paint alternative?

[timtiminy]

hey guys i was just playing with the idea of possibly wrapping my car in a single color vinyl rather than painting. I know that there are places that do vinyle wraps for ads on cars so i just figured that if i could just get a big roll of a solid colored vinyl i could possibly wrap my car in it and get away with a decent looking paint alternative. let me know what you guys think.

[LongGrain]

its been done before with ok results, search.

[Jung918]

^ really? shit I want to see.
I would think vinyl wouldn't look as good as a regular paint job.
You can go to maco and get their $300 paint job.

[nosanhere]

Depending on the car and all I imagine it could be difficult to pull off. I remember I tried doing something like that on my race bike and it was a pain. Motorcycle body work is harder than doing it to say an s13 I'm sure though lol. The bumpers would be the hardest part but I don't think it would look near as good as paint. Just my opinion though. If you do it give us lots of pictures.

[lflkajfj12123]

ebay

they have the vinyl in big ass square pieces

[kevtrinh]

it turns out horrible!

[Nachtmensch]

it realyl does.

it turns your car into a 25 footer. i did it on a spare hood. looked ok from far, but up close sucked. i took my time on it too.

[NI_YON_Zenki]

Not a good Idea IMO, this will harm your chances of complete satisfaction, after realizing you've got vinyl WRAP over you entire vehicle, attempting to compel yourself & such that it's a good PAINT alternative.

IMO: TIP HERE:

Only if you're attempting to drive your Craig Liberman built vehicle across states, with its Craig Liberman paint job, very sound judgement for temporary purposes, very costly judgement for long-term purposes.

[carbonx240]

is this what are you talking about.or similar
http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg220/240titanium/52.jpg?t=1203322977 (javascript:void(0);)
http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg220/240titanium/51.jpg?t=1203323014
i think i found this picture in the The OFFICIAL "Identify this" thread..looks awesome.but to much.maybe only some parts, but not the whole car

[levelgx]

A person I know had it done before and it looks ok when it first gets done but then u get scratches and holes in it after a while.. from a distance its ok but pretty bad close up... i wish i had a better pic of his car up close to show details but I do have a pic.. it is so riced out

Germans here seem to like it though...?
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d39/levelgx/car045badd.jpg

[SlideWell]

solid color would be neat, and clean if its done well and you if you plan on selling the car. if you saw the intec racing/silk road s13.5 in person, youd wait and save for paint. heres a few shots. and 2 young wuns...stay away from the glitter vinyl, it looks like ass in the sun.
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a196/PearlWhiteS14/l_ef087a1ce659d0f4ad9023496a988385.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a196/PearlWhiteS14/l_baf57b3d2b69a2e65fc45ff536e6f77e.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a196/PearlWhiteS14/l_1587efd852144a3038fb75a67e02d343.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a196/PearlWhiteS14/l_5c63e740febd0422ef583034651516b7.jpg

[ByeByeSti]

kinda a weird thought... id just go with paint, its not that much to get for one, and theres plenty of people out there that paint. you could prob even do it yourself if you have a decent compressor, gun, and clean area.

[Cash]

In my opinion vinyl only looks good if done professionally. My friend owns a vinyl shop that does wraps for commercial vehicles and racing teams. I asked him about how much a professional wrap would cost for a car the size of a 240sx and he said it would be around $3,000. His wraps look really good (seamless and with no bubbles), but for that much you can get a pretty nice paint job.

Here's his company: http://zdecals.com/
You can see some of his work on the site. http://zdecals.com/gallery.html

[KA-T_240]

^what he said.

But paint>vinal

[Cash]

Yes, paint definitely lasts longer than vinyl and doesn't fade as easily.

