Have found a car that I'm interested in - but not the colour I want.
I have 3 options:
1 - new panels etc. Which is expensive.
2 - respray, which again is expensive.
3 - wrapping.

Not sure how much a professional wrap is - Any ideas?

But given how simple the majority of the panels are in shape (nose cone being the exception?) it might be worth having a bash at it myself.

A quick Google seems to throw out that the Avery Dennison wrap seems to get best reviews for ease of installation.

So has anyone done it?

Any rough idea on quantity needed? Seems to be sold in 1500mm widths by the metre - I'm thinking 10m should be plenty and give a bit to practice with.

That should work out about £300'ish.

Thanks

[Edited on 24/5/21 by cjwood23]

A good wrap isnt far off a half decent resray. £1k is a figure ive seen bounded around for a tin top. Defo loads of tricks and specialist details that a DIY wouldnt know or be even able to achieve without lots of practice. On a normal car the main panels are easy enough but its the bumpers and panels with compound curves and recess that really need that practice. As you say, the nose on a 7 esq car would be hardest and would end up needing multiple sheets and joins, so could end in multiple disasters for a DIY job.
My mate's a vehicle sign writer and wrapper and did a few areas and a few panels on my race car and the level of detail he went to was another level. He works for these guys and Ive just seen a 7esq on their feed. https://www.instagram.com/doodle_signs/

[Edited on 23-5-21 by loggyboy]

I'm in EAKCC and one of the members had their Viento wrapped. The car looked superb but it cost him £1200! I wrapped a lot of the smaller flat panels on my own car with a carbon fibre wrap (dash, transmission tunnel boot lid etc) , looked good and cost little but no way I would try it on a curved panel

My MX5 RF cost £1200 +VAT to wrap but that was for wrapping a brand new car. A good job that many think is spray painted. Plus when I come to sell I can have the wrap removed and the paint should be pristine underneath.
The cost is in the time and skill of the wrapping company and also the wrap materials have got much better so the prices have gone up to match. You can get it done cheaper but it won't be as good a job and could start lifting at the edges.
I have had a go myself on flat panels, you can do yourself but still tricky, for curved panels skill is required. Remember, hand wash only and no abrasive polishes.
Given I was quoted nearly £6K to paint a new car and the bodywork warrenty would have been invalidated I saw it as a cost effective alternative.


[Edited on 24/5/21 by chillis]

[Edited on 24/5/21 by chillis]

[Edited on 24/5/21 by chillis]

I wrapped the side panels, real wheel arch protector and front wheel arches, using generic eBay film

The sides were fine, the fronts were a nightmare. Even the rear protector panel took a lot of work and that's only slightly curved
I had to use edging trim on the front arches to achieve a finish

I've no doubt that it was down to my lack of skill and cheap film. I can't imagine doing a nosecone!
A trick worth knowing, is that you can spray on a dilute solution of washing up liquid onto the bodywork first, apply the film and then squeegee it out after


I sprayed the orange with rattle cans
The can were from ebay, better that Halfords type, they came with a base, colour and lacquer coats
It was hard to keep a consistent wet edge and they have needed a good flat & polish, though I'm very pleased with the finish


Description

Description

I've since wrapped my aeroscreen, that did come out well

Description

[Edited on 24/5/21 by Toys2]

The proper film has air release channels and stretches well with heat. I've got some samples in to try to wrap my 370Z but I suspect I'll be re-doing it at least once. With cheaper non-stretchy film it was impossible even to tint the rear window with its compound curves.

Using a decent quality wrap is essential if doing curves, also a spray with very slightly soapy water means you can remove & reposition as many times as you need. I did the black area on the sidepods of this Furore & there's a fair 3D curve on those, I finished up with a tiny wrinkle on each side which you'd only ever actually see or find if you were polishing the car. Flat panels are reasonably easy if you take it steady & pull it back if it starts to go wrong


[img]
Be on Edge [/img]


A decent quality professional wrap job on a 7 should cost around £1000 - £1200 I would have thought & I'd be very surprised if you could get a good quality paint job for anything less than double that

There are loads of YouTube vids showing how to do it & even the really good wrappers will slit & join sections on complex curves.

