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After updating the wheels to a bronze finish AL13 I feel like a change is necessary for the color on the stripes. At first I was going to remove them and then decided that the car will look too muted without them. The previous owner went and did PPF over the factory decals. So, they are now gloss instead of magno, which makes this an easier choice. I payed around today with some bronze wrap materials I had in the garage and would love to hear opinions. The choices are:
1. leave it
2. keep going - bronze is the right move
3. go crazy with a high gloss acid green
4. take em off and go without.
Here is the progress on the bronze - just the lower side pieces left to do.
I think it looks good. Wrap is so easy on and off. Why not wrap it like this, if you get tired of it take it off and try the green. I've done wraps on cars and changed my mind and just removed it, started with something else. If you want to remove wrap cleanly with no latent glue left behind use steam. I have a wallpaper steamer that I use. I can have a complete wrap off in hours.
Here is a wrap I did on a hood in the brushed black SS. Got tired of it after 6 months and steamed it off in an hour. This is MUCH better than dry heat.
So, do I understand this correctly -- you did a stripe-only wrap over the PPF that was over the stripes (nice!)?
Correct...very difficult to get right. The PPF has its own challenges too - with its hydrophobic properties, it needs a bunch of prep and adhesion promotion to have it even stick. then you have to be perfect in your line up or you get seam issues between the layers or worse the OEM stripe peeking out from the side.
Short of that, the only way to do it would be the removal of all of the PPF and the OEM stripes to re-apply PPF and the stripes etc. Not sure why anyone would do this kind of work and not do it correctly the first time.
Correct...very difficult to get right. The PPF has its own challenges too - with its hydrophobic properties, it needs a bunch of prep and adhesion promotion to have it even stick. then you have to be perfect in your line up or you get seam issues between the layers or worse the OEM stripe peeking out from the side. ...
Well, it _seams_ like you got it right (sorry, couldn't resist). So did you have the wrap-stripes computer cut or are you amazing with a blade (as opposed to being an amazing young blade)?
Well, it _seams_ like you got it right (sorry, couldn't resist). So did you have the wrap-stripes computer cut or are you amazing with a blade (as opposed to being an amazing young blade)?
Ive been playing around with wrap for a while...Successfully destroyed yards of it before being moderately decent at it.
Because of the contours of the car I used knife tape to get the line right. The long stripe on the hood isn't a straight line. Meaning running a straight line of material against it won't like up. Knife tape on vinyl is about the easiest thing to get it right!
I say do it, heck you can change the color as often as you want! It’s too bad the previous owner did it the lazy/incorrect way of applying the PPF over the factory stripes.
I say do it, heck you can change the color as often as you want! It’s too bad the previous owner did it the lazy/incorrect way of applying the PPF over the factory stripes.
I specifically decided to apply the PPF _over_ the stripes to protect them (they're crazy expensive as an OEM part). OTOH, being a mostly track car, my goal in applying PPF was protection so I don't really care how it looks (well, within reason). I'm more interested in being able to remove the PPF and still have a pristine finish (at some point long down the road ... er, track).
Mercedes SLR McLaren 722 S Is Extremely Rare Example Modified by McLaren
Slideshow: A one-of-one U.S.-spec Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Roadster became even rarer after a factory-backed transformation at McLaren's headquarters.
