Andreskim

I'm planning on wrapping my whole car in matte white but before I buy it, I was wondering where is the best place to buy it online? Ive seen a few websites for 500$ for enough to wrap the whole car. Is this a good price? Ive heard from searching online a few people getting it for 120$ but i can't seem to find it for a price that cheap. Also I do not wan't a wrap which will leave a residue since i will eventually take it off if i plan to sell the car in the future.

odus

iTrader: (1)

are you going to wrap this said car yourself? or pay someone?

BobbyC

i dont think anyone can promise you no residue.
not if you want good adhesion.
thats the trade off.

i doubt you can get enough vinyl to wrap a entire sedan for $120.
hell, $500 sounds like a REALLY good deal.

your best bet would be ebay
im not sure exactly how much you would need to do a entire car.
im thinkin of doin the hood, roof and trunk so let me know if you find a good deal.


do you plan on doing this yourself?

have you ever done something like this before?

i cant imagine our front bumpers being easy at all.
the rest of the car shouldnt be too hard though. lots of flat surfaces.
the XM antenna would be a tricky part but other than that, it shouldnt be too bad if you have a helper and a heat gun.


if i were to do it... i would take as many panels off as i could and wrap them separately. hood, front bumper, fenders..etc
itll be a lot easier if you break it up.


good luck.

Andreskim

Yes I will be doing it myself. i haven't done anything like this but I will be having an enormous about of free time since I'm on winter break and I have a month and a half off from school. It will be a learning experience and I've heard it's easier to take the bumper off and then wrap it. Anyways I've been told 3m leaves little to no residue thus the reason why I'm using that. And since you did say 500 is cheap I guess I will eventually buy it soon. The only thing I'm afraid is that it will be cold so using a heat gun might not as be ineffective

Andreskim

I was also inspired from this video I realized that a lot of the parts must be taken apart so I'm pretty nervous about that. Ex:door handles bumpers etc

BobbyC

Hehe. These things are. Never as easy as they make it look.
That front bumper is gonna be a bitch.

I would reccomend starting with the easy pieces and see if you wanna keep goin.
Hood,roof, trunk should be easy and if you decide to give up after that it won't look bad.

Id also reccomend you do it when it's warm out or you're gonna have one hand on the heat gun at all times. That would suck

apinwp09GBTSX

have you worked with this stuff before... I vinyld my grille before and I can tell you its a Pain bro... the vid makes it look soo easy...



My opinion dont go buying enough vinyl to cover the car buy enough to do the roof and if you pull that off then order some more just my two cents good luck bro and keep us updated if you decide to pull the trigger

BobbyC

Ya. I'd consider myself mediocre at wrapping and I wouldn't even try something thus big.

Stick with flat surfaces bro!

I'm still tryin to do my interior trim but have been lazy

Andreskim

i mean if anything...the grille is one of the hardest parts to wrap but i do not plan on wrapping the chrome grille. and I do want to have little run at by buying a small piece for it but it is cheaper to buy in bulk. Now i'm conflicted whether I can pull this off or not xD.

opboarding

I would start with the roof. While some panels might be easy like the hood and roof, the bumpers will make you hate life. I read about a guy who matte black vinyled his corvette a while back, and I remember him really hating the front bumper.

If you have the money and are willing to spend the time to do it then I think it would be awesome. You just have to know ahead of time that you will mess up and end up wasting $100+ of vinyl. The video makes it look WAY easier than it is. I think you could get it done with around $700, depending on how much you mess up.

Andreskim

I was planning on leaving the roof black but the rest of the car wrapped white. http://www.metrorestyling.com/3M-108...tte1080m10.htm

im looking at the 525$ option for the standard car.

Mercedes>BMW

AndresKim you ever figure out if you have a special edition or even dispute it?

