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As mentioned elsewhere I promised to post some pictures of my 1988 951, which I just finished wrapping in "pearl white".
The car had been painted black (sort of ok job) before I got it in 2004, which is a color very sensitive to slight imperfections and not good at keeping the cabin cool.
I got a lot of vinyl samples such as plain white and some iterations of pearl white, such as blue to white gold to white and "regular" pearl white. Where possible I got both satin and gloss versions. I liked the gloss pearl white the best, so that is what I ordered on eBay. http://www.ebay.com/itm/All-Sizes-Pr...572844?vxp=mtr
... after watching a number of "wrapping videos" and believing I could do a tolerable installation myself. The 50'x5' roll turned out to be barely enough.
I estimated the job to take a full week, but that was an underestimation by a factor of more than two (age and learning time were contributing factors).
And the pictures:
First and easy piece wrapped, the sunroof. I got new seals too.
Coincidental police car look.
First outing (in overcast weather),
In the sun
At another angle
Since my parts car was painted Porsche pearl white (in 2003) I used it mirrors as opposed to wrapping the black ones. Slightly different color, but it was easier and they also function better.
Looks awesome to me! Still have one of your original vacuum manifolds BTW. Haven't been active in here for some time, but working towards finally getting my car back on the road this fall.
Looks great! Wonder what they are going to say when you take it in for smog testing....won't they flunk you for it not being original?
;-)
Fly to Chicago and do my red 87 with the pearl white! Love it!
How much did you spend in materials?
A white car typically looks cleaner than a black car, so it shouldn't flunk.
I spent $280 for the wrap and only about $40 for tools.
Originally Posted by Tom M'Guinn
Wow, super impressive. Great job. Does it look as good in person? I've been mulling wrapping mine and it never even occurred to me to try it myself...
It does look as good in person and even better when in the sun.
There are a number of flaws, when you look closer, but most of those are at the almost out of sight edges and can be corrected at a more leisurely pace.
Roughly speaking my wrap could be stretched about 30% and shrunk maybe 5%, but the goal is to do less than that, especially at the edges where strong adhesion is needed.
Nice work, looks great! I have been looking into this for a while. Really curious how you handled the rain gutters. They look tricky to remove/reinstall correctly. I would guess a fair amount of time is involved removing components (door handles, diffuser, etc.).
I like this idea for protecting the paint underneath as well.
How has it held up. Looks like it has been a few months since you put it on?
Have you touched up any of the "flaws" yet?
Thanks for posting!
The material I got from China and is not the "latest and greatest", but is fully adequate in spite of the following minor drawbacks:
1) Has yellowed very slightly with time compared to modern white pearl paints. The yellowing is only noticeable next to a new piece and cannot be seen in direct sunlight.
2) When stretched too much the gloss disappears.
3) Appears to be less flexible than modern wrap materials (which I have very limited experience with).
4) Appears to contract on hot panels, which is a problem in concave areas such as the two crease lines on the hood. Multiple attempts (with heat) to move the stress away from the crease appear to help.
Fortunately I get entertained by coming up with solutions for all these small challenges, so I have dealt with most of the flaws.
It has held up well and I have seen wrap jobs, which still looked good after 6-7 years.
In addition to protecting the underlying paint, the material itself is less susceptible to chipping by small stones. It does get dirty as regular paint, but a regular hand wash makes it look fantastic again.
08-03-2017, 01:48 PM
Pearl White Wrap
