To start a thread on paint verses a wrap here is the quintessential Gambini. If your paint is ok but not spectacular is it better to spend x-thousands on a full and beautiful paint job or is it wise to consider a current day technology wrap in the color or pattern of your choice allowing you the ability the change the "visual" three to five times verses the life of a paint job.

I went with a wrap when I faced this decision, since I decided I would rather throw 10 grand at an engine and exhaust set up right now, and 2 grand into the wrap vs. 10k for paint and 2K for the engine.

That being said, do NOT try and go cheap if you get a wrap. You get what you pay for. I didn't know this first off, and got some lower end wrap from a high end manufacturer. I ended up getting the good stuff and paying someone to wrap it for me. I recommend 3M or Avery, and their wraps look as good as a paint job, and if you have the gloss wrap, you can even wax on it down the road.

I love having done it this way, and get a ton of compliments when ever I am out with it

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That is the nicest wrap I have seen so far.

What's the longevity compared to paint?

Get the bugger running and driving,there is a lot you can do with average paint really,my cars paintwork has had a pretty hard time during the conversion but not really fussed as it won't go any better with nice paint.
The OP had done a dry fit with steel flares he had so need to touch up a few areas.
I plan to pump out my rear guards out for 8x16 so all will be sorted paint wise then.

Yes, but maybe no If paint is good for 10 years then vinyl is good for 3, longer if garage kept as it's sun sensitive. A plus is that it will protect the paint and keep water off so your current paint will look the same later.

A wrap can look really good if surface below it is smooth. The vinyl is only a few hundred for a 914, the rest is $100/hr labor per worker. We did digital prints on taxis for $800, 2 people and 3 a day. I still haven't seen a Penn & Teller show

One person can do it, as I've done taxis, but 2 helps and 3 are needed for shuttles. Plenty of youtube vids that show techniques using a heat gun and stretching to get it to conform to curves.

Key is to get everything super clean including inner fender lips, because that's where it begins to peel, and once that happens it's all down hill.

The matte finish doesn't clean as easy as the gloss, but on some cars it's dam sexy.

Paint

I got a wrap - 3M 1080. It should be able to last you many years and is very affordable. Our car is actually perfect for a wrap because one sheet is wide enough to do both sides of the car.....that saves money!

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I did a wrap with a matte finish and I think it came out really good. I like the fact that I can change it to a different color for 2,000 and it will be done in a couple of days. In my case I am changing from the body kit that was on it when I bought it to GT flares, so all I have to do is re-wrap the fenders and the new flares.

I was going to say "Thank you" and then I kept reading the thread and saw Patssie's wrap, and well, second isn't too bad

I was told with the 3M Gloss, you could get up to 5 years before color fades. I liked the fact that I was able to find something that was metallic and was close to the original color.

The first time I tried it myself, and had lousy material like I said. Since I was already $400 into the job, I decided to hire some kids who did it for $1800. I am PRETTY sure that I would have been able to do it nicely with the material that ended up on it, but I did the math and figured "If i "F" this up again, that's almost a grand in without any results".

I did buy some extra to repair sections if needed. I recently took off those hideous black side mirrors, and put stock ones on, so I need to remove both door panels of the wrap, fill the holes and clean them up, but the doors were the sections that I did that looked REALLY nice.

I am STILL going to get mine painted down the road, but I just got mine in November, and everything I am doing to it is with the thought "How can I do this without taking it off the road for a long period". Since I do need some minor rust repair still (I did all the surface rust, but want to strip it down to metal, and do it properly before I paint it) I went with the wrap and am quite happy with it

Yours looks great too, and I remember seeing yours and maybe even talking with you about it. I also love the fact that I can change colors at will.

This is a DEFINITE!! I thought mine was all good after the body work I did before the wrap. Let's just say, it looks MUCH better 5 feet away than it does up close, but that isn't the wrap or the wrappers fault