WE don't really care what you coat your car with, but YOU might.  WE just want you to DRIVE IT AND ENJOY IT.
Personally, I prefer paint for a more permanent solution.

http://www.provinyl.com.au/cheap-vinyl-wrap.html

I checked once about getting my 66 wrapped. The fellow told me the base had to be as smooth as prepping for paint.
He said every little hump and bump would show.

I agree with TKO.  I enjoy the complements on my paint job which was done in 2001.  2 coats PPG and 2 coats clear.  Still looks good.  Prep work was the key.

I like BillyC's idea of painting yourself.  For what you pay someone else, you could buy all the equipment that you don't already have, and all the materials at least twice.  JKORDZI has a write up in the paint & body section of this website, and there is a lot of experience here.  Take advantage of it.

I genuinely thought that wraps were for tuners and Las Vegas promos, until I saw this cool little Falcon a couple summers ago.  Built 302, T5, disc brakes.  It caught my attention.  Wrap was a couple years old, and not perfect, but way better than my 35 year old paint job.

Door jambs and trunk drip rails, etc. were not wrapped, so it looks way better with doors, trunk & hood closed.....

I really thought long and hard about painting my '89 GT myself.  The equipment and materials are not that expensive.  Here are the two hangups I have about it:

1.) Paint turns out best in a paint booth with proper exhaust and cleanliness.  A pro grade paint booth is the one thing you aren't going to be able to buy cheap.  You're going to have to build one, and likely a temporary one at that.  What are you going to use for exhaust?  Household box fans with heater filters?  Yeah, it can be done, but the booth in which you paint does make a difference, especially if you are really detail oriented.  I had nightmares about chasing trash in the paint, etc. essentially forever.

2.) What you can't buy cheap is experience and knowledge.  Those things come from practice and working in the trade for years.  I paint a lot of stuff with rattle cans, and get really good results.  I shot parts with Imron through a paint gun years ago and also got really good results.  BUT, there's a world of difference between turning out a good looking bracket and turning out a good looking car.

I decided that in the end, the $2000-$3,000 difference in cost between having it done and doing it myself would likely be the best money I ended up spending on the car.  I will have so much time and no small measure of money in the car when I'm done that for the paint to not be perfect would drive me insane.  I will have gone through the entire car when I'm done.  Everything will have been removed, reconditioned, restored, or modified.  Its not just a car; its a statement of who I am, how far I've come, and what I can do.  My '67 was the first Mustang I did.  The '89 will almost certainly be the last. 

I'm not saying under no circumstance try to paint the car yourself.  My opinion and advice is based on making sure that you are simply realistic about your abilities and expectations.  Cost is a poor driving factor in decisions like this.  Years ago I read an article about automotive project planning in one of the rags I was reading at the time.  I was in a Chevy phase I think (yeah, yeah, I know, but here me out), so it was probably Super Chevy or something like that.  The author was Mark Stielow, who built a string of very trick Pro Touring first gen Camaros during the late '90s and early '00s.  My greatest take away was that being unhappy with a car that you wold have been happy with for a 10% cost overrun is the definition of false economy.  A little more sacrifice somewhere else in your life or a little more short term debt is well worth the end result of a car that you may end up enjoying for the rest of your life.  Approaching projects with this in mind ever since has made me much happier with the end results. 

 A few years ago at a MCA show there was a Cobra replica done in a chrome overlay - - -absolutely freaking awesome!

Yeah, the DIY went out the door on this pretty quick.  I have not had good luck myself in shooting things, and as others mentioned matte is hard to fix.  Pretty much a re-do.  Then there is the aspect that even when I paint with rattle cans in my garage, it smells all over the first floor.  Even after putting plastic over the connecting door.  Add in 2k, and no-beuno.  

I quickly got off my 2 day brain fart on wraps.  Did some further research and primary reasons were:

- No savings on prep as you all mentioned.  Every little imperfections comes through.
- $ for $ on equivalent offerings, actually does not end up saving you $.  Despite what wrappers claim.  They usually accomplish this in the fuzziness of comparing these. A mid-level wrap is cheaper than an entry-level premium paint job.  But does not look nearly the same (seams, delamination, rough cuts around features, wear on sharp edges, crappy cutting around protrusions, emblems, antennas, etc. I saw some naaaasty images.  
- Longevity.  They say "lasts 7 years with care, a paint job will list 5-7 with care."  What the hell?  how many of you repaint your car every 7 years?
- Longevity.  About that 7-years....  most all vinyl mfgs. have a 5 or 7 or whatever year warranty.  But then change that based on your location and the surface angle!  For example, one well known supplier had a 0% multiplier on horizontal surfaces in California.  As in - NO warranty!  
- Back to cost.  The closest same-same estimate I could do without too much effort put the cost for the vinyl applications was just about $1k under a very good "mask and spray" restoration-specialty shop I talked to (so not your Maaco level).  How does that "savings" rack up if you have to pay a mask-and-spray level fee every 7 years?  Mmmm-hm.
- As y'all also said - the paint job is probably the one cost that affects you daily perception and pride the most.  An even ok-wrapper that gets a little bubble or delamination or peeled corner or edge will frost ya more than a sub-par paint job.  So I'd almost venture to say that wrapping is more sensitive to the skill of the applicator than paint.  So-so paint looks not great, but still ok.  So-so wrap looks like crap.  

F.  That.  


 

All you guys seem to be comparing apples to oranges. You are comparing costs, visual quality and longevety between paint and vinyl wraps, when they are really meant for different uses. The vinyl wraps are primarily for graphics heavy applications like the Falcon shown above. Get an estimate for replicating that look on the Falcon in paint, plus how long it will take to do in paint.

Automotive paint is formulated to resist the elements. Even the very best stabilized vinyl will degrade in real sunshine. No surprises there.

The real target for the wrap guys is the enthusiast that likes to change the look of his vehicle frequently. The NASCAR guys are big customers, changing the entire car graphics package from week to week. Two guys with heat guns can take off an old wrap and put on a new one in two hours, plus the wraps stay on at 200mph.

A lot of you guys are proud of how good your 15 year old paint job looks, as you should. But there are guys like 6Sally6 that like to play with spray Plasi-Dip to make short term visual changes. That is why Plasti-Dip started making the spray.

I think that if you get stuck comparing vinyl wraps to paint you are missing the point of vinyl wraps.

A side note on prepping for a wrap.  I was watching one of those car programs that manage to do things that we wouldn't do so we don't have to and ther's a gut with a heat gun warming up the clear coat AND HE'S PEELING IT OFF!  IN A BIG SHEET!  I couldn't believe it.  I don't know what that says about the quality of factory paint. 

Just get $100 of hot rod black from Summit and paint the car.  If you screw it up, redo it.

Buy a new compressor and dryer and spray gun while you are at it and you will still be money ahead of a wrap or having someone else do the paint. 

Send the balance of the money to me if it is still burning a hole in your pocket. (Difference between home paint and body shop paint or wrap, I will be happy with either one)
 

heres is a wrap for ya.2020 GT 500

Last edited by Rudi (4/13/2018 12:45 PM)