Sean

So, I'd like to wrap my 944 with a vinyl wrap. The paint job is a 15-footer, and besides - you can always remove the vinyl whenever you want.

(Why? I'm wanting to use the car to help promote my first novel, a Porsche fueled mystery called The Lost Spyder)

I have some friends in the sign/graphics business. They told me that for best results I would need a TEMPLATE for the 944. I'll have an artist create custom artwork using that blank template. Then my friends will print the artwork and we'll wrap the car.

There's one problem: my friends looked for a 944 wrap template and could not find one! None of the template databases had anything for the 944.

Anyone have any experience with this sort of job? Any advice? Did you find a template?

dirtyTurbo

Very interested. Don't have the patience/funds for a paint job

TexasRider

I know guys here in town did them on a 944 - but I cant help because I dont who it was.

When I looked in to it for a race 944 it was MORE than painting the car. I asked some local race guys at Pro Technik (now out of business is why I dont know above) and they had a trailer with a wrap and some other cars wrapped.
They confirmed it was as much as painting.

But with your buddies help I am sure it will be less. But I would interested in how much one goes for too.

MAGK944

It does cost quite a bit more than paint but you have to consider the graphics. Someone I knew did this to his 911 here in FL and you would pay a fortune to have that airbrushed onto any car.

Van

I think the standard racecar wrap job is $3k to $5 - depending on brand/type of vinyl and who installs it.

There was a thread recently in the 996 forum a guy self-wrapped his car with gray vinyl. (For that, you don't need a template - you only need the template to print graphics on the vinyl before you apply it.)

eric951turbo

You don't need a template, you need a graphic designer. Depending on the design, the graphic designer will take photos of the sides, front, rear etc, also as important measurements (example, door high and length). Then, with the photos and measurements, he will be able to produce a rough template, and artwork. Depending on the design, it's impossible to do a perfect, kif kif job (for example, small checkered flag all over the car, each check wouldnt probably link well on each panel).
I know, I'm a graphic designer, that's my full time job.

If you want to lower the price of this job, I would go with :
- Choosing a background colour (could be the same for the entire car, of you could do different colour for each panels)
- Try to not bleed your graphics on different panels

It's a big job, but not really complicated. If you have a good graphic designer and a good installer, your in business.

eric951turbo

here are some examples of my printing supplier, see how the eye is not perfectly aligned....

For some, it's not important, but for me

eric951turbo

very true about being a 3 to 5K job
-lots of hours
-3 suppliers (graphic designer, printer, installer)
-material and print

Sean

I will definitely need a graphic designer. My friend just said it makes things easier if the artist is given a blank template for the car in question (with all of the car panels & seams already mapped out, etc.). Then they can create the artwork using the template as a blank canvas, without any guesswork about panel size, shape, & alignment. Apparently they have these templates for current production cars, but if you have an older model like the 944 then you may be out of luck.

That's a good point about not bleeding the graphics too much from one panel to the next. Maybe we can come up with something more modest than a full wrap. (although I have visions of the "flaming chickens" that once adorned 1970s Trans Ams - )

With regard to cost, I figured to be paying for the graphic designer & the material, and then working out a deal with my friend for the print and install. I wouldn't expect it to be cheap, but would expect it to cost a lot less than a new paint job. And there would be some quality beer involved.

Thanks for everyone's input. I will let you know if we make any progress.

EliteThink

For matt black the quote i received was 2400 so custom would go up from there.

rgs944

I will be usuing some vinyl to bringhten up my front bumper. It looks to be easy stuff to work with when you are only using one color and my cost looks to be about $100. Yes, graphcs bring on a whole new meaning though.

JimV8

Vinyl wraps have evolved quite a lot in the past couple of years. A roll of solid colour calendared film 48" x 100 can be had for $400 to $600 and a half roll is needed and it will take four hands all day to apply it, but I've seen prices of less than $500 labour for an install. Upping it with design and colour really adds up, with designers charging min $75/hr. Print technology has gone to water rather than oil based ink and a decent HP printer costs about $30K. Good news is that it makes installation easier but the printing costs really add to price. So without any colour you should be able to wrap a 944 or 911 for about $1000.00. With a design and printing that's going to double at least, and much more if the design is complex.

MooreBoost

I wrapped my car and its very hard. I had to shrink the vinyl on the rear fenders in order to get it to mold and stick to the car. I used solid matte black. So unless those pro vinyl guys know a trick, it going to be really hard to not mess up your graphics

EliteThink

would like to find a quote in that realm but so far nothing close.

EliteThink

thanks for post. do you have a pic of the job?