Wrapping time!
 

I thought I would share my experience wrapping for the first time.

The 69 GTO I bought recently is a fantastic car- 1 owner and solid as can be…. But in the most god awful color. Being that I have two cars at two different body shops it didn’t make sense to put another car in paint jail. I decided to give wrapping the car a shot.

This was my first attempt at installing a wrap, but I’ve done a few stripe kits. I was pretty happy with the result so far.

I ordered the gloss, but it’s really more of what I would call semi-gloss. There is a glossier version but for my first attempt I wanted to start with the easiest film.

The film went on great- so far I’ve only done the hood and trunk but I’m happy. I’m good with the semi gloss look as it looks like an older paint job but is still much better than the ugly 30 year old paint on the car.

I opted to not get into body work. I want to wrap it as is so if I decide to pull it off I can. The film is thick, pliable and easy to use. If you damage it or get creases in it you can hit it with some heat and it will go back to normal. I’m going to show where the blemishes in the paint are before and after for reference.

I’m estimating about $300 in vinyl to do the entire car which is a great deal when you consider how much paint costs today.

Here are some pics of the trunk:

Here are some pics of the hood:

I like it!!!

Here is an example of some of the damage before and after:

Looks good overall, but what not flatten the hood’s damaged-paint surface?

Wonder if starlight black wrap looks as black as Single-Stage.

Since this is the first time I’ve done it I didn’t want to disrupt the paint because if it didn’t work out I didn’t want to go from having an all brown car to a brown car with primer spots. Once I have a car or two under my belt I will probably feel better about smoothing the body work out.

Another reason is that one of the reasons I wanted to do this was to make the car look better without getting into body work. The body work on the car is probably 15 yrs old and isn’t going to change much if stored indoors. If I start sanding you never know what your going to get into.

They have an ultra gloss black that I’m sure would pass for single stage.

https://vvividshop.com/collections/u...-piano-black-1

That looks much better that that school-desk brown! Totally acceptable for a driver-car. I like the idea of a black wrap for the top if the car has a vinyl top and trip already. If not, the orange looks just fine. It makes the car looks like a Day Two survivor from the '70's. Very cool.

Looks good. Carousel Red GTO works, but stripes would certainly not be out of place. But Judge stripes on a wrap? If our hosts are curious about compatibility, there's science to be done.

Was thinking changing colors on scoop inserts could be fun, but they're closed. Wrapping those ribs might give a pro a nervous breakdown. Flat black out of a rattlecan? Or...

https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...1&d=1669500245

1965gp, It looks really good so far. I can't wait to see the before & after pictures! I may have to wrap my '71 GT-37!

Dennis

The goal is to try to make this car as fun as possible without getting into body work. The car runs and drives great and I totally planned on leaving it as is, like a regular GTO you would have seen in 1975. But I can’t do the color soooooo……

Right now body work is so expensive and takes so long that I am forcing myself to leave the car alone and not start sanding or grinding. The wrap may look like sh!t after 3 months too and I decide to pull it off and I don’t want primer spots all over it.

I’ve often thought about wrapping an older car as an affordable option and finally decided to try it.


Guy- day two is a great way to describe the finish. Not perfect by any means and not really shiny but it’s smooth and all one color. A much better color! The finish is similar to what you would find on a shiny plastic toy.

242- this is generic ‘orange’ from vvivid and I took a chance. Online it looked very close to my hugger orange blazer so I decided to try it. The scoops are actually matte black but it’s older paint so maybe faded. This car is definitely getting judge stripes if this all works out. The car will be stored indoors so I’m not too worried about the decals.

Thanks SD455- I will keep posting updates. It may be worth trying if you want to avoid the hefty bill and wait time of the paint shop. I really wish I had done this to my 70 GTO convertible rather than send it to the body shop (4 years ago). The car had issues, but they were well hidden and I could have been enjoying the car as it ran and drove great.

Very cool project. Looks good. Can't wait to see it all done.

The car is coming along. I almost had enough with the 50’ roll. If I would have cut it closer when I was trimming the pieces I might have made it. I ordered more and will hopefully be able to finish it this upcoming week.

I screwed up a bit stretching it on the passenger side quarter so I’m going to peel it off and re-do it. Stretching it around the corner of the quarter panel was a b!tch. Probably the hardest part of the car.

That looks really good. I'm a fan of the eggshell or semi-gloss finishes on these cars.
So is the material peel and stick, heat activated or what?

It’s peel and stick- comes in a 5’ roll. You can pull off and reapply. I think the adhesive is pressure activated, then once it’s on and flat you heat it.

Thank you for taking the time to post this.

I have a little experience with wraps so I am following along with interest.

I have been using small pieces of vinyl wrap to repair rusty spots on my truck.

I happen to know certain "B surfaces" (like the door jambs) of the black limo shown below were done with vinyl wrap.

The stripes on the Z car are also vinyl graphics (and my design).

It appears you are putting these on dry?

Sometimes it helps to use a little bit of a soapy water solution, which can help you position the vinyl a little bit before nailing it down, and can also provide some lubrication for your squeegee as you work it out.

I trust you start in the center and gradually work your way toward the edges.

K

When I saw the title of your thread I thought it was going to be about this:

;)

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...9.jpg~original

Love the stripes on the Z. This vinyl is designed to go on dry.

I lay it on the side, then spread it and pull it tight. Try to get a line pressed midway across the fender, door or quarter and then work up/down from there.

I had a few rust spots behind the rocker trim and I just went right over it.

