Full 3M 1080 Vinyl Wrap (PIC HEAVY)

[StrokedSpyder96]

What's up guys, I got started on this project over the weekend and figured I would share some of the progress and let you see how this stuff looks on a DSM. I haven't seen anyone do a full wrap yet, though I am sure I'm not the first.

This is how the car started

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I hated the green on the car, I would never have bought a green dsm but I got such a good deal on the car I couldn't pass it up. I also hate the 2ga front bumper so that had to go.

I did one panel at a time, the car was already pretty clean so I just went over the panel I was working on with a claybar and then wiped it down with alcohol to remove any wax that was left on the paint.

The hood was the first panel I tackled.

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After 10 pain staking hours of fighting the vinyl on the hood (not having a clue really what I was doing, and ruining one sheet) I finally got it done and decided to go to the next easiest panel, the door.

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The door was much easier than the hood, and I was starting to get the feel of how to work with the vinyl. The door went on in about an hour.

I went after the front fender after the door, didn't take any pics of this.
Now on to the rear quarter panel we go! At this point I had a pretty good handle on how to manipulate the vinyl around corners and into edges.

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I then stood back for a second and gave the side mirror one good looking over....how the hell are you supposed to vinyl the mirror.

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It ended up coming out ok, I didn't take a pic of the finished mirror up close but you can see the completed side here.

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Then I did one of the side pieces for the spoiler....I'm getting pretty good at it at this point.

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Here is a close up shot of the vinyl, its tough to see in the photos but its LOADED in metallic flake and looks incredible in the sunlight.

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Needless to say I did the same thing to the other side of the car and everything went smoothly. Now it's on to the front bumper, the part I was dreading as it is known as the hardest part of any car to wrap due to the complexity and shape of them.

We spun the car around to make life a little easier and removed the shitty 2ga bumper. The 2gb bumper I picked up has the side markers shaved, emblem, and fog light holes shaved. We had to do quite a bit of trimming to get it to mount up with my giant front mount but we got it all mocked up and ready to wrap.

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Now the fun started....

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At this point I was so damn tired after working 20+ hours on the car it was time to take a well needed nights sleep.....but when I went back to the car the next day to finish trimming the front bumper boy did I have one hell of a smile on my face!

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I also wrapped the trunk after I completed the front bumper but I didn't take any photos of it yet. I have the side skirts, rear bumper, spoiler, and a pillars left and will hopefully tackle them this weekend.

You guys might have noticed the Light Bar/ Roll Bar which I also installed over the weekend, and I must say it really sets the look off with the spyder. Oh and yes that's a 2JZ supra motor on the stand in the background.

I will post up more photos once I get the rest of the car done and of course some final pics when I can clean the wheels and tires but they too will most likely change before summer time comes. Hope you guys enjoyed this post, I had not intended to do any sort of write up for this so I didn't take a ton of before and after pics that I wish now I had taken but I guess this will do for now!

 

[cl1ckclack]

Holy crap Brian! that looks amazing dude! id love to do something like that with my GSX.... i also hate the green -_-

 

[WES_393]

Very nice! I've consider doing this myself, but haven't looked into it much. Would it be insanely difficult for someone with no experience with tint/wrap? Expensive?

 

[cl1ckclack]

I havent done a ton of searching, but it looks like its about 300 dollars to do the car. please correct me if im wrong OP

 

[99ECLIPSEGSXDSM]

Looks awesome. Can't wait to see what it looks like out in the sun light

 

[StrokedSpyder96]

First thing I will say is it is not in any way shape or form an easy task, it is INSANELY DIFFICULT I watched countless hours of youtube tutorials, write ups, and none of them really helped all that much when it came time to actually get my hands dirty. I also had no prior experience working with vinyl or tinting. My biggest advice, bring lots of friends to help you..the more hands to stretch and heat the vinyl the easier your life will be.

The wrap cost me just under 500 bucks for 5ftx40ft, I did order more than I needed to because I planned on mistakes being made and having to reapply vinyl to certain panels. I also have the luxury of not having to do the roof which is a huge piece to wrap.

This is a write up that I found and it is probably the best one on the web. He also states in his post before even starting that youtube video make it look really easy, when in reality it is crazy difficult.
Vinyl Wrapping DIY Tutorial... (Lengthy and Major PICS!!!) - Corvette Forum

These two video are probably the most helpful.

Vinyl Car Wrap (Removing Bubbles) - YouTube

Vinyl Car Wrap (Removing Wrinkles) - YouTube

 

[T is for TURBO]

Looks damn good my friend. You saved your self a lot of money doing it yourself. My buddy bought a BMW 750il a few months ago that the previous owner had a wrap done professionally. I believe he said it cost something like $4,000 for the whole car (750il is a land yacht). One thing I didn't like about it was it was starting to peal from rock chips, so the front end looked pretty janky.

 

[StrokedSpyder96]

Yeah I have seen a full wrap cost people $3,000 on a regular basis due to the amount of labor involved. Rock chips are another reason why I bought extra wrap, if it gets really bad I will rewrap it. It's not my daily driver so it will only be out on weekends, hopefully it lasts me the entire summer without having to replace anything. Fingers crossed

Thanks for all the kind words, the car was just "ok" before but now when I walk up to it I cant help but smile ear to ear. I cant wait to get the wheels done and new headlights in. Hopefully I have more photos for you guys on Monday.

 

[ErikTande]

I had no idea this sort of thing even existed. Crazy.


Nice work, it looks amazing in the pics!

 

[TJCTalon]

Where did you order your wrap from?

