and cost me $20.

[phantomjock]

I would definitely give wrapping a go. You’ll need at least one extra pair of hands, but it’s not too hard. I’d buy a small amount and have a go. I’ve just wrapped my helmet (it’s a simple design) but it turned out great and cost me $20.

Please - share some pics!

A couple of thoughts on Paint/Vinyl/etc that ran through my head when preping the SR:

1. I have had a fair amount of spray gun time - but years ago. I have access to a paint booth for $50 a day
2. I also considered Plastic-Dip as an option - and you can "rattle-can it so no gun required. You can do that easily in the garage/driveway (low wind)
3. No experience in Vinyl - other than sticker/decal application.
4. A lot of time applying bottom-paint - with a roller. Topside paints have continually improved and give a very acceptable finish, are hard, and "stick" well to fiberglass. Price point is good and a quart is more than enough (one color). Tools are cheap, and disposable.
5. "Rattle-Can" Knew a guy in college that did his entire car with spray can. took a week, but with time and patience, look as good as a Macco job.

Vinyl and Plastic-Dip can have a "durability" issue - so I took those off the planning table.

I did the SR with a combination of Topside paint (roller), rattle-can and tapes. Very acceptable finish. Just did a recoat last season where had some damage repairs.





The White is all topside paint, red and black rattle can, and some fine-line red striping, and obviously the vinyl "stickers."
I used a pretty standard topside paint (interlux I recall) and it rolled out well. There are a lot of better paint available now, and they flow and knit together well, giving a spray like finish. With care you won't need the old "roll and tip" method.

I am torn on my next paint job, as the vinyls offer a huge array of choices. But its a race car, so simple, cheap, and durable are the order of build. I'll probably start here: https://www.jamestowndistributors.co...34#/perpage:16 when looking at paints - they have pretty good pricing - YMMV

Cheers - Jim

[AVR_Shane]

I would definitely give wrapping a go. You’ll need at least one extra pair of hands, but it’s not too hard. I’d buy a small amount and have a go. I’ve just wrapped my helmet (it’s a simple design) but it turned out great and cost me $20.

What product did you use? I've thought about that, but helmets require a lot of "stretch" in the wrap. I've been thinking about pinstriping the car, just need to figure out what to use.

[Rick Kirchner]

Bob Hatle wrapped his DB-3 FF with a metallic green. Had it professionally done. It has lasted now with apparently little damage for about 5 years I believe.

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[2BWise]

What product did you use? I've thought about that, but helmets require a lot of "stretch" in the wrap. I've been thinking about pinstriping the car, just need to figure out what to use.

I found the Avery SW900 series vinyl to have a ton of stretch to it, more so than the 3M 1080 series. For items with lots of curves I'd suggest the Avery over 3M to minimize the amount of cuts required.

[Cameron Wagner]

I've had good luck wrapping a Miata with Vvivid vinyl wrap. The early stuff they released several years ago was garbage but over the past two years I've found their quality got better and is on par with the more expensive stuff from more established companies. They also do some weird limited-production colors.

I just bought a few different rolls for my Van Diemen for around $150 (they have 10-25% off sales every two months or so, just sign up for email list) and I will apply it when it starts warming up in the garage.

Two sets of hands will easily cut application time in half. One set for stretching, one set for heating and squeegeeing.

[Captainrags]

I wrapped mr 82 reynard solid color. Been no issues after one season.

[John Green]

Thanks for all the replies.....I'll give the wrap a go when it warms up.

[John LaRue]

This is an excellent source for supplies:

https://www.metrorestyling.com/Default.asp

I had a go with a side pod and decided it is a job best left to a pro. YMMV. I have wrapped wings and other non-complex items.

[SteveG]

The costs of vinyl wrap is appealing, beats the local paint shop by almost 10X less.
Question - How hard is it to "do it over" if you get to the last corner and can't get the wrinkles out?
Does the vinyl just peal off or does it take any marginal paint/bondo with it?

Steve

[Jamesbe]

It may take paint or clear with it if it's not well bonded but if you remove immediately and apply with a lubricant it should not be an issue.

Remember sometimes one piece just won't work. For the most part you'll never see the seam so you can just cut and continue on.

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[John LaRue]

The wrap material is usually applied dry as it has little pathways to help evacuate the trapped air. It pulls off pretty easily all things considered. It would probably pull of poorly adhered paint. One of the prototype guys was telling me they can pull a wrap in less than an hour which I found pretty remarkable.

There is an edge sealant which I understand works quite well. Also consider using the knifeless edge tape.

[Raceworks]

I've been wrapping my cars and others for about three years now. You need the right material (Oracal 970RA is what I usually use) which comes in a 50" roll. You'll need 3 to 4 yards of material to do a formula car and 6 or so to do something like a Miata or S2000. You'll need gloves (nitrile or Oracal makes some for their wrap material) an adjustable heat gun set to about 300 degrees, xacto knives, squeegees (preferably with a felt lined edge or you can get felt covers). You can also get cutting tape if you want to cut curved edges or make stripes. Very complex compund curves will require you to do the piece in sections (and you'll want about a half inch of overlap where you have seams). Helicopter tape can help to hold some edges down or put extra protection on those areas that tend to get sandblasted. Try to do the wrap out of the sun and around room temperature.

