Vinyl Wrap vs. Paint
 

Hi guys,

If my car doesn't sell in the near future, I'm going to go ahead and invest some money into the exterior cosmetic aspects that to date I've been ignoring (remember, the lines of our 964's make them beauitful!)

Anyway, I've heard about these vinyl wrap things but automatically assumed it's a super-cheapo way to cover up a honda civic with a large muffler. That said, if there's a very high-end way of doing it, it might make sense given some of the benefits (no fade, no sanding original paint, no waxing, extra layer from stonechips).

So, 1. Anyone have experience (I seem to recall someone here or the 993 forums actually does this for a living) with this and what are your thoughts

2. I've been quoted $5K to paint my cabrio (no windows out, no top painting, etc was told it was 7-8K for coupe, so I think down the fairway in terms of quality). From what I understand, I can get the best of the best wrap for $5K. So basically it's not a cost issue; just a quality/maintenance question - with $5K to allocate to painting, which is better, an average paint job or the best wrap and why?

3. If I'm supposed to get 5-8 years out of the Vinyl wrap, how long can I expect to get out of a middle of the fairway paint job? Someone here paid ~$16K for their paint job (beautiful, Green Oak, so jealous), which I would expect to last 25 years, but it's never the same as OEM, so what is a realistic expectation?


Anything I'm not thinking about (that isn't imaging my car with a Gulf Livery wrap:))?

I've seen a bunch of vinyl wrapped cars. Never been impressed and certainly never been fooled into thinking it was paint.
Don't once do it right. Paint it

I've really been impressed with how Plastidip has been developed over the years. It started off as pretty basic black spray able rubber coating. It's lasted your years on my rims.

In the past couple of months, they have developed the product into something that almost looks OEM quality (of at least $5,000 paint job quality, with an amazing assortment of colors (think any jelly bean color you like).

At the very least, it will cover and protect the current paint on the car until you do the real job.

^^ Funny you should mention them; I was doing some additional research after posting and came to them. I had the same initial, really? reaction, but they're selling kits that theoretically look good for sub-1K and should last for a while...

High quality paint correction and detail; it's only original once. A little patina is good. "Invest" the money in the way the car drives!

:) Have you seen my mongoloid 964 cab/coupe? Originality went out the window some time ago.

I have considered the wrap as well, just not researched it much. I am not a huge fan of Guards Red (sorry to those that love it) and is one of the reasons my car is up for sale. I am getting to the point of stop trying and just keep it (market is supposedly good to sell, but so far only low offers). Interested in others insight as I would love to change the color if I keep it.

From some readings while doing research for another vehicle, your paint needs to be in very good condition for the vinyl wrap to look good. Any imperfection in the paint (dings, paint chips, etc...) will show through the vinyl, it is not a magic eraser. As for a $5K paint job :corn: that has to be the Maaco special with overspray galore. Not saying to blow your budget on a paint job, but I have been looking around and it ain't THAT cheap.

PS: Either way, I would color match the top, it would look a zillion times better than the current state.

I liked the dip idea, then I used it to cover some paint flaws on both my 64 and my CRV. A couple years went by and I tried to remove it.... no dice. It took solvent to get it off spots the size of a playing card. I don't know that I trust it now.

My car is black. I'd like it to be bright blue, or green, or orange, or ______________. I also agree that "it's only original once."

Hence, the leading contender in my mind right now is wrap. Reversable. Bright colors. Protects the original paint. Definitely cheaper than a legit paint job. Lasts 6-8 years with proper care. In 5 years I'll be tired of yellow green and ready for cobalt blue, and TWO wraps is still cheaper than a legit paint job.

$0.02
fc

The cool thing about plasti-dip and wrap is it's not permanent so you can experiment.

I've also thought about the possibility of a wrap once my cars paint gets to that point of no return. My main motivation behind it was delaying paint costs. A good wrap should run from 2-3k. However, once you feel tired with it and want to peel it off be prepared to repaint the car because in the weathered 25+ year old condition will pull some of the paint with it.

Plastidip is kinda cool, but not super easy to work with. To do a car you need to get proper tools (paint gun, sealed room/garage ideally, etc.) Also needs several good coats to be easy to remove later.

A wrap is a temporary solution to bad paint or way to mix it up if your bored with your color, I really don't see how one could compare it to paint.

How bad is your paint? Have you had a quality color correction done to it?

IMO, a 964 deserves a quality paint job. If you can't afford to do it right, just wait until you can.

As for how long it will last, there's no set guide, way too many variables! There 50 year old cars with perfect paint and 3 year old cars that are thrashed...

If temporary is 7 years, I think I'd be happy with that. The car has already been resprayed and the folks did a a pretty bad job (so bad I actually swapped out the front bumper and hood due to paint peeling).

I've reached out to a paint correction shop and a vinyl wrap shop and will see what makes sense. The guy who quoted me 5K for the cab respray did my mirrors and did a pretty good job, but it's hard to really see how good/bad until Father Time takes his toll.

I wish I could just powder coat my entire car. That should last.

I'm actually going to wrap my duck tail, until I decide what color I want.

Paint. I have high quality wrap on parts of my daily sedan. Roof, grill, trim etc. and while it is awesome and many people think it is actually paint. This is a classic porsche we are talking about and if it's only a few k difference do it right and reap the rewards when you go to sell it. Wrap isn't going to add any value to the vehicle in the long run.


Plastidip... man you will spend a ton of time getting rid of the overspray.

A local wrap guy is going to be giving me an estimate today for a wrap. I'm thinking a matte gray. Kind of like this:


Or a matte Red so the door jams and such aren't so glaringly obvious.

Matte doesn't look terrible on our cars:

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com...d2ef03965d.jpg

Have you done any research into professionally applied removable coatings (e.g. Autoflex)?

It's new, but the preliminary stuff I've seen looks great and it seems like it's both cheaper and has better results than vinyl, especially if you want to do a gloss finish.

I'm considering using it to protect my paint and go mexico blue for this winter.

matte is over and dates the car...

You mean my 25 year old car? :cheers:

yes..that one...great design is timeless