White Glove Auto – Tulsa Window Tinting
Schedule a Free Consultation
"*" indicates required fields
Why would someone vinyl wrap their car
Most people usually have the same or close to the same response and say its because they want to look different. Some people even do it just to renew the look of the car, there are many reason why someone may want to wrap their car, here are some common questions we get asked, “I want to wrap my car to change the look and protect my paint, can we do that with vinyl?’’ the simple answer is NO because vinyl material its self is meant to be contoured easily and to to to the vehicles shape, so vinyl tends to be pretty thin, so thin that it can still be rock chips or scratched just as easily as paint. With that being said, no vinyl will not protect your paint but it will indeed change the look of your car! Another Custom Wraps Tulsa question would be “My clear coat is faded and started to peel, can I wrap over it to give it a new look?” The question to this is YES and NO. When it comes to the surface that we wrap it needs to be smooth to ensure a great quality finish. If we laid vinyl over peeling clear coat or another rough surface this will all show throught the vinyl because the vinyl will want to form around the roughness, also with this will lead to premature vinyl failure, because the vinyl is only as good as the surface its applied to. So in a situation like this, we would recommend sanding the paint down in all of the rough areas to make it as smooth as possible and to remove any old flaking clear coat, once sanding is complete we should be able to achieve a great quality wrap look. So no we cant wrap over peeling clear coat but we can remedy the problem and then wrap over it which just Custom Wraps Tulsa results in an extra labor charge for the sanding.
How long do vinyl wraps last
This mainly depends on how the client takes care of their vehicle so this question can have multiple answers based on that. It also depends on where your car lives. Here in Oklahoma were White Glove Auto is based, we like to tell customers that a color change or custom printed vinyl will typically last 5-7 years on a daily driven vehicle that is garaged every night and washed with a Custom Wraps Tulsa ceramic soap solution on a weekly basis. Now if you are someone that never goes to car washes then you can expect your life expectancy of your wrap to only be 2-3 years. The dirt and grime build up can start to deteriorate the vinyl which is why you should regularly wash your car.
You could also opt to ceramic coat over top of the vinyl to protect it which would allow you to not have to wash your car so regularly and more on a every 2-3 week basis vs the recommended weekly. Lastly for someone who is looking to have a commercial wrap, typically we see commercial vehicles not ever getting washed, and stored outside on a regular basis, this will lead to vinyl failure and deterioration within 2 years. Now you may say, well Ive seen vinyl last on a commercial vehicle for way more than 2 years, well yes, it does last and is still legible, but what happens is the color can prematurely start to fade, or the vinyl can stil lifting around the edges, or if its in the sun all the time, can start getting cracks in the vinyl. So thats why when a commercial vehicle has a wrap on it for say 5,6 or 7 years and then they come in to renew the wrap they are either told well this vinyl cant be removed because its baked onto the paint. The true answer is that pretty much any vinyl is removable no matter how old it is, it just take a ton of hours. This can lead to the removal or the old vinyl actually costing more just by itself than the new Custom Wraps Tulsa will cost.
Will a vinyl wrap damage my paint
Vinyl wrap will not damage your paint when installed by a Custom Wraps Tulsa professional. We do not believe vinyl wrap would be a popular option if it was always damaging paint. But with that being said, it can lead to paint damage when applied by an amature installer. Here are some things that we see from amature installer and how it damages the paint. The most common thing we see is trimming damage, this is when the installer is trimming the vinyl around the edges, they may be going to fast or not at the right angle or maybe they did start with fresh blade and its dull this will lead to them slipping during their cut and cutting into your paint, or they apply too much pressure and cut through the vinyl and into your clear coat. We have seen cuts so bad to where the knife blade has actually cut into the metal or plastic on a bumper. An experienced wrapper will always practive their cutting technique, an experienced wrapper should be able to cut vinyl on an inflated balloon without popping the balloon. Another way that an amature installer could damage your paint is by applying what is called “3M Primer 64” this is a liquid that is applied in areas where an inexperience wrap installer may have trouble. What this 3M Primer does is it acts as an adhesive promoter, which means once the vinyl lays over it, it almost held down with the same force as super glue, but a little softer. It may look great at first, but when it comes time to remove the vinyl is when the problems arise, any areas with the primer is now at high risk of ripping paint off because of how strong the adhesion bond is. We have personally seen this on a Bentley Continental where the previous wrap shop used 3M Primer on every single edge of the car, and when the owner brought it to us to remove it, it peeled paint on almost every single edge of the car leading to the car needing to be repainted. This is why its so important to make sure when you are looking to get your car wrapped that you find a very reputable installer, and ask as many questions as you can. Here at White Glove Auto, we want you as the client to be extremely educated and to make the best decisions for your vehicle based on the information we told you. A professional Custom Wraps Tulsa installer can usually always do a complete wrap without ever using 3M Primer because they know to mold and contour the film in such a way to make it work the way it should. Only in extreme cases will a professional use 3M Primer.