[FrozenM5]

Post em up!

I know a lot of people are interested in taking the DIY plunge and a lot of costly knowledge could be disseminated here!

[balgopi]

Ive only wrapped my interior but I would say to someone get use to wrapping around the corners and grooves. Also practice on something else because you will need to slightly stretch the vinyl to manipulate.

So PRACTICE PRACTICE on something before you do it on your car I guess.

[Vesar]

Been wraping for long time and yeah practise is really what you need and a lot of patience.

[FrozenM5]

Patience is what has got me by the balls. I don't have it so I pay people for theirs.

[djaemac]

alot of patience, a keg, and swear jar...hahaha

take your time and it'll be beautiful

[ramirez330i]

Practice, precision, and whole lot of patience. Your work will get better and easier with experience.

[mashimarho]

Never do it again and pay someone else.

[MyBoyBlue]

Originally Posted by mashimarho

Never do it again and pay someone else.

+1

[E90Company]

Originally Posted by mashimarho

Never do it again and pay someone else.

LOL well said, I can't wrap

[Dark_Knight_335]

I could tell you some lessons learned from trying to plasti dip a freaking badge
I can only imagine the nightmares of trying to vinyl wrap..good god! This is my first and last type of project of this nature..

[ChasVS]

Come on folks, help him out. Patience and Practice are a given. How do you stretch it around the corners to make it smooth? Do you heat the areas slightly before stretching? Do you hold the corners in place with anything as you go? Those are real lessons learned or techniques that would be a bit useful.

[Black Magic]

Heat the areas that need to be stretched especially round the corners. Found that a hair dryer works perfectly. If you get any creases the pull the wrap back of in those areas and heat it... the creases will come right off.

[Cisco661]

Originally Posted by Dark_Knight_335

I could tell you some lessons learned from trying to plasti dip a freaking badge
I can only imagine the nightmares of trying to vinyl wrap..good god! This is my first and last type of project of this nature..

Lol. Saw your plasti dip post. I wouldn't give up. Your first coat was way too heavy. I'm looking to do my chrome trim wrapped with shadow line vinyl.

[Dark_Knight_335]

Originally Posted by Cisco661

Lol. Saw your plasti dip post. I wouldn't give up. Your first coat was way too heavy. I'm looking to do my chrome trim wrapped with shadow line vinyl.

Haha, yea well thanks for the encouragement bud, but I think my trunk lid needs some time to recover from the battle scars it suffered at my hand, else I fear my car might revolt against me!

Thinking about a debadge anyhow...or one of those nifty Bimmian gloss black deals. Then I can practice all I want to by sticking my old badge on some useless piece of sheet metal!

[XYR03]

Originally Posted by ChasVS

Come on folks, help him out. Patience and Practice are a given. How do you stretch it around the corners to make it smooth? Do you heat the areas slightly before stretching? Do you hold the corners in place with anything as you go? Those are real lessons learned or techniques that would be a bit useful.

Well its kind of hard to give how to on what to do becuase ever curve is different and every car is different. Even wrapping the left panel is different from the right panel. There's a lot of things involved in wraping then just a heat gun. Vinyl will react different to the direction that you pull. I doubt anybody would remember exactly where and how the much they stretched at each section of the car. The OP needs to stick a piece of vinyl on the flatest part of the car and work from there. Not much heat is needed since stretching too much will reveal the paint underneath the car which is pretty bad if you are wrapping a dark color car with a light color vinyl. Dont be afraid to fuck up on small spots such as fenders and doors. Learn from your mistakes, remove all the parts that in the way so you can tuck. Be alittle bit smarter than the vinyl, you're the boss...you pretty much have control over how everything turns out. Know where you stretched so you can compansate the stretch on the opposit direction. Not to piss you off but when it comes down to everything its just straight PATIENCE AND PRACTICE. Also, keep in mind wrapping a panel and trims on a weekend is easy...but wrapping a whole car on a weekend is a whole different story. lol Have fun wraping.

[GRLPWR]

If you plan to keep it on for a while (or forever), use 3m primer first. Great adhesive (I used the brush-on kind, guess spray works just as good).

[ramirez330i]

for corners, have the vinyl just over the surface in the air, holding it up with your hands. heat it a little bit to get just enough stretch, then pulling at 45 degree angles from a center point with both hands (forms a sort of triangle) will allow you to take any small creases away from the curved area and onto the flat regions, which are then really easy to work out.

That probably made no sense.... but hope it helps

[GRLPWR]

Originally Posted by ramirez330i

for corners, have the vinyl just over the surface in the air, holding it up with your hands. heat it a little bit to get just enough stretch, then pulling at 45 degree angles from a center point with both hands (forms a sort of triangle) will allow you to take any small creases away from the curved area and onto the flat regions, which are then really easy to work out.

That probably made no sense.... but hope it helps

Makes perfect sense. Wish I had thought about this or read it somewhere when I was doing mine.

[EYE4SPEED]

Somethings it is better to pay to have done. I wonder how long this fad will last... will we see vinyl wrap stores pop up? Would be cool if they did it like the free windshield repair guys setup at the grocery store. When i get sick of my color, would love to do a matte something.

[mcrazyrider]

Jus t finished wraping my interior trim, it does take s lot of patience to get it done , it not that bad at all. Start with the smaller pieces first so you cam get some practice

[FrozenM5]

This thread is progressing nicely, a lot of information to help people learn from your mistakes!

Thanks!

[Cisco661]

this should be helpful to some that will wrap interior. i got this from another member who did his.