SheryarYO

I've been quoted anywhere from $3-$5k for a full wrap. Don't really want to pay that much and I think I read that you can buy all the vinyl you'd need for $300-$400 online. If it doesn't work out, then it's not really a big loss. I know it's very time consuming and tedious, but I was thinking maybe I could do like a panel a day or something like that or maybe just tackle it on the weekends.

Has anyone ever tried this before? Anywhere I can read up on it or maybe follow a DIY? I just want to get the basic steps down (how to cut it, how to apply and adjust it, etc).

blackc230benzo

I did 2 of my cars in Matte black.

I liked working with the Oracal vinyl personally because it was easy to reposition and the air bubbles escape through the material and dont need to be pin popped.

surface prep is probably the most important, i used isopropyl alcohol/water blend
get a very sharp fine point knife with replaceable blades.
a heat gun
some felt tipped squeegees
painters tape to temp tack pieces in place.

Depending on how clean you want your job, you will also need the tools to take off trim, door handles, remove bumpers etc.

All said and done the 3-5k a shop charges is deserved. Im glad I did my own car but I've turned down 4k to do someone else's car because its such a tedious job.

Rsquad911

Avery Easy Slide material is the best for a home garage DIY. Forgiving and easy to work with.

a roll will cost you about $600-800

For my wrap I used 3M 1080 (At the time Avery was not available) Took me and my friend 3 days.

As for oracle.... I've been using it for 5 years.... I hate it now compared to the Avery and 3M counterparts.

We usually charge $2800-3500 to wrap a car like this.

CoolBDPhenom03

I heard the bumpers were the toughest panels. And do not rush anything. If you get impatient, the wrap will start coming off almost as fast as you installed it. I've seen a rushed DIY wrap and it didn't look good.

w204nyc

The material will cost you more than what you think. I'd say closer to $700. I had no experience before I tried wrapping my interior. It was hard but I got the hang of it and I have wrapped a few of my friends interiors. I tried wrapping my roof and for some reason I cannot get it right. After three tries, I gave up on it and just plasti-dipped my roof. If you don't have experience, I suggest you take it to a shop or find an independent source. I remember a few months back, some guy around my neighborhood was charging $800 without material and he was quite good at it. Good luck if you decide to do it and make sure you have the right people helping you. It get be frustrating.

JM

Honestly, pay someone professional to do it.

My wrap was re-done because the first installer was not professional enough. 3M vinyls are great and my car lasted the time it was wrapped.

SheryarYO

I dunno. I think I'm going to give it a shot anyway. Maybe start with the roof and try to work my way down and see how it goes. If I'm doing alright, then I'll just keep going. If not, I'll consider just paying someone to wrap it, but the thing is, I think I'm going to get tired of the color every so often so I didn't want to commit that much money to it. I was hoping that I could wrap it myself and then if I ever wanted to change colors, I could take it off and go through the whole process again depending on how I felt after doing it the first time. I realize it's very tedious and time consuming, but I work from home so I could literally spend all day doing it everyday if I needed to. I'd also have no problem driving around for a couple days with mismatched body panels since I highly doubt I'd finish it all in one day.

I think I'm going to order the material in the near future and maybe try to make a DIY as I go in case it works out and someone else wants to attempt it in the future as well.