Very good job. Looks great

 

[gieri002]

Wow, looks great! I put some of this 3m wrap over the sun-faded carbon fiber section of my evo 8 wing. Even that took a couple hours, I couldn't even imagine how long it would take me to wrap an entire car! Props to you man!

 

[PieEyedPiper]

The car looked pretty amazing in the before picture.

I was a little uneasy about making a change to anything, but holy cow. I'm a believer!

 

[Silver99OZ]

Wow that really came out looking amazing. I had no idea that you could get vinyl that had metallic flake in it and looks just like actual paint.

 

[Black Widow97]

I had a lot of doubt when i saw the thread title, but it is looking really good! What are your plans to keep it looking nice and not cracking or peeling?

 

[Bud92gsx]

I just wrapped my auto shifter selector thing, and I did my gas door too.But its got easier the second time I messed with the vinal.

Subscribed cause I'm gonna do my roof with the vinal too.

Looking awsome tho.

 

[StrokedSpyder96]

TJCTalon, I ordered mine from MetroRestyling.com, had good luck with them and I am working on getting a discount code in exchange for the photos of my car for their website. Of course I will pass on the discount code to you guys if all goes well.

BlackWidow97, 3M advised me to treat the vinyl as if it were paint. You can wash it, wax it, can even use a pressure washer on it but I am going to avoid that just because. The 1080 series is supposed to be good for up to 8 years so the only thing that concerns me really is rock chips on the bumper cover and hood. As I said earlier it is not my DD and only will come out on weekends so it will be all covered up and protected from the elements the rest of the time.

If you guys do end up ordering any just make sure you get a felt edged squeegee and the Avery gloves come in very handy because they don't stick to the vinyl like your fingers do.

There are a ton of other companies making the vinyl, but 3M was my #1 choice and after speaking to a few installers it is also the easiest to work with. 3M 1080 is limited in color options but they are working on new ones all the time and they have a great selection of matte finishes as well if the gloss metallic isn't your thing.

I will def be taking a ton more photos now that I see there is so much interest in the project.

 

[Doubleot]

Looking good in for the finished product!

 

[2gnt99]

How did you go about wrapping the door handles?
Also, how resistant is the 1080 to scratches?

 

[sypherzero]

That looks insanely good! And for under $500, its pretty damn affordable.

 

[Ludachris]

Nicely done. I'm curious as to how it holds up. I might end up doing this on the GSX at some point. I just have to get all the door dings and minor hail damage on the roof straightened out first.

 

[NeMiZiS]

That is super cool!
I wonder if it will stick to primer paint?...

 

[StrokedSpyder96]

How did you go about wrapping the door handles?
Also, how resistant is the 1080 to scratches?

Some people remove the door handle and wrap it seperate, others leave them and work around it.

I left mine as you can see in the photo, then I went around the seams with an Xacto knife. The flap of vinyl you have left under the handle itself will mold up under the handle with some heat and stretching. I will try to get a picture of the completed handle when I get back to the garage.

As far as scratching goes, any surface scratching will go away with a little spray detailer, some elbow grease, and a microfiber. You can also use a little heat even after installation if there was a good scratch in it.

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Nemizis, It will not stick as well to primer as it will clearcoat, if you do plan to attempt it I would order a small piece to test it out. You can also use 3M adhesive liquid before laying it on the car to promote extra adhesion. I did not use it in my application but I have heard very good things about it and if I do it again I will pick some up and use it on the sections where I wrap around edges and corners just to be safe.

 

[GPLaserRS]

I like the Oracal wrap, it's not as expensive as 3M but is close in quality. I recommend Metro Restyling - Carbon Fiber Vinyl - Camo - Woodgrain Vinyl Wrap, and you should definitely get Rapid Tac to help move the vinyl around on the surface you're working on, and Rapid Prep to make sure the work surface is nice and clean so you don't get any foreign matter between the paint and vinyl. OP, your car looks great, I'm thinking that's the color I'm gonna go with too now. That metallic flake looks awesome!!

 

[StrokedSpyder96]

I like the Oracal wrap, it's not as expensive as 3M but is close in quality. I recommend Metro Restyling - Carbon Fiber Vinyl - Camo - Woodgrain Vinyl Wrap, and you should definitely get Rapid Tac to help move the vinyl around on the surface you're working on, and Rapid Prep to make sure the work surface is nice and clean so you don't get any foreign matter between the paint and vinyl. OP, your car looks great, I'm thinking that's the color I'm gonna go with too now. That metallic flake looks awesome!!

They have a few gloss metallic colors that look crazy, I got a bunch of samples and actually had to have my gf pick because I couldn't. The gloss black metallic looks UNREAL in the sun, it cant even be explained. Its impossible to choose any color until you order some samples because the photos online are useless. Oracle would def be my next choice after 3M especially with the giant color selection they have.

 

[Blizz92tsi]

I had my hood wrapped on my 1g when I worked for a sign company and had access to all the vinyl I wanted. Its a panda 1g talon and wanted to see what the hood and partial fenders would look like if I painted them black. I think it turned out great and would paint it that way in a heartbeat. I can't attest to longevity. It wasn't a real long time after this that the timing skipped and destroyed the motor. It has sat for quite some time since then. You can treat it just like paint. Power wash it and everything you would just have to be careful around edges. That will be the first place to come loose and/or get dirt under it.

OP-
You did an amazing job going over the bump in the hood. Mine didn't go that well. There were a lot of different curves and angles to contend with. We wound up having to splice it in a place or two but it isn't real noticeable unless you're looking for it. It was also originally intended to be temporary until i actually got the car painted. So much for best laid plans.