Wrap it before you tap it (Pic heavy)

[willworkfore30s]

Sorry, all the pictures got moved. They can all be found in this album.

http://s1114.photobucket.com/user/cccampbe3/slideshow/e30%20318is

For the last week I have been slowly wrapping my e30 in dark charcoal matte metallic vinyl from Avery. I really love how easy this vinyl is to work with. I have no professional training but have been laying vinyl for a while. This is my first solo full car wrap and I think it is going pretty well. I still have a little left to do but one whole side is finished so any progress from here won't look much different than it does right now.

I sent the car to the body shop to get all the dents taken care of and they ended up priming the whole car. Over all they did a decent job but a dent in the passenger door showed up after I had already wrapped it so I am going to have to strip it and get them to fix it.

Anyway, here are the pictures. I apologize that they are all iphone photos.



































This is the biggest seam I had to put on the car. (one on each side). The camera flash makes it look a lot more noticeable than it really is

[Cronopoulos]

Holy shit that actually looks really good!

[travish325]

Interesting

[N2MYE30]

Nice! Is my lip gonna get wrapped too? :) Im glad you have keep this car and worked it out.

[willworkfore30s]

Haha Dan, if your lip makes it back on the car it will only be temporarily until I get an IS lip. I ripped yours off one too many times learning how to drive while "low." Its taken a beating.

You will be at Korman this year right?

[agent]

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... ;)

[N2MYE30]

You will be at Korman this year right?

Thats the plan. Ill be in something BMW but most likely the coupe.

[kamotors]

looks excellent

[willworkfore30s]

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...

I don't consider myself a pro at this but I would be surprised if a complete novice could do it without wasting a ton of vinyl and subsequently money. I am not saying it can't be done. If you were set on doing it I would suggest you do a lot of research on techniques and watch a lot of how to videos. Even then there will be tricks and things you can only learn through experience. There are a lot of things I would do differently if I had to do it over again on my car.

The biggest thing though is patients. You have to have so much patients. With the right about of heat you can just about repair any mistake on this vinyl but if you are impatient you can take it right past the point of repair and waste a whole panel's worth of vinyl.

I did this with 3 sample 5 yard rolls of vinyl and barley touched the third roll. If you were buying retail I believe the smallest you can get it in is 20-25 yrds x 60". That would give you almost another cars worth of vinyl to make mistakes with. With a lot of research you could probably swing it

[2l2ltq]

We just did something like this on a guys car at work. But I personally do not like the look of the seems. But looks good man.

[willworkfore30s]

The seams are pretty hard to see from more than five feet away.

[Vdubmt]

Looks really good to me!

[agent]

I have read about the sample rolls, though my pricing estimate was indeed based on what I found on a retail site. I appreciate the info, thanks!

[willworkfore30s]

A few from tonight. All I got done was the drivers fender and installing the bumper.

[Andrew318is]

That is really F#ckin nice! Love the look!