Anyone familiar with automotive film wraps?

Och

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I've been noticing in the last several years a lot of cars driving around wrapped with film instead of paint. In the earlier years most of these wraps were matte black, and looked horrible, but lately I've been seeing a lot of good looking wraps - there is a Caddy near my shop that is wrapped with VERY metallic electric blue and it look pretty striking.

Living in NYC I get all sorts of dings and nicks - bumpers, doors, etc. Being a car enthusiast, those little things really bother me, so I would usually take my cars to my body shop every few years, and have them repaired. But the problem is, local body shop don't have the capability to match the quality of factory paint job - there is always a little overspray here and there, and so on.

So I've been thinking film lately. I'm thinking with film I'm not altering factory paint, and an area of film can always be replaced later if any damage occurs. Plus with film I can change the color of the car to keep things more exciting.

Whats everyones opinion on film? How long does it last, does it fade, is it durable, and what does it cost to do a proper film wrap?
 

mmcartalk

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I'm not an expert in the area of film application or durability. But I do know that, in some cases, even if you don't like any of the factory-stock colors or prefer something else, actually changing it to something else can decrease its value as a used car. That would, of course, probably apply more to a trade-in value than selling it to someone who, like you, actually liked the color or wanted it.
 

Och

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I'm not an expert in the area of film application or durability. But I do know that, in some cases, even if you don't like any of the factory-stock colors or prefer something else, actually changing it to something else can decrease its value as a used car. That would, of course, probably apply more to a trade-in value than selling it to someone who, like you, actually liked the color or wanted it.

I assume film can actually be removed without damaging the paint as well?
 

Onelog

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There's another option that I've seen that's been gaining popularity recently as well. Have you looked into Plasti-dip? It's a liquid that dries as a kind of plastic rubber film. Most of what I've seen on it has been positive and able to be peeled off, and they're getting more and more colors available. They make normal spray paint cans with the stuff, but everyone recommends if you're painting a whole vehicle to get a professional with a proper sprayer to do the job. I had seen some videos here: https://www.youtube.com/stunt10104/videos of him putting a white plastidipped IS through the paces, letting people write on it with sharpie, then peeling it off.
YMMV, but it's definitely another interesting option.
 

mikeavelli

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Hi Och, I've wrapped my GS 450h and we actually also know Fonzie of DipYourCar very well. It all depends on what you want. They are cheaper than painting your car if you want to change things. I'll elaborate more later tonight.
 

mmcartalk

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There's another option that I've seen that's been gaining popularity recently as well. Have you looked into Plasti-dip? It's a liquid that dries as a kind of plastic rubber film. Most of what I've seen on it has been positive and able to be peeled off, and they're getting more and more colors available. They make normal spray paint cans with the stuff, but everyone recommends if you're painting a whole vehicle to get a professional with a proper sprayer to do the job. I had seen some videos here: https://www.youtube.com/stunt10104/videos of him putting a white plastidipped IS through the paces, letting people write on it with sharpie, then peeling it off.
YMMV, but it's definitely another interesting option.


Some new cars actually come from the factory with a thin clear plastic film applied to areas that are at risk for stone/gravel damage......front of the hood, lower-body panels, etc....Others have it dealer-applied.
 
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Onelog

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Some new cars actually come from the factory with a thin clear plastic film applied to areas that are at risk for stone/gravel damage......front of the hood, lower-body panels, etc....Others have it dealer-applied.
This is true. Working for a Lexus dealership, I have seen, sold, and even applied these myself. They've certainly come a long way even since I started working in 2010, but it's still a piece of plastic with an edge on your car that doesn't have the same reflective properties as the paint itself, so you're going to see it on there, you're going to get some dirt collecting in those seams sticking to the adhesive, and you may get some yellowing after a while that starts to show(especially on white vehicles). Some don't mind, some just replace the clear bra every few years, and some may opt for the more seamless wrap or paint job, hah.
 

mikeavelli

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Some new cars actually come from the factory with a thin clear plastic film applied to areas that are at risk for stone/gravel damage......front of the hood, lower-body panels, etc....Others have it dealer-applied.

Clear bra. You have to take it off if you apply a wrap or dip.
 

mikeavelli

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Thanks Mike, would love to get your feedback.

