Wrapping vs spraying

motorguy

Ibrahim5 said:

What a waste of money. A car isn't going to function any better with a Union Jack on its bonnet.

what a dull life you must lead.

facade

motorguy said:

To be honest, its my impression that to wrap a complete car well would cost nigh on as much as a full respray.

Which also begs the question - what car needs a full respray these days?  Other than for a personal choice colour change.  

Pretty much what I found, add on the vanishingly short lifespan and it becomes a non-starter.

I was considering it for the Suzuki, as it just wasn't being imported in a half decent colour, only garish yoof colours and black, but for £2000 I can just half close my eyes as I dash into it and then avoid looking down at the bonnet

Goudy

Probably not going to help with your Union Jack but there is a different type of wrapping these days, spray or liquid wrapping.

It's a liquid polymer that's sprayed on in several coats that covers the bodywork with a layer similar to a normal vinyl wrap.
It's completely reversible as it can be peeled off in the same way as a vinyl warp but without the bubbles and wrinkles.

It's far far cheaper than a respray as there is virtually no labour intensive preparation to the cars bodywork except a clean and mask.
There's no sanding or rubbing down, under coat, isolator coat or clear coat.

Of course just like a vinyl wrap they aren't meant to be permanent,  so it has a limited life which will depend on the finish, colour and quality of the product/user but it's a relatively cheap way to change the colour or finish of a car without too much intensive work and it will protect the original paint underneath.

You could wrap your pride and joy from new, run it a few years and then when it's time to move it on, peel it to reveal perfect paintwork.

You can have a go yourself with smaller parts.
I've done a set of wheels that looked nasty for around £80 for all four and they looked perfect.
It's so easy to use and run/wrinkle free.

 

facade

They used it on Wheeler Dealers once, I forget the car, I think it was some fast estate.

IIRC, it was a beautiful gun metal grey, and Brewer had it spray coated in some garish blue.

Peeling it off would be the first thing I did if I had bought it.

400ixl

facade said:

Wrapping (I can't help but think of that fablon that Woolworths used to sell on a roll) is much cheaper than a professional respray, but has a very short life- 3 to 5 years or so.

If you want a Union Jack bonnet, probably £200-£300. You will need to keep the car in a garage though, as it will be printed, and the ink fades in the sunlight.

When you tell your insurer you have had it done, they will clap their hands with glee, and little £ signs will light up in their eyes.

The main advantage of wrapping for road cars is it can be removed fairly easily.

I briefly considered it for my Suzuki- it has the advantage of acting as an anti-scratch film when greenlaning, but the cost is astronomical for a whole car, and the life is far too short to write the cost off over at a reasonable rate.

Quality wraps will last for 10 years or longer these days, with no fading. Ceramic coatings help to keep the wrap in good condition.

Saying that, most people who wrap their cars are either people who change their cars every few years (removing the wrap to show well protected original paintwork) or keep the cars for longer but change the colour of the wrap.

Commercially it tends to be more for advertising and making the branding stand out.

The other main use is PPF film which is a clear wrap to help protect the paintwork, again, modern PPF will last 10+ years on a car.

For the vast majority of people getting panels re-sprayed and matched in is a much cheaper way of maintaining the paintwork should it get damaged. Wrapping is much more in the domain of show cars or PPF protecting of expensive cars paintwork. The other area it is more common is in wrapping parts, be them interior trim or external elements such as grills, spoilers, bonnets etc.

As for insurance, yes it needs declaring to your insurer. In many cases it will make no difference in price but would be excluded from any repair with the paintwork being the repair. If it is included in the repair, then it will typically increase the premium as it is additional work.

400ixl

motorguy said:

To be honest, its my impression that to wrap a complete car well would cost nigh on as much as a full respray.

Which also begs the question - what car needs a full respray these days?  Other than for a personal choice colour change.  

A full colour change respray will be in the realms of £8-10k and a wrap in the £3-5k range. If it is a non colour change respray it will still be in the £5k range for a well done professional job.

For a basic respray in the same colour then it will be in the same ball park as a full wrap. You could probably find someone to do a decent wrap for £2k ish if you just want a wrap done that looks presentable, but wouldn't include all the door shuts etc.

motorguy

400ixl said:

motorguy said:

To be honest, its my impression that to wrap a complete car well would cost nigh on as much as a full respray.

Which also begs the question - what car needs a full respray these days?  Other than for a personal choice colour change.  

A full colour change respray will be in the realms of £8-10k and a wrap in the £3-5k range. If it is a non colour change respray it will still be in the £5k range for a well done professional job.

For a basic respray in the same colour then it will be in the same ball park as a full wrap. You could probably find someone to do a decent wrap for £2k ish if you just want a wrap done that looks presentable, but wouldn't include all the door shuts etc.

Agreed RE: pricing.

Cant think why i'd ever - personally - want to respray a car an entirely different colour.  But yes, i fully get that some will and do, particularly those in to show cars etc.

And yes, i'd expect a high quality full respray same colour to cost around £5K+.  Probably more.  I'd be fairly certain though that i could get an acceptable (depending on the car) full respray for £2K-£3K.

It would be a no from me - personally - for a wrap.

Goudy

I can understand it, wrapping or spray wrapping.

People want to show off, so wrap their Lambo's, Ferrari's and Fiesta popular pluses in dayglow orange tinfoil.
Or someone always wanted a yellow 488 Pista, (or more like a late 80's 911 coupe with M491 options in baltic blue)  but there's only one for sale and it's a spider or targa or in the wrong colour.

You'd !!!!!! the residuals by respraying them, no matter how much you spent or how good a job they did (expect for the Fiesta perhaps).
With a wrap they get what they wanted without breaking the bank or really ruining a nice car.

motorguy

Goudy said:

I can understand it, wrapping or spray wrapping.

People want to show off, so wrap their Lambo's, Ferrari's and Fiesta popular pluses in dayglow orange tinfoil.
Or someone always wanted a yellow 488 Pista, (or more like a late 80's 911 coupe with M491 options in baltic blue)  but there's only one for sale and it's a spider or targa or in the wrong colour.

You'd !!!!!! the residuals by respraying them, no matter how much you spent or how good a job they did (expect for the Fiesta perhaps).
With a wrap they get what they wanted without breaking the bank or really ruining a nice car.

Yeah makes sense.