Andreskim

They gave me a years worth of free oil change, weather mats and some HID... not really much but thats all i got for free out of them after fighting with them for like three hours. It was technically their fault for playing coy and switching cars last minute but it was my fault for not being careful enough. Anyways I got over it and am happy with my 2012 tsx.

ed_423

a year's worth of oilchange...that's like, 2 oil change lol

ed_423

let a professional do this bro

Speed2000

Matte film is nearly impossible to keep clean, every bug spat, bird crap, and road grime that touches your car will leave its mark. It looks good on a show car but for daily drivers its just not practical.

opboarding

I also remember the corvette guy saying this. Will your tsx be in a garage every night to help keep it clean?

BobbyC

the grille is EASY compared to the entire front bumper.
i got the grill done the first try. no problems. no heat gun or dryer.
just sunlight and a razor.

1st try on the second time i wrapped it too.
i would think the hood is easier. there are no curves at all and all the edges are very defined.

idk man. its your car and your money but for a project this large, id def hire someone to do it.

BobbyC

yep.
they would all leave a stain unless you got it up right away which is impossible at times.
maybe bleach will get it out?
lol

drivedata

top 10 things to bear in mind as you go through the process:
1. metro is a reputable dealer
2. that guy probably does wrapping every single day and is a pro at it
3. you will need a heat gun, a hair dryer is not as good
4. there will be residue if/when you take it off
5. complex contours will be the bane of your existence
6. white will reveal all the dirt/bugs/etc
7. the reason why the shops charge upwards of 2 grand to do it is because of the labor involved. the vinyl isn't the expensive part.
8. if you wrap some areas and not wrap others, your paint will fade unevenly. so when you're done, you may have some areas that will look brighter/darker than others. and there will be residue. no matter what people will tell you, you're going to have residue.
9. it will look dope as shit.
10. larger areas (hood/roof/etc) are a lot easier to do with a friend.

animes2k

A guy on the S2000 forums recently wrapped his car. Took him ~100 hours and around $600 in supplies. He had to disassemble everything - door handles, bumpers, etc. It takes a LOT of patience and frustration.

animes2k

Here's the thread:
http://www.s2ki.com/s2000/topic/9939...rapped-my-s2k/

drivedata

one hundred hours. damn.

BobbyC

a s2000 is extremely easy to take apart compared to a TSX.

i could take every panel off a S2000 in about 2 or 3 hours.

S2000s also have a lot less complex curves and angles.

i think youre in way over your head.
first timer wrapping a entire car is not gonna end well.

hell, try wrapping the interior trim pieces. those alone are a nightmare.
then look at your front bumper and see how many angles and curves there are.

not nearly as easy as it sounds or looks.

if you do decide to do it, i wanna see a progress thread!

BobbyC

i really like how this one turned out.

http://www.s2ki.com/s2000/topic/8021...pped-interior/

i remember seeing that and wanting to try it.

carbon pattern is a nightmare to work with on curves. if you stretch it too much, it shows up sooo easily because there is a pattern.

opboarding

That S2000 is gorgeous. Perfect color for it. Makes me want to wrap my TSX now.

Andreskim

Dang... That's probably the most discouraging comment so far. I'm in college so my car would not be parked in a garage. Also There is a yearly car wash plan near my school but I've been told matte needs to be hand washed which is another downer. The good thing is I do not drive as often so it may work. I still need to know if its viable. I don't mind the process more so how much after care is required...

ssjoeboe9

Lol at the s2k trying to take sexier photos than me.

BobbyC

you should ALWAYS hand wash your car anyway!
please dont tell me you run your car through car washes.

that poor TSX =(

Honda_boy83

I have not wrapped a whole car but have done panels, grills and things. I got it from these guys’ ebay store. It was a little cheaper that way for the same product. I love the new 3M vinyl it works great and leaves very little residue. If there is any once you take it off you can always clay bar the car to remove it. Good luck and please post pics!
http://autovinylsolutions.com/

Speed2000

If you think that S looks hot, you can't even look at this car in direct sunlight...

apinwp09GBTSX

^^^

I didnt know lady gaga had a Lambo