I'm sure you remember this car, here it is in its original black.
Lexus_GS_VVSCV3_882.jpg



Here it is a couple of years later wrapped matte white

Lexus_GS_VVSCV7_290.jpg


You can click here to see more pics of it wrapped

I wanted to change the color of my car since I was quite addicted to the Mercedes matte white they started to offer. Obviously my pricing was lower but expect to pay 3-4k maybe more for a QUALITY wrap job. Today every shop says they "wrap" cars and they take multiple shortcuts to make it as cheap as possible. Sometimes including knife to wrap to cut the wrap on the car! They don't do inside doors/door jams etc.

My car was down a bit over a month but it was done right. As I stated above unfortunately the clear bra I paid for had to be taken off for the wrap to stick. You can also see we played with a hood stripe and some other accents. Overall I loved the color change.

Now with a matte wrap, it gets dirty and almost impossible to clean. After a year there was staining all over. Other wraps not matte are easier to clean.

When it was taken off it seemed to be fairly easy. There was some small wrap I saw here and there that needed taking off but overall the car and paint were fine.

Would I do it again? I dunno, maybe. Nothing beats paint.

As for DIP, we just worked with the owner of DipYourCar, great guy who's local. His channel teaches you how to do it yourself. I've witnessed it and its quite amazing.


His channel is below

https://www.youtube.com/user/DipYourCarcom

Having seen it now on a Ferrari and on our Vossen Forged Wheels, it seems to be a great cost effective option to use as well. I have yet to try it myself but people seem to love it.

Hope this helps
 

Och

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Thanks for your feedback Mike, sounds like the wrap is not for me. I don't have an issue with the price, but the fact that it can't be washed and that dirt spot etch into it quickly pretty much breaks the deal. I was hoping it was a permanent alternative to paint.
 

IS-SV

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Good helpful thread, we actually have real experience reported on by Mike regarding wrap now.
 

Och

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There is a crazy guy in Russia that wrapped his X5 with shiny gold film. I was kind of thinking of wrapping mine in BMW Valencia Orange.

aw2qeyxh.jpg
 

mmcartalk

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There is a crazy guy in Russia that wrapped his X5 with shiny gold film. I was kind of thinking of wrapping mine in BMW Valencia Orange.

That's a nice true gold color. ;) What most automakers call "gold", in their paint department, is actually a tan or beige metallic that lacks a yellowish tinge.

Those M-color stripes are sharp-looking, too....although I would hope that, under the skin, that's a real M and not just fake-stripes.
 

Och

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That's a nice true gold color. ;) What most automakers call "gold", in their paint department, is actually a tan or beige metallic that lacks a yellowish tinge.

Those M-color stripes are sharp-looking, too....although I would hope that, under the skin, that's a real M and not just fake-stripes.

Yes, this is a real X5M, and I do like the stripes, but the gold color is a bit too much for my liking. But in either case, these film wraps open up so much opportunity for custom colors. When you have most manufacturers offering white, black and 50 shades of gray (pun intended), people need another solution.
 

mmcartalk

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Yes, this is a real X5M, and I do like the stripes, but the gold color is a bit too much for my liking. But in either case, these film wraps open up so much opportunity for custom colors. When you have most manufacturers offering white, black and 50 shades of gray (pun intended), people need another solution.


Some vehicles, believe it or not, from the factory, offer ONLY white/silver/gray/black and nothing else. Makes you think you are in a lot full of hearses.

If I had a vehicle, though, with a beautiful trim-job like that X5M in the picture, I'd probably be more concerned about vandals and idle teen-agers than anything else. I'm sure you can sympathize somewhat with that, living in New York City.
 

Och

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Some vehicles, believe it or not, from the factory, offer ONLY white/silver/gray/black and nothing else. Makes you think you are in a lot full of hearses.

If I had a vehicle, though, with a beautiful trim-job like that X5M in the picture, I'd probably be more concerned about vandals and idle teen-agers than anything else. I'm sure you can sympathize somewhat with that, living in New York City.


Well, thats why I was considering film. In NYC there's always damage happening to cars because our parking space are simply too tight - and with film you can just rewrap the areas that are damaged without all the hassle that goes with paint.