i am comsidering this as a " get
me 5 years down the road and then I will paint"
- i would like to get this beast stripped and repainted no that all the structural rust is taken care of but i cant afford the level of paint id like to do, so i am comsidering the wrap as an option to make the car look nice for a few years then remove it and paint.
So id like more input from those thet have don it.
there is a local guy i met at recent cars and coffee that does this- he had done many cars and i can tell you his own car looks awesome. And i looked ar some of the samples from different companies- and one is almost a perfect match for the original Copper Metallic . but - i could do a different color if i wanted to see if i liked it- say black etc,
i would not do inside car or trunks . just the outside and maybe door jams.

thanks for the input

Phil

Evening Dr. Phil,

Here is a link by 3M that can answer your questions. I would consider checking on the specific vinyl material by company to get the exact composition on the material they manufacture: 3M 1080 Vinyl Wrap FAQ

Personally, I would not get the cheap stuff from China like on eBay.

You need a good smooth surface, like paint, or it won't stick for long.

There are other good name brand vinyls but the 1080 is likely what your local guy uses as it's the benchmark.

You can read thru one of the other threads for more info on vinyl wraps.

From what I have seen and read, there are parallels with paint - dings and paint imperfections will show through, a quality job requires removing trim, lights, door handles etc in order to ensure good edges, quality of the material makes a major difference, and its not inexpensive - respectable shops around here start at about $3k which is less expensive than paint but still a good chunk of change.

Also watch out for metallics. With a good shop it's not a worry, but I've seen bad shops stretch sections to the point the finish differs, i.e. the metallic is no longer consistent.

But if your local guy is affordable, it's a good way to carry you over until you paint, and you can experiment with a color that you might avoid with painting given the cost of a re-spray if you didn't like it.

we had a wrap on the roof of my wife her car. Carbon look, really cool when it was fresh .....but started to fade quickly and after 2,5 - 3 years starting to look already a bit retired.
So...left if for 2 more years, looked like total sh*t, then during a recent weekend decided to take it off since it bothered me a lot. Long story, but after removal we have no other option then to repaint the roof again, or have another wrap (which is what we will do problably). Turns out we have some cheap brand made in China crap wrap . Learned the hard way, going for better quality next time.....always ask about the brand and used materials, do not look at fresh wrapped cars as referal, they all look great at that point in time.

There's a thread somewhere here and a 911 on pelican.
IIRC it took $500 worth of material (914) and the hard part was the turn signal buckets.

On fading the better stuff lasts longer, but you would want to keep it out of the sun in a garage as much as possible.
The wrap shows imperfections, so you still have to do minor bodywork to chips etc.
Also if your paint has bad adhesion (as in a poor respray) and you had to remove it for say a mistake or future work, the vinyl will rip the paint right off your car.

I've thought about doing this as well.

From direct experience on race car panels...

- 3M 1080. Spend the money, it's worth it.

- Vinyl won't cover up physical flaws, such as pitting, chips, etc. It will look much better, but it's not the same as a repaint. If a repaint is in your future then block-sanding and priming the worst areas prior to vinyl would be a big plus.

- 3M 1080.

- There's a talent to doing this. Flat small areas are easy to do with the 3M 1080 as it has air channels that allow you to remove and replace if you don't let it set hard. Flat large areas can be more of a challenge, as the material will grow/shrink as you move across (and you'll want the help of a friend or two). Compound curve areas can be an absolute bitch if you don't know how to shrink/grow the material. So start with smaller flatter areas and have a good heat gun with you (don't over-use it) and plan on some scrap while you learn.

- Did I mention use 3M 1080?

GA

yest the local guy uses 3m 1080 , and that was the color swatch I was looking at too.
Probably go with the liquid copper metallic gloss, very close to the stock color.
I was planning on getting it blasted but at least areas of imperfection sanded down and prepped same as if painting to takeout some bubbles from a previous bad respray the p.o. did. I think he was talking under $2k if I do most of the stripping down, which I would have to do anyway to have it blasted or sanded down. Sounds like since I garage my car and it doesn't sit out in weather or sun much this could last a long time. I'm getting a paint quote too, as my local Porsche mechanic has had a guy working for him that does metal work and body stuff. hes going to finish my rear fenders andprep it for paint. at that point if the paint is only $1000-1500 more I will just paint it- if we are looking at a big difference then I will wrap it as save up for the big paint job. - I will tell you that theguy here doing the wrap has his car wrapped, and you could not tell it was a wrap!

this is an on car sample

Phil,

If you are good at taking instruction you can do this yourself.

I wrapped a part with a rose gold for a project at work and I looked on UTube and there where lots of instruction on how to apply this material. The thing is when you put it down you are not commented to the placement right at that moment. You can lift it off and reposition it till it is where you want it. Some of the guys that do competition rapping of cars give you their secret techniques and it really help.
The thing that I found was you do not need to stretch it that much. That is where bad wrappers have problems with there jobs. It may look ok at first but it makes problems in a short time.

A 914 should be easy to wrap, as it is very small.

Bob B

I got mine wrapped by Gatorwraps. They have a lot of wraps, with lots of types and colors to choose from. They wrap all kinds of crazy things and lettering decals. You might also want to check Gatorprints.

I had a local (Chicago area) wrap mine with 3M product and I like it a lot. It is not perfect and that has a lot to do with prep before you take it in. It will show every nick, scrape or bump just like paint will. I paid 1800.00 to have mine done. I changed some of the body parts after I had it wrapped and just needed to have the new parts wrapped. Done in a day and much easier than a repaint. I can't say on lifespan as I have only had it for a year now. I get people asking all the time who painted it, and my reply is "nobody".



Click to view attachment

nice!

I talked to the guy in Orange County that does all of the wraps for the TrueSpeed Racing GT3 fleet of about twenty something cars about doing a wrap on my 914 / he looked at it's paint condition and shape, size, and area and offered to do a complete 3M wrap sans the rockers and valence areas (which I did in epoxy bumper paint...) and he said 1500 bucks if I take off the door handles, antennae, wipers, GT lid, hood pin strikes, emblems, badges, etc.

Seems like a deal to me........ I can relay contact info if anyone nearby is interested.

cheers



Sidebar: The pix have nothing to do with the post other than to add pix / but the carbon fiber "tin" is real CF / not a wrap!! ......

I can't agree enough w/ what Greg was saying about using the proper material. I "won" a decent amount of wrap in an auction on Ebay, and figured after watching the videos, that I could do this myself. And I was right, on some areas. Other parts gave me FITS. I finally hired a kid to come out and teach me how to do it, and his first words were "your wrap sucks, it's old and not good". He cut me a piece of what he uses (not going to mention it and confuse you, stick w/ the 1080 from 3M), and it was like night and day. Long story short, I got my car wrapped for $2500, which includes the amount I paid for the crappy stuff, the $100 for the kid and the $1800 for the people who redid it, since I just wanted it done. I can do this myself now, and the fact that I can "change" my car color anytime I want for about $600-$800 is mind blowingClick to view attachment

I see pictures of wrapped cars that look good but in person, I've never seen one that would make me wrap a car. My kid just broached this for his car after WCR. I am discouraging it.