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      02-02-2014, 07:20 PM   #1
guywithawrench
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Wrapping in GVA?

Hi guys

I just got my 2010 335i last week and I have some plans to play around with it this summer. So I was wondering, are there any shops in the GVA that do wrapping (good quality)? Also as a rough ballpark how much would it cost to get my 335i wrapped?
I know the material is around $700 but I dont trust myself enough to go DIY.
Also are there any meets around the area of fellow like minded enthusiasts?

Thanks
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      02-03-2014, 12:16 AM   #2
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I'm DIY'ing my car in a week, I'll let you know how it turns out and maybe we can work something out.

A full wrap will run about $2500+ on a coupe from places like MatteWrapz locally
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      02-03-2014, 12:23 AM   #3
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Andy from GPFX Graphics in Richmond is the best. He's not the cheapest because he does high quality stuff.
You can see my thread on my wrap here:
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showth...of+matte+black
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      02-03-2014, 11:10 AM   #4
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Thanks guys!

Bimmette, Ill check out GPFX this week. Also out of curiosity, have you ever had any trouble with the tinted windows and police? What are the rules in BC on that issue?

Cheers!
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      02-03-2014, 11:47 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by guywithawrench
Thanks guys!

Bimmette, Ill check out GPFX this week. Also out of curiosity, have you ever had any trouble with the tinted windows and police? What are the rules in BC on that issue?

Cheers!
I will PM you that answer
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      02-04-2014, 04:10 AM   #6
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Had my previous car wrapped about 2 years ago and I will never get my car fully wrapped again. If my car was not black, I would wrap the roof and side mirrors only and that would be fine with me. I wrapped my grilles and side reflectors on the e92, these are easy to do and imperfections are rare.

I would have never sold the car if I never wrapped it. It was just insane to keep clean, especially when the car was matte white. Had some light scratches that went through the 3M vinyl wrap and I had to get the entire panel re-wrapped. Please note that this is actually more expensive than the standard wet sand + touch up + polish procedure.

Even the best vinyl wrapping companies can't stop the weather from causing wrinkles in extremely tight and sharp corners. Some companies use a method of overlaying separate pieces of vinyl together to overcome wrinkles but you, as the owner, will notice it.

Matte vinyl wraps will age through time like paint, but at a much faster and more noticeable rate. If you scratch a small part on your fender and it requires you to re-wrap that panel, it will never match in color again. For example, the entire car would be darker and less vibrant than the newly wrapped panel. <- This is a permanent issue because no matter what you do to clean the vinyl, it will never look like new again. And if you try to clean the vinyl too aggressively (I mean by even just using a sponge and rubbing it with medium pressure), it will "polish" the vinyl wrap and leave a permanent "burned" spot.

I know how it feels to know that you can change the color of your car to your dream color for only $2500 and that you can revert the color any time. But the truth is, you will NEVER want to revert back to stock anyways because you spent $2500 on getting it wrapped. DIY might be different because it will only cost $500 for the material and maybe a week of your time, but damn if I had to wrap my entire car myself, I would never want to spend the time unwrapping.
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      02-04-2014, 08:58 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wonton1017 View Post
Had my previous car wrapped about 2 years ago and I will never get my car fully wrapped again. If my car was not black, I would wrap the roof and side mirrors only and that would be fine with me. I wrapped my grilles and side reflectors on the e92, these are easy to do and imperfections are rare.

I would have never sold the car if I never wrapped it. It was just insane to keep clean, especially when the car was matte white. Had some light scratches that went through the 3M vinyl wrap and I had to get the entire panel re-wrapped. Please note that this is actually more expensive than the standard wet sand + touch up + polish procedure.

Even the best vinyl wrapping companies can't stop the weather from causing wrinkles in extremely tight and sharp corners. Some companies use a method of overlaying separate pieces of vinyl together to overcome wrinkles but you, as the owner, will notice it.

Matte vinyl wraps will age through time like paint, but at a much faster and more noticeable rate. If you scratch a small part on your fender and it requires you to re-wrap that panel, it will never match in color again. For example, the entire car would be darker and less vibrant than the newly wrapped panel. <- This is a permanent issue because no matter what you do to clean the vinyl, it will never look like new again. And if you try to clean the vinyl too aggressively (I mean by even just using a sponge and rubbing it with medium pressure), it will "polish" the vinyl wrap and leave a permanent "burned" spot.