Make sure you stock up on at least 25% extra material on your first job because you will make mistakes the first time as you learn the limits of how the material can be heated and stretched. Wrap vinyl is relatively thick but it won't fill in deep cracks or surface imperfections. You'll still see the he weave pattern if you wrap bare carbon fiber. It helps to remove things like mirrors and Dzus fasteners because then you just need to poke or cut small holes rater than trying to work around the xfixturre.

The first job will be a bitch, but once you get the hang of it you can wrap a whole FF in about 6 hours.

Some of the additional benefits of wrapping over painting is that the wrappeded parts hold up better than paint. Plus if you have a wreck the wrap tends to help keep the bodywork fragments together which not only facilitates track cleanup but if facilitates repairs. Spot repairs are easier, too. You just cut the offending section if vinyl off and patch it.

[Bob Coury]

John,

Thanks for starting this thread. I was wondering the same.

Bob

[Bob Coury]

Entertaining outfitting the car in Ferrari colors. I would rather paint, but now realize how much of the car has to come apart in order to get the side panels off.

I assume that a VD tail section may be challenging to wrap?

Also assume that all stress cracks must be repaired before wrapping?

Thanks
Bob

[Westroc]

When my guy came to look at my design and the car he was worried about the tail most and the contours second. What we came up with was to use Bristol board (or something similar) and draw out the patterns. Was multi colored in my case. After that it was simple. Just cut to the pattern! For the sides we hung paper like bodyshops use and did the same. Jim.

[Ian Lenhart]

2bwise, I also like using Avery SW900 series. I did a roof on a brand new Range Rover in gloss black a few months ago and the only complaint is that I could see some scratches. I was using a brand new felt edge squeegee, extra careful with my pressure and angles of my squeegee, and lubed the squeegee surface as well. Customer was still extremely happy with the results and after baking in the sun for a day or two I’m sure it’s looks great. Now fast forward to last week, I wrapped 3 transits in a 3m 2080 (purchased based on color availability) and to my surprise, it has a thin clear film over the vinyl that you peel off after squeegeeing resulting a perfect scratch/scuff free finish. I wish I used the 3m 2080 on the Range Rover.

FYI, I wrap cars and weird **** all the time (wrapped about 30 footballs for the Super Bowl a few years ago). What I would do is go to harbor freight and buy a few $15 gravity guns, go to Napa and buy their house brand base and clear and hose it down for a lot less money and time. Toss the guns in the garbage when done. Once cured, if you want a second color, buy some 3m knife-less tape (FYI, this stuff is not cheap) and a few yards of vinyl and create some stripes.

On more note in regards to wrapping, Milwaukee tool has a cordless heat gun that works great. Propane torches also work well.

[John Green]

I know I started this thread and I appreciate all the replies. I gave the wrap a go on part of the car and it was a miserable failure (not the vinyl, it was my two left hands that couldn’t do it)
Gave up, built a temporary paint booth in the garage and let the internet teach me how to paint. Only took two tries to get it pretty good. Didn’t save any money but acquired a new life skill!
Might try learning to weld next….always did want to set myself on fire and go blind.

[Ian Lenhart]

Wow, looks great!!!

[John Green]

Wow, looks great!!!

Thanks Ian.....do you want to buy it back when it is done? (at the current pace it will be next year at the soonest) I am way past the driving stage and will be looking for another to rebuild!

[ejsprint30]

Wrapped my front wing in a high gloss carbon fiber vinyl with a clear protective film on top. The clear should take most of the sandblasting abuse and can be replaced without damaging the carbon wrap.

The rest of the body (except center section...didn't want to remove the bones) is wrapped in a gloss black. Did a carbon fiber highlight on the top of the rear cowl.

ej

[chrisw52]

I was fully planning on wrapping my car but that would be a learning experience. I might add vinyl panels and decorations moving forward..

I have instead to paint my car. I am waiting for the weather to warm up a bit more and I can finish the job.
One of the biggest reasons I painted the car was that I can use a specific automotive paint code and I can rattle can the car for the similar cost of the vinyl wrap & tools

[Jamesbe]

Wrap the nose in clear vinyl. Best decision I ever made. No chips after 2 seasons

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[Ian Lenhart]

Thanks Ian.....do you want to buy it back when it is done? (at the current pace it will be next year at the soonest) I am way past the driving stage and will be looking for another

I wish I could, unfortunately my racing budget is a big fat zero.

What do you use to polish the aluminum bits? I can’t believe you were able to restore to such a bright finish.

[racpercival]

EJ,

How did you prep the fiberglass prior to wrapping? A specific grade sandpaper or something else? Looking at wrapping a FC car also. Never did it before and all thumbs, but will still try!!!

Thanks!
Roger

[ejsprint30]

The fiberglass was obviously sealed, so all I did was wipe clean with alcohol and make sure it was dust free.