I use These people for the wrap & I hope that link will take you to their wrapcut wire, which if you don't know what it is, find some vids to watch as it creates an almost invisible join between cut areas on a tight curve, without having the risk of putting knife cuts into you're existing bodywork, even professional wrappers will put a split in the wrap over tight or awkward areas & TBH you really don't see it unless you know it's there & go looking for it

For the cost of the wrap if you're halfway reasonably practical I'd say worth having a go yourself, buy about half as much again as you think you'll need & then it doesn't matter so much if you trash a few bits getting the hang of it.

I don't think a 7 nosecone would be too hard if you wrapped the back section first & split it where it goes into the tight curve around to the grille area, if you're bothered about a split showing then you could always do a colour change, or carbon etc as a deliberate change where the split needs to be

Thanks guys - some good info and bits to consider.

I've wrapped my last 2 mountain bikes with clear protection kits, so I'm hoping that would count for something lol.

So far it looks like:

New panels - £1800
Re Spray - £1500
Pro Wrap - £1200

Not a huge amount in it when it comes down to it......

Yeah, but you've missed of DIY wrap for a couple of hundred quid! This is LCB remember!

quote:

---

Originally posted by russbost
Yeah, but you've missed of DIY wrap for a couple of hundred quid! This is LCB remember!

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by cjwood23
Thanks guys - some good info and bits to consider.

I've wrapped my last 2 mountain bikes with clear protection kits, so I'm hoping that would count for something lol.

So far it looks like:

New panels - £1800
Re Spray - £1500
Pro Wrap - £1200

Not a huge amount in it when it comes down to it......

---

Yes, could probably recoup by selling the current body work.

I'm starting to like the colour the more I look at the pictures - if I do get it I might keep it as is and have a go at partially wrapping the nose cone to put a band around it.

Option I didn't see discussed in DIY spraying.

You could even uses cans but that would not be low cost.

The time spent is mostly on the prep. Even if your finish is not great, rubbing down and polishing compound would fix that but again more time.

Indeed, it's a tiny amount of body - a few rattle cans can produce a decent finish.

tbh I'm spraying my car with Rustoleum "Hard Hat" spray cans and I can't believe how shiny and tough the coating is I love this paint and it comes in 500ml cans too. It's British racing green so takes a nice shine and is the most solid easy to use spray paint I've ever come across. Even works with rubbing compound (I'm not bothering as its shiny enough for me). One can is enough to do a full nose cone or bonnet and costs £10 a tin.


Locost...




[Edited on 25/5/21 by Mr Whippy]

Go old school, paint brush and stand 20ft away.

My Locost was hand painted when i got it on the road, and with a good amount of work, in wetting and papering to flat it off, then
G8 compound on a buffer, no one ever new it was hand painted

Halfords used to sell "Repaint" just for this purpose,

Do not discount a home spray job. You can hire a good quality spray outfit for under £100 for a weekend. With paint and materials around £250 or less it might be worth considering. With summer around the corner the weather is likely to be more favourable for outside work. I sprayed my seven with fairly basic equipment and achieved a good finish for very little outlay.

quote:

---

Originally posted by macc man
Do not discount a home spray job. You can hire a good quality spray outfit for under £100 for a weekend. With paint and materials around £250 or less it might be worth considering. With summer around the corner the weather is likely to be more favourable for outside work. I sprayed my seven with fairly basic equipment and achieved a good finish for very little outlay.

---

I wrapped my motorbike, it came out really nice and cost me £48 for 5 metres of vinyl (I still have 3 metres left!). The hardest part was the fuel tank, if you've ever purchased a ball for a child's birthday present and then tried to wrap it you'll know exactly why!!

The rest of it was really simple though. Just be patient, make sure you have squeegees and hair dryers handy, then go for it. I'm definitely having it as an option if I want to sort out my car bodywork.

In fact, I've just noticed you're about ten minutes away from me, I'm in Featherstone. I'm sure I can donate a length of vinyl if you want to give it a go? It might be a bit dusty but at least you can try it out.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Slimy38
In fact, I've just noticed you're about ten minutes away from me, I'm in Featherstone. I'm sure I can donate a length of vinyl if you want to give it a go? It might be a bit dusty but at least you can try it out.

---