BTW, this is one of the coolest wraps I've seen come out of his shop:

http://zdecals.com/jpg/Gallery/T-bucket/driver-side.jpg

[dorkidori_s13]

i run a vehicle wrap shop in vegas (i dont own it...basically im the 2nd in command here...i do all the graphics, printing and oversee the installations on vehicles...production staff does all the installs...however i had to learn to do vehicle wraps when i started so i understand the work that goes into vinyl application and i know a lot of the tricks behind it)...in all honesty...vehicle wraps are a waste of time...especially if you live somewhere HOT or extremely COLD (ie: if you get snow at all PERIOD)...vinyl is a bitchy substrate in varied kinds of weather...it will crack if it gets too hot or too cold out...you need to have ALOT of patience to put it down correctly and evenly...if youre not using a repositionable vinyl (like avery EZ-RS) then youre gonna hate life trying to apply it

due to the age of these cars...and their paint condition most of the time...youll start pulling paint/clear coat off when you go to reposition the vinyl to get runs and creases out...save ur money...get a paint job...you can get a damn decent 2 stage paint job for like 1500 bux...will look a MILLION times better than vinyl

[Sreds13]

Bogie idea for a DIY especialy if a profesional vinal guy is telling it's not the best Idea... If you want a cheap alternative a honda buddy was reading up on hondatec about a guy that painted his hole car with a paint roller. I saw the finished product, looked pretty nice. But how ever you go about this you'll have to prep the car pretty much the same way and thats the real bitch. But good luck.

[JRas]

roller can paint job

[worangejuice]

BAM!!!!
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a253/worangejuice/vinyl.jpg
Sick car though

[whiterps13]

What about doing it in a small area, say the roof of a fastback? I have been toying with the idea of applying black vinyl instead of getting my roof painted black.

Thoughts?

[Full-Lock]

yea that glittery shit looks terrible

the roof of a hatch would be cool, but i wouldnt go doing the entire car

[rhs13]

i also do vinyl graphics and agree with everything dorkidori_s13 had to say.

i vote for rattle can paint if youre looking to save money, otherwise go to maaco or earl shieb and get a $300 paint job.

[Matej]

the roof of a hatch would be cool, but i wouldnt go doing the entire car
I've done it to my roof, it looked lame. After I finished I stepped back to take a look at it and decided that I'd rather have my badly painted roof instead of vinyl, wasted day haha.

[ayuaddict]

I've done it to my roof, it looked lame. After I finished I stepped back to take a look at it and decided that I'd rather have my badly painted roof instead of vinyl, wasted day haha.

i did mine as well, but i actually like mine.

but maybe cuz your car is cooler than mine, and therefore you would probably have a lower tolerance for half assed shit.

it does look like ass close up.

[Matej]

i did mine as well, but i actually like mine.

but maybe cuz your car is cooler than mine, and therefore you would probably have a lower tolerance for half assed shit.
Nah my car is the epitome of half-done, yours looks way nicer. Did you use the rainbow flake black vinyl from Paper Street Plastics? That's what I used, it just didn't match anything on my car so I went back to regular black. Plus I didn't want to get taunted by truck-driving Midwest retards, I used to have a rainbow flake roof and a couple times some Brokeback jocks actually tried to pick a fight with me because my sparkly roof offended their insecurities, so I decided I'd rather not risk getting my car keyed or something in a parking lot, I had no idea people can be so stupid.

[revat619]

to the original poster,

Dont be a tool. Just paint your damn car. Maaco, One Day Paint, etc. is better than that vinyl nonsense.

[ayuaddict]

Nah my car is the epitome of half-done, yours looks way nicer. Did you use the rainbow flake black vinyl from Paper Street Plastics? That's what I used, it just didn't match anything on my car so I went back to regular black. Plus I didn't want to get taunted by truck-driving Midwest retards, I used to have a rainbow flake roof and a couple times some Brokeback jocks actually tried to pick a fight with me because my sparkly roof offended their insecurities, so I decided I'd rather not risk getting my car keyed or something in a parking lot, I had no idea people can be so stupid.

i just got a normal boring metallic black, i actually didnt find the rainbow flake until after i ordered it. i might switch to the rainbow flake later...kinda looking for a black with pink "flake", however they do the flakey effect on vinyl. oh well.

and to the OP, spray paint works pretty okay. i rattle canned my car.

[420sx]

fucking paint it. jesus christ.

good paint and clear and primer - 350$
a gun - 20 bucks
rent a compressor - 50 bucks
make a booth out of a garage
supplies - 30-40 bucks

bam. fucking done. like 2 days of work. and doesnt look like pieceofshitfuckinassvinyl.

why do people think paint is so complicated