Some might think car wrap is a simple job: Isn’t it just putting giant stickers on your car? What’s the big deal? Or some people are a bit paranoid in doing it: doing everything with care and still having problems.
These all prove one thing to us: either not paying attention at all, or paying too much attention, the wrong things will not help your wrap installation. You need some solid tips and tricks to save you.
So here we have a few tips for successful installation for your reference:
choose the right material
You must have heard the saying: “You get what you pay for”. It does exactly the same for the car wrap industry. To get the perfect finish, you first need to have the right material. There are a variety of options on the market, and not every type of vinyl is right for your vehicle.
Since different packages are suitable for different applications, making the wrong decision can lead to multiple results: poor adhesion to automotive surfaces, blistering, wrinkling or even overstretching of the film. So before you make up your mind, consider whether you’re doing a partial or full car wrap and what surface you’re going to apply the film to. Of course, you can refer to the instructions provided by the manufacturer, which will tell you what kind of surface the film is suitable for.
Today, manufacturers offer a wide variety of vinyls that vary in quality and performance. Some are quite high, others are low. And these will determine the look and longevity of your parcel in the days to come. So again, make sure you are very careful and choose accordingly.
Measure beforehand
This may be the part that some people overlook, thinking they can guess how much vinyl is needed for a package installation. But guessing can sometimes be very risky. If you underestimate the amount of material, you could end up waiting forever for extra film, leaving your car unfinished. Worse, even if you do end up with an extra part, it might not even match the same dye as your original film.
So the best thing to do is to measure all the areas you want to wrap before installing, and always add extra area to the edges so you have room to do something when you need it. For example, when you sometimes want to get under body panels (such as wrapping your hood) to make it look flawless while avoiding future lift.
Clean thoroughly
This isn’t the most fun part, but definitely one of the most important steps in package installation. It is best to wash and dry the car a day in advance. Installers have to go over every inch of the car to make sure all wax, oil, and grime have been removed, because vinyl adhesives don’t like these things.
The same goes for rust. If there are any rust spots on the car, make sure to fix them before wrapping, as glue doesn’t stick well to them either. Also, if you ignore it and mount on it, the shape and unevenness will show up on the film later. Worse, if you don’t deal with it, rust will continue to grow underneath.
The above two points will cause the lamination to fail, and the film will form in a short time. So cleaning work has to be very careful. Pay special attention to difficult areas that usually contain most of the dirt and oil. For example, wheel well interiors, bumpers, hoods, rocker panels and their surrounding edges. And remember to give it a final wipe with isopropyl alcohol before installing.
Choose the correct installation location
I believe that most installers know that the correct choice is to install indoors, where there is a controlled temperature and a clean room with dust extraction facilities. This is a good beginning! A better practice is to follow the directions provided by the manufacturer and set the room temperature to the right temperature: not too high, which can cause the film to overstretch; eventually fails.
Installation
Now it’s time to finally start the actual installation, but don’t get too excited because the process is just as tough as the steps you’ve already gone through. Before applying any vinyl to your vehicle, it’s best to have a plan in mind. It’s important to figure out what tools you’ll be using and understand where specific parts of the film will be cut and placed. Once you clear your mind, things get a lot easier.
When applying, do the flattest part of the panel first so that you get a base line to refer, and leave the more difficult areas where it needs heat until later. It is good to put electrical tape to the surface before you need to cut through the film. And remember to use a new blade each time when cutting is needed.
Be careful not to overstretch a film, especially when heating is applied, as when you stretch the vinyl, you are actually also stretching the glue at the same time. Once the film is overstretched, the amount of glue will be thinned out per square inch. This will lead to a failure of adhesion to your car, and lifting or curling might come up in later days.
Post heat
This is also one of some steps that people might overlook or even skip, yet this is as well one of the most important parts during a wrap installation. In fact, without post heating, you can’t actually say you have finished the job.
Wherever you have stretched the film to fit in difficult areas, it needs post heating. We have talked about why post heating is so important. But I shall briefly remind you why again here: Because of the property of vinyl, the film has a memory that can only be killed when post heated.
However, if you skip this step, it is for sure that the film will shrink back because of the two contradictory forces from its memory and glue. And peeling, curling edges, bubbles, wrinkles, lifting and other problems will then follow.
Thus, it is best to refer to the instruction that the manufacturer provides, where it will tell you at what temperature the memory of your film will be killed, so then all those problems will be avoided. For example, the post heating temperature of most of Carlike films is over 100 Celcius.
Welcome to have a look at the Recommended wrap shops page at https://carlikewrap.com. We offer a wide range of vinyl wraps in a super reasonable and affordable price.