I know how it feels to know that you can change the color of your car to your dream color for only $2500 and that you can revert the color any time. But the truth is, you will NEVER want to revert back to stock anyways because you spent $2500 on getting it wrapped. DIY might be different because it will only cost $500 for the material and maybe a week of your time, but damn if I had to wrap my entire car myself, I would never want to spend the time unwrapping.
Thanks for the heads up Wonton!
So if I decide to remove the wrapping would it be difficult to do?

Thanks
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      02-04-2014, 09:43 PM   #8
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With a heat gun it will take maybe 30mins per panel. The more you try to rush it, the more residue will be left behind and the easier it is to rip the vinyl- depending on how long you've had the wrap on for.

When I sold my aftermarket cf hood, it took 20mins to remove the wrap with the help of the buyer.

It is not the difficulty that is going to stop you from removing it, it is the fact that you spent either a lot of money or a lot of time + material cost on getting it wrapped in the first place.

I know a LOT of people who sold their cars a few months after they got the car wrapped. The constant need to heat up sharp edges, remove bubbled at curvy areas and etc. is not fun at all. I would imagine a first time DIYer would go through hell trying to address these problems.
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      02-06-2014, 11:23 PM   #9
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That's nice to read from a fellow honest owner who had previous experience in wrapping. All I read online was one side of the story while most owners won't reveal the real reason why they unwrapped their hard work just a few weeks after. Now, I would consider to have my car painted if I'm looking to do it.
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      02-07-2014, 03:23 AM   #10
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https://www.facebook.com/nmotionauto

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...6824449&type=3
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      02-07-2014, 02:02 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bimmette View Post
I will PM you that answer
I am interested in your answer as well. Can you send me a PM too
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      02-07-2014, 02:12 PM   #12
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Anything that will go through the vinyl and require re-wrapping a panel would likely go through the clear and require more than just a wet sand/polish.

I've had a wrapped car for over a year now - it's gloss - and have had no real issues. In the first couple of months, I had to touch up a few wrinkled corners, but a few minutes with a heat gun and no more issues. It's pretty normal with a new wrap for the vinyl to want to lift and revert back to flat, but it's easily fixed by heating and letting it cool a few times. I also had to re-wrap 2 panels because someone backed into the car in a parking lot. No issues with the color matching. Also, her bumper scuffed the wrap a lot, but it never went through the wrap to the paint, her car chipped down to the black plastic bumper.

I just wrapped some new sideskirts and they match the year old wrap perfectly, no fading. Maybe matte is different.

I'm not sure why wrapping your car would cause you to sell? If you hate the wrap so much, pull it off. How does selling your car fix the problem? The whole reason people do it is that it's reversible.

Is the wrap perfect, no. There are going to be little areas that aren't perfect, but it's not that different than custom paint. I've had multiple cars custom painted in the past - show cars with custom blended colors and I'm honestly never going to do that again. If you drive the car and chip the paint, you basically repaint the entire part, can't touch up custom paint, won't match. And just like wraps, if you look hard enough, you will find little areas that could have been done better. And these were paint jobs that cost 2-3x paying someone to wrap the car even with sponsorship.

Quote:
Originally Posted by wonton1017 View Post
Had my previous car wrapped about 2 years ago and I will never get my car fully wrapped again. If my car was not black, I would wrap the roof and side mirrors only and that would be fine with me. I wrapped my grilles and side reflectors on the e92, these are easy to do and imperfections are rare.

I would have never sold the car if I never wrapped it. It was just insane to keep clean, especially when the car was matte white. Had some light scratches that went through the 3M vinyl wrap and I had to get the entire panel re-wrapped. Please note that this is actually more expensive than the standard wet sand + touch up + polish procedure.

Even the best vinyl wrapping companies can't stop the weather from causing wrinkles in extremely tight and sharp corners. Some companies use a method of overlaying separate pieces of vinyl together to overcome wrinkles but you, as the owner, will notice it.

Matte vinyl wraps will age through time like paint, but at a much faster and more noticeable rate. If you scratch a small part on your fender and it requires you to re-wrap that panel, it will never match in color again. For example, the entire car would be darker and less vibrant than the newly wrapped panel. <- This is a permanent issue because no matter what you do to clean the vinyl, it will never look like new again. And if you try to clean the vinyl too aggressively (I mean by even just using a sponge and rubbing it with medium pressure), it will "polish" the vinyl wrap and leave a permanent "burned" spot.