The wrap material I purchased from Ebay...there are a lot of color choices. But the key is to make sure it is "wrapping" vinyl. It will say in the description that it has release holes in it so you do not develop air bubbles. Usually, the material comes with an application kit.

In small tight areas, I have used water to get it perfectly in place, but I don't recommend that for large pieces.

You can get several tries with the same piece if you make a mistake...but once it starts to stretch, it will never look right. Wings are pretty simple...the large bodywork pieces require a heat gun and someone pretty talented to do a nice job. There are a lot of videos on you tube...I would suggest watching them and see first if it something you want to attempt. Good luck,

ej

[racpercival]

Thanks EJ!!! Will give it a go.

[bassracer]

I just completed a full body paint job and wrapped the side pods. Both were a steep learning curve and wish they had turned out better. Plenty of mistakes made. Good enough for race car, but was hoping for better based on the time invested. It was a good learning experience


I used 970RA material based on suggestions and seeing other's race cars with it. It was very high quality material.

My take-aways for wrapping:
-Gloss wrap still shows all the body imperfections. It might hide some flush surface cracks but can show everything else. I ended up wrapping because my paint job was **** there. The prep finishing for the wrapping ended up not perfect and you can tell.
-I tried to minimize the amount of wrap going to straight fibgerglass/body filler/primer after leveling the surface. These materials are known to be "dusty" and can compromise the long term adhesion. So any places I simply gave a quick rattle can spray.
-I wrapped parts individually on a separate bench. This may have been a mistake. Watching videos of wrapping a regular car make the task look very straight forward and learnable. The race car fiberglass is completely different because it is not a stationary rigid metal object, and certainly has more compound curves and shapes. Getting the material to stretch and pull consistently was impossible without fighting the part moving, too. Majority of the defects in the wrapping are resulting from stick/unstick/stick/unstick etc. Next time I may try it on the car for the majority of the panel, then pull off for the detail work on the edges.
-My edges of the fiberglass were not smooth and finished. I'm worried about longevity of the wrap lifting because of poor adhesion. I think the small "adhesive " pens can help in this scenario. I was not smart enough and didn't realize this until in the job.
-Due to the shapes and curves you must plan out your direction of stretch before even starting.
-Wrapping over a poor paint job can cause the paint to pull up when you go to shift the wrap or in my case - decide to start over and peel it off.

We'll see how it handle 9 session at road america.
Good luck!

[Pragmatist]

This is the side cover to my Chinese Grom. It was Dipped from a spray can. It actually looks better than the pic. The first time it ran (to heavy of spray) The second I used light coats and after the third coat I got this. I can't find a flaw. Several who have seen it have asked what shop painted it. Nine bucks for a can on amazon.....

[Pragmatist]

Well, I tried to post a pic by dragging the photo over but that resulted in over two hundred pages of code. Suffice it to say all who have seen the work personally were overwhelmed and had to be rushed to a hospital.
Perhaps if someone could explain how to post pics.....

[racpercival]

Just curious on thoughts on this post on vinyl wrap and fire (I think it was in FF forum):

“At the last Toyo event of the season, we had a wrapped VD catch fire in the engine bay. I was right behind it at the time. Once the flame got to the outside of the engine bay, it hit the wrap and accelerated around the car past the dash. This all happened in the span of maybe 15 seconds. Fortunately the driver was unhurt, and the suit and gloves did their job.

I had never considered the flammability of vinyl wrap before.”

best
bt

[Spengo]

Just curious on thoughts on this post on vinyl wrap and fire (I think it was in FF forum):

“At the last Toyo event of the season, we had a wrapped VD catch fire in the engine bay. I was right behind it at the time. Once the flame got to the outside of the engine bay, it hit the wrap and accelerated around the car past the dash. This all happened in the span of maybe 15 seconds. Fortunately the driver was unhurt, and the suit and gloves did their job.

I had never considered the flammability of vinyl wrap before.”

best
bt

I did a science experiment with a leftover piece. Granted, a lighter is not as hot as a car fire but results were about what I expected. Something else must have been going on with that car or maybe they had some special wrap material different than mine.

[HazelNut]

I would paint before I tried to wrap it. Way too many compound curves to get the vinyl to lay nice.

Just my 2 cents.

"wrap" is waaaay stretchier than normal graphics vinyl. you can stick it and stretch and pull up again and restretch and restick a bunch. heat gun is a must. I actually had one of my trucks wrapped and the installer let me help out and learn about working with wrap. It's a way differnt product than normal sign vinyl, but it will still take some practice and patience to get a good result

[problemchild]

Lots of other flammable parts on a race car.

Some arguments make me giggle. Like securing ballast for example...... some people will whine about the difficulty of safely securing ballast. Bolting in a piece of lead should be much easier, for example, than securing a wheel. Most of us can even manage 4 wheels.

[problemchild]

If you paint, match up your paint color with a vinyl wrap color. I don't have the skills to wrap a complete car, but I can wrap parts of it, and certainly wrap portions after repair.