Did a bunch of testing on this material. The local vinyl rep was trying to sell my dad a couple rolls before he shut his shop down. We found it to be complete garbage. No matter what we did with it we couldn't get a quality application. We even tried doing various laminates over it, and that was just messy and annoying in various ways. The best we could come up with was applying a cold laminate to the un-prepped vinyl and then doing any cutting. But, it didn't have the look we or our customers wanted.
unless it was last month?.. I'm guessing it was undoubtedly before some of these latest products have been developed/released. I wasn't trying to insinuate that all this stuff was junk.. just that it does have it's limitations due to it's inherently softer composition, is all. The newer stuff certianly takes full advantage of the newer resins and thinner construction to enable higher utilization in the auto industry than ever before. As with anything.. when used in moderation.. it looks trick as trick can be and paint trickery still doesn't come close.
We go over to the distributor still pretty frequently to check out materials. My dad still does part time sales, but no I haven't played with any materials since July. But all of the ones I've tried had issues I wouldn't have been comfortable with guaranteeing. Most of the customers we had would have been very unhappy with what was available to us.
I have seen this put on 4 different 4x4s in the camo pattern...someone thinks it will hold up. dealers have sent sports cars over to get the door handles and mirrors wrapped...two parts that get a lot of wear. so far the bugs an grime wash off the nose of the hood. I will let everyone know if it goes south... we are talking the...3M brand...here. I don't know what brand you were using...may be the same stuff... http://www.uglysigns.com/portfolio/galleries/camo/
I been wanting to have my co work truck wrapped. I see them all the time and wonder how much it costs and how long it will last. Would not spend alot on it especially if it doesn't last that long. Looks neat though..
Our delivery trucks at worked have been vinyl wrapped for around 5 years and still look great. That simulated metal look wrap might be a different story though.
yeah.. if applied correctly the integrity of the wrap is not in question at all and I've had similar experiences myself. The bigger issue is with this chrome/mirror-look stuff as it builds and shows wear and tear. Just as you would expect and imagine a vinyl or plastic mirror would deteriorate over time and 200 car washes later down the road. On the other hand.. it just depends on how picky and close you really get to see the tiny scratches. Definately hard to see them from 5-10 feet away and it looks fine until years later and/or you decide to put a fresh piece of material next to it for comparison. It eventually takes on more of a slightly brushed stainless look as compared to fresh. C'mon Frank!.. where's those pic's at? Sounds pretty cool and copy cats are meowing all over the place lately. PS.. and just so you know.. call me a copy cat or not.. I was actually thinking on redoing my factory Comet GT stripes including hood stripe and possibly the scoop too(slightly mod'd of course) with this material. I also have a Black '91 Polaris Indy 650 that I started to stripe with similar material, until I broke it again, and it looks awesome! My work vans are also both white with chrome stripes/lettering too, so I already know what my white Comet will look like if I do go that route. Probably still stick with the red stripes to complement my red top.. but would be interested in seeing yours.
no different than a new paint job...200 washes...down the road...(that's once a month for 17 years)...
Seeing how Effie does all the work on Frank's car, you'll just have to wait 'till she's finished wrapping it. LOL