I know how it feels to know that you can change the color of your car to your dream color for only $2500 and that you can revert the color any time. But the truth is, you will NEVER want to revert back to stock anyways because you spent $2500 on getting it wrapped. DIY might be different because it will only cost $500 for the material and maybe a week of your time, but damn if I had to wrap my entire car myself, I would never want to spend the time unwrapping.
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      02-07-2014, 04:11 PM   #13
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Because the buyer thinks it's cool while I regretted every penny I spent into getting it wrapped.

Why would I waste 2500 when I could make it seem like an incentive for the buyer to choose my car over other cars?

It is a problem with matte wraps or satin wraps, gloss wraps only have stretch mark issues.
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      02-08-2014, 12:50 AM   #14
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I had called around GVA last year to get quotes, to my surprises, it's not as cheap as I think

Wrapwerks $4500
Blitzgear $7000
A dealer that specialize on BMW and mini $5500

And this is for gloss green wrap on E90
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      02-08-2014, 01:11 AM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by guywithawrench View Post
Thanks guys!

Bimmette, Ill check out GPFX this week. Also out of curiosity, have you ever had any trouble with the tinted windows and police? What are the rules in BC on that issue?

Cheers!
you cannot have ANY tint ( no matter how dark/light) on FRONT DRIVERS/PASSENGER WINDOWS past drivers shoulders.
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      02-10-2014, 05:39 PM   #16
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Wraps are quite the trend here in Toronto.

In the last few years there have been over a dozen new shops pop up that specialize in only wraps.

We touched into whole car wraps for a little bit but have decided to stick to partial projects such as hood/roof wraps only. I would have to disagree with wonton that this stuff WILL last, but obviously dependent on owner maintenance and care (like anything else with a vehicle). I.e. paint has to be polished and waxed regularly to avoid uv damage, swirls, etc. Wraps there are products to maintain and care for the film. Also a good install job can minimize seams, stretch marks, etc. I have seen many different jobs and you can obviously spot a pro job from a amateur job.

With climate and weather here in Toronto though, not sure how long it would last on a daily driver. Also items like rock chips , etc. do penetrate through the film. I guess only time will tell how sustainable these are.
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      02-10-2014, 09:25 PM   #17
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Never mentioned anything about them not lasting, just that it will be extremely problematic and frustrating if you're picky about your car.
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      02-11-2014, 08:05 PM   #18
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This is my DIY wrap in progress. It took me and a friend almost 2 days just to do the hood and those panels and we still aren't done. Its extremely tedious work... Would I do it again after this? Unlikely unless someone is paying me $$$$
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      02-11-2014, 08:18 PM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by vanondemand View Post
This is my DIY wrap in progress. It took me and a friend almost 2 days just to do the hood and those panels and we still aren't done. Its extremely tedious work... Would I do it again after this? Unlikely unless someone is paying me $$$$
Looks good so far! Have fun doing the rest, haha
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      02-11-2014, 09:13 PM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by vanondemand View Post

This is my DIY wrap in progress. It took me and a friend almost 2 days just to do the hood and those panels and we still aren't done. Its extremely tedious work... Would I do it again after this? Unlikely unless someone is paying me $$$$
Looking really good!
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      02-20-2014, 08:20 PM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by VendettaBMW View Post
you cannot have ANY tint ( no matter how dark/light) on FRONT DRIVERS/PASSENGER WINDOWS past drivers shoulders.
You're correct. Not sure what all the top secret PM'ing is for to discuss it...

Technically, no tint is allowed on front windows. It's been that way forever. And they've come to be more picky in recent years. If you get lucky, and you have a light interior / lighter tint on the front vs. rears (like 50% and 35%), you might get away with it for a while.

I've heard Richmond cops are pickier than other areas, but who knows if that's really true or not.

I had a black A4 with black interior, so it makes the tint seem darker than it is even, and was fine with it for years. I had 35% all around. I was careful though if I pulled up next to a cop, I'd roll the front windows down and then got pulled over for it twice in a few months, so gave up and pulled it off.

Bimmette, out of curiosity, can you PM me too so I can see what all this is about...
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      02-20-2014, 08:30 PM   #22
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