Wrap it before you tap it (Pic heavy)

[agent]

Looks really good! How many labor hours would you guess it took?

[willworkfore30s]

I've been working on it a couple hours a night for almost 2 weeks. But if I sat down on a weekend and did it all at one time I would think it would take around 8-10 hours

[N2MYE30]

Nice! Once you put it all back together and give it a good clean, its really gonna stand out. Please take off you grills and kidneys and respray them please.

[Exodus_2pt0]

Just out of curiosity, I'm considering doing a wrap on my car. I found 3m vynil in 4ftx12ft rolls for around $220+ shipping.

In your opinion, should I order 1 or 2 rolls? Scratch that, I'm sure 1 will go quick in order to keep a bunch of patches everywhere.

[agent]

I found 3m vynil in 4ftx12ft rolls for around $220+ shipping.

Can you share where?

[willworkfore30s]

You need to make sure you can do the large parts like the hood and roof in one piece with 48" vinyl. I don't believe you can. 60" is the standard. Pretty much the rest of the car won't need more than a 25-30" tall piece.

Nice! Once you put it all back together and give it a good clean, its really gonna stand out. Please take off you grills and kidneys and respray them please.

Don't worry. All of that stuff will get painted with the sem trim paint. They just come on and off so easily I put them back on for right now. I am driving the car around some while I work on it.

[slaterd]

I vote for a full project thread to be started in honor of this thread. Can't wait to see with all of the trim back on. Are you keeping the trim chrome or are you doing the shadowline?

[Exodus_2pt0]

Can you share where?

http://www.metrorestyling.com/Digital-Camouflage-Wrap-Vinyl-s/10064.htm

Really thinking about going red tiger digital camo. I feel like it would fit the v8 swap nicely.

Op, any suggestions for finding 60" rolls? I have a shop so I could set up a vendor account if only available wholesale

[willworkfore30s]

Op, any suggestions for finding 60" rolls?

All the reputable vinyl suppliers sell 60" rolls. Ask around and see who your local supplier is for the sign shops in your area. Also, unless you are planning on only keeping your wrap for a short while, I would stick to the large vinyl companies like 3m, Hexis, Avery and so on. Not only will it last longer but it will be much easier to install. The Avery vinyl I used was very impressive as far as moldability.

I vote for a full project thread to be started in honor of this thread. Can't wait to see with all of the trim back on. Are you keeping the trim chrome or are you doing the shadowline?

Well it was a 318is so its all shadowline already. I spent all day today painting all the trim with SEM trim paint. I will try and get most of it installed tomorrow. The quarter window trim was a BITCH!!!

[einstein57]

Great job! I've been looking into wrapping one of my cars. It looks like a roll of Avery film and all the supplies can be had for about $500. How hard do you think it would be for someone who's never done it before? Can a novice get by on patience and lots of effort? I'm pretty OCD if that matters... ;)

This gave me the confidence to purchase my roll. I ordered a 50 yard roll of matte white oracal 651, an array of tools, and the application fluid for $240 shipped and i'm splitting it with my buddie so its only costing me $120. Its only going to be on my car for a year or two till i can afford to spend $4-5k on a real paint job.


I purchased everything here

Alot of people say that you should only use cast vinyl on cars but i think the e30 is pretty flat and should not be very hard to wrap.

These guys got it to lay down nicely on a porsche cayman

I don't really consider it cutting corners. Professional wrappers wouldn't be putting it under your seals. The would just trim it right up to the seal like I am doing. Wraps are not designed to be permanent.

You can easily pull up the corners and wedge in some nylon chord between the body and the seal. Then you can apply the vinyl behind the seal with out having to remove it. Although i will be removing it to install new seals since mine shrank and cracked. The only thing i can't decide on is where to cut the vinyl for the roof line. Since i have so much vinyl i think i'm going to use one big piece starting from the front cowl and go all the way to the quarter panels and probably end it where similar to yours at the bottom of the C pillar.

[GreasyE30]

Looks dope brotha

[agent]

http://www.metrorestyling.com/Digita...yl-s/10064.htm

Thanks, that's the site where I've been looking at Avery stuff.

This gave me the confidence to purchase my roll. I ordered a 50 yard roll of matte white oracal 651, an array of tools, and the application fluid for $240 shipped and i'm splitting it with my buddie so its only costing me $120. Its only going to be on my car for a year or two till i can afford to spend $4-5k on a real paint job.


I purchased everything here .

Good info, thanks!

[willworkfore30s]

Alot of people say that you should only use cast vinyl on cars but i think the e30 is pretty flat and should not be very hard to wrap.

When you get to wrapping it you will realize that while it looks relatively flat, there are several curves that will put up a fight. But with patients they can be worked out. I have used oracle stuff before. Seems ok. Should be fine for length of time you plan to have it on there. Good luck and don't forget to post pics.


I am making a little progress towards the finished product.

Took it to my Grandma's because she didn't really understand what a wrap was.


I got most of my trim painted. I still need to do the front bumper, grills, wiper moldings. and mirrors.





First "Bath". I really just sprayed some of the dust off. This color grows on me more every day.




Finally getting some of the trim back on the car.





So far these are my favorite pictures of it.

[eandrade]

Looks great!

Got a couple of quick questions:
1) How'd you get the black trim reinstalled around the rear 3/4 windows? I've searched and searched and opinions vary on how it's done. Most folks say that it's not possible to put it back on without removing the window.
2) Where did you get the ///M door handles?

[willworkfore30s]

Got a couple of quick questions:
1) How'd you get the black trim reinstalled around the rear 3/4 windows? I've searched and searched and opinions vary on how it's done. Most folks say that it's not possible to put it back on without removing the window.
2) Where did you get the ///M door handles?

Question 2 first.

I made them.

Question 1:

I just made a video tonight of the best way I have found to do it and will make a write up and post it soon. I worked all night last night trying to figure it out and got really frustrated with it. Stabbed a hole in my already shitty head liner, busted up my knuckles, and stabbed myself in the forehead with a screw driver trying to do it.

Anyway. Today I was able to do a small part of it with the window in the car by pushing a flat head screw driver down in the valley where the little wing sits to open the channel and push the trim in. You could try that. But I ended up taking the window out. Removing the seal from the glass. Putting the trim on the seal. Putting the glass back in the seal. And then putting the window back in the car using the string method.