kos11-12

Unbelievable ...! Well done !

John Rygg

More pictures please

PChar

Ok, now that it has been 3-4 month of driving, it’s time for a short account of my experience with vinyl wrapping.
There are several things I could say about vinyl wrapping, but until it has been experience firsthand it’s sort of make very little sense for most. Anyway, here is my honest feedback.
At first I was very excited and it looked really good in the garage untouched by the element,…. Then, more you look closely, more you touch it, more you wash/polish it,.. the more you hate it. I know,… not what most is expecting to hear. The truth is; I use a glossy vinyl, a metallic mat or mat would have been much more appropriate and forgiving with small defect. The gloss material shows everything, even a hair forgotten under the vinyl will show quite bad. (see photo of the hood near the emblem badge). I don’t know if it’s because I did the job in the winter in the garage, but it appears as if the vinyl is retracting/shrinking in the hot weather/sun,… yeah doesn’t make much sense but it has shrank at some extremity such as the bumper, around the fender well, the side mirror, and headlight trim rings just to name a few. Although the vinyl was stretch pretty good and tucked under the parts as to not see any seams.
Overall for $500 worth of material and 2 hair dryers, and tools I am still happy since it will allow me to keep the paint from getting worst until I can get it sprayed next year. For others who would want to do this here are a few things to know:
1) Use Mat Vinyl
2) Wrap the whole bumper in one section (I wrapped the rear in three separate pieces, probably why it pulls in that area)
3) Take your time, apply heat evenly, and used two people at least possibly a third to hold the hair dryer.
4) Our car (964) is not the best candidate for a wrap, too much round and sharp drop like the front fender and headlight
5) Take your time
6) Remove as many parts as you can such as front/rear bumper, door handle, mirror, headlight ring, spoiler, etc..
7) Order plenty of material, I had order 45 feet initially and had to reorder another 15 feet later.
8) Cut your piece for each panel you want to wrap a lot bigger. Once you go around curve the vinyl has a mind of it own and will go in different direction and you may end up short. So cut large pieces.
9) Take your time
10) If you have dry skin use hand lotion first,…. I learn the hard way. If you have dry or rough skin you will leave streak on the vinyl while applying and flattening the material on the body.
Now if you ask me would I do this again!!,…. ABSOLUTELY NOT.
I like the end product and received lots of compliments but it does not replace a paint job, even a not so good paint job. The truth is I see plenty of these wraps at car events and even after a few months the material starts to fade and pull from the body panels. The manufacturer would like you to believe it’s resistant to power washer and car wash but no not really. The vinyl will stay on, but the finish fades. You can take this for what its worth, there are a lot of people here with more skills and more patience than I, and good luck to all who wish to take on this project.

PChar

The good...

PChar

And the bad,...

Mr.Alex

Overall, for a first time DIY, you did a good job. I see lots of wrapped cars at the local dub scene around here, and have never seen any shrinking or pulling. It might be the quality of the vinyl.

I do agree that vinyl is not the same pop as paint, especially when you get up close to it.

Wikkid911

I too think you did a really good job. You could always recover the parts that have split until the full respray. We all know where every mark is on our own cars and it is those marks that always seem to stand out the most, to us. Truth is, most other people just see a beautiful 964, probably first one they have seen for ages. Good honest appraisal of the wrapping and how it is wearing though. Thanks and enjoy what you have done.

911Jetta

Thanks for the feedback on this process. At the very least someone, someone considering a color change can use vinyl temporally to see if the like the new color before they commit.
What color re-spray are you going for... back to Midnight, or a jelly bean blue like this?

PChar

Thanks for the praise but my wife deserve them more than me, she put up with me and was my apprentice during this process, and oh god do we both loose patience,....

Jetta, yes i am curently shopping for a color. There is a lot of debate where purist says dont change the color its sacrilege, you will loose half the value of your car....... To be honest I loved the midnight blue and the reason i purchased, but Baltic blue or cobalt blue are on my list of fvorites too. Respray in the same color will obviously be cheaper but a full repaint in different color would be expensive.

Here is the car in different lighting and taken with a different camera, the color looks altogether different.

PChar

Here another good reason to keep the ninyl on. When the car gets repainted no more Autocross. Cone rubs can be a biotch to wash away....

c didy

Stephane,

Thank you for taking us all along as you went through this. It is very educational.

Would you mind asking a question? What parts/ panels did you find easiest to wrap?

GL with your projects.

ECS Tuning

Over all I think you did a good job and thank you for taking us through the process. Much appreciated

PChar

By far the easiest parts were the doors. They are relatively flat and upright, which allow for better control on the vinyl. Starting in the middle of the door and going up, then middle again going down. Each door took approximately 15-20 minutes to do, once the side mirrors and door handle were removed.
Ironically the front hood gave me most trouble, with a large span and the slight depressions at the front vent. I may redo the rear bumper in one piece to see how it will hold that way.

STUARTQ

Stephane,

I think you've made a great effort with a job that take many hours of practice to make perfect.

The areas that have split, or that you are not happy with, how easy would be to strip and re-do them.
Surely this is only part of a steep learning curve.

911Jetta

I thought of you when I visited my friend yesterday. His car used to be red...
I don't think he'll have any problem selling the car when he wants to move on? Midnight blue looks awesome, no doubt.

But a jelly bean car is the one you will always remember!