Me too! My wife and I keep the kids wrapped presents in the trunk of the GTO

Here is a quick update. I learned a lot about vinyl and a lot about the car.

The car is not as pure as I initially thought. There is some rust, looks like it’s been in an accident or two, etc.

There are a lot of things I would do differently with the vinyl- mainly there are just certain pieces that need two people. The roof and quarters really need two people to do them right. The roof was a pain until two of us tackled it. I also should’ve waited when the temps dropped. Even when I heated it the vinyl cooled too quickly.

That being said. I ordered one 50’ roll and ended up needing an extra 20’ since I screwed up on the passenger quarter and needed extra for the roof.

I tried the knifeless cutting tape and just haven’t got the hang of it. I prefer to buildup an edge with masking tape and use a razor blade.

Keep in mind I did no bodywork, nothing to this car prior to wrapping it. If I had sanded it down it would have eliminated a lot of the blemishes but I wasn’t sure it was going to work.

Anyway- here is an updated pic of the progress. I am extremely happy with it. For about $500 I took a relatively mundane brown car and turned it into an eye popping 20 footer.

I still have to wrap the endura and spoiler, as well as put on Rallye II’s. I’m sure I will end up re-doing parts of it but for right now I think the car is really coming together.

I don't know what it looks like in person but it looks good in the photo. That bumper should be interesting...

I think the bumper will be okay once I cut the grills out. You’re right though it may need to be done in more than one piece. So far the only seams are at the top of the quarters

It looks like a fairly well kept Judge in 1982
Great Work
2000 % improvement so far

You have done a really nice job of wrapping it. :thumbup:

Does it give just a matt finish? I was wondering if it would be possible to wax it and put a nice shine to it.

I’ve done some wraps in the past and wrapped my airplane 200mph test bed . The surface will look like whatever it is over, you get a hair under it you’ll see it. You also need to be careful about adding heat and/or stretch or it’ll pull back especially let the edges relax before pulling them down and you’ll get less pull back you can see

Any questions I’d be happy to help out w answers.

Yeah, the s T eel wheels and hubcaps gotta go, now!!!

Thanks guys- the stock wheels and tires are gonna go on the 70 LeMans and the rally’s are going on the GTO

I like the steel wheels and the hub caps put those on my 69 convertible turns way more heads than my polished toque thrusts or my ralleys. I’d have never guessed it but it’s so rare to see one that way people really like it.

And do not use soapy water under a vinyl wrap .it goes on dry, sometimes people do use soapy water on top so they don’t scratch the surface w a squeegee on chrome wraps etc .
These are not the old stripe kits . There’s a technique knows as triangles that helps when laying down vinyl.
Looks like you’ve done a great job from what I’ve seen car looks good .

The plane's color scheme. Inspired by...
a) 69 TransAm
b) Second Gen
c) a little of both
d) hard to say, like those colors

Check some of his earlier posts about sheens. Think he mentioned a super gloss black. Or it might depend on the vendor which colors are actually available in full gloss at what cost.

Mop-N-Glo might work best on the vinyl :D

It seems to have a sheen to it similar to a plastic toy. This is the regular gloss, they have a glossier version but only in limited colors.

I was reading up on it and you can in fact wax it- I just haven’t figured it out yet. Last night I tried some butter wax on the spoiler after I wrapped it and it did seem to brighten it up some.

Got the spoiler on today but ran out of time after that.

Kind of a 69 TA theme.

You can get vinyl w more gloss and less orange peel . My airplane has a ton of gloss as w paint the more you spend the better it looks.

If you use vinyl wrap use plexus on it to wax it. It’s made for airplane windshields and works great.

You can also have it ceramic coated to make it look even better .
This is a pic of the gloss on my airplane but it’s actually glossier than this looks even .

https://youtu.be/rrn6PWyh5Kw

Here’s a video of a jaguar with the same
Vinyl I have on my airplane to give an idea of what it looks like in the sun.

That looks amazing- you may be dealing with a much higher quality product. This was the best product I could find on Amazon- I am sure there must be better options out there. This was just a test to see if I could do it.

The plane is nice. What is it? Experimental?

1965gp, Any updates? Did you wrap the front bumper and rear spoiler yet? I, for one, think the change is awesome looking.

Dennis

I was working on the GTO last week and wanted to update this. I’m sorry I didn’t realize that I never updated it after I did the endura.

I initially did the endura in two pieces but it kept pulling back because there were so many angles, cavities, etc. I took some vacation time last week to get a few projects done and re-doing the endura was on the list. This time I did it in several pieces with better results. I sanded it down but the vinyl did not stick as well to the non-glossy surface. Still- it looks better and the additional practice helped. The newer vinyl I bought was glossier and had a clear covering you peel off. Looks much closer to single stage.

I may re-do the entire car. Up close the glossy vinyl looks much better and I know a little more of what to do and what not to do. I don’t like where the seams are at the top of the quarter panels and think I could do a better job.

Here is a pic of the endura in progress and the car when we took it to the gym on Sunday morning.

Thank you for sharing your wrapping experience, very interesting.

The car looks SO much better.

It looks awesome! So, sooooo much better than that brown it was before! Plus you did it yourself, which is awesome

I definitely feel it was $500 well spent. Again it is in no way perfect but it looks good from 20’ away and has been on for about 3 years now

From the photos, I wouldn't know it wasn't paint!

Dennis

Heckuva transformation.
Thanks for the update on it's performance so far.

Looks great!