vinyl wrap on a van

[Plasticman]

Wow definitely interested in seeing this! Any idea how it wears with stone chips etc, also what happens to the original surface under the vinyl?

mm

[danmetallic]

Wow definitely interested in seeing this! Any idea how it wears with stone chips etc, also what happens to the original surface under the vinyl?

mm

I wasn't v clear. What I meant was...if you go vinyl is there no turning back later if you wish to revert to paint.

[bluedirtydigit]

You are right there the possibilities are endless that's when you wish you had an artistic flair or imagination I have neither so relying a bit on the guy who is doing it.
Shoreham on sea is not that far from me when it's done I will pop down and you can see it in the flesh.

I have been told it's not to bad with the chips the advantage is you can just replace that section of vinyl where as with paint it has to be blended in you could end up doing more than one panel.

[bluedirtydigit]

Yes you can go back to paint hot air gun removes it apparently.

[Krugerbaydesign]

My Panel is fully wrapped, it has its plus points, cost and unlimited designes, but life span is about 2-3 years. I have had enough of mine and think its time for a Rustoleum treatment. I was quoted £700 for a full wrap in one colour, which is pretty good I guess as my original wrap was best part of 2k when previous owner got it done but its looking really tired now and starting to peel in places. I have started to remove it and its a bit of a nightmare to get off and has already took some of the original paint off.

[danmetallic]

My Panel is fully wrapped, it has its plus points, cost and unlimited designes, but life span is about 2-3 years. I have had enough of mine and think its time for a Rustoleum treatment. I was quoted £700 for a full wrap in one colour, which is pretty good I guess as my original wrap was best part of 2k when previous owner got it done but its looking really tired now and starting to peel in places. I have started to remove it and its a bit of a nightmare to get off and has already took some of the original paint off.

And there's the downside Have you found that it's protected you from rust better than a paint job though? And would you mind posting some photos? Would be interesting to see. Even replacing vinyl every 3 years will probably still work out cheaper than an equivalent spray.

[Plasticman]

its like using a sticking plaster to cover a wound, if its infected then it will still fester.
wrap it by all means but fix it underneath first and understand why a vehicle is wrapped, many very good reasons and the look can be stunning but dont fall into the trap of expecting it to achieve something it cannot and will not
mm

[Crankin-wagen]

A few points to consider.

Vinyl wrap comes in various grades, the fully conformable vinyls are about £20 per meter off a 1.5 meter wide roll _This is for standard colours

Printable conformable vinyl is designed to have a protective laminate applied after printing, It too must be a high end conformable vinyl
A set of Vinyl & Laminate, design costs, printing cost and lamination will bring the cost per linear meter up towards £40

Both sides, back and front will use a minimum of 14 meters another 5 meters for the roof of a tin top - do the maths!! The £800 job is only possible if the Guy uses cheaper vinyl, this will lift in time

If the laminate is applied to the print too soon after printing the solvents will have an adverse effect on the adhesive, which will lead to premature
failure of the print and will make removing the vinyl from the van extremely labour intensive. If it is factory paint there is a good chance of a successful clean up, but on resprayed areas there is a strong probability of some paint loss.

Another point is that when vinyl is removed, it is not unknown to have knife marks in the paintwork and the rust is already at work, typically this occurs when joints in the vinyl are hidden in body folds

The joints on our vans rust , primarily because of the cracking of the sealant away from the metal, this was applied prior to painting , so when it separates from the metal it leaves an opportunity for the tin worm to get busy, this then spreads along the joint and around onto the face of the joint. It was used because that was industry standard at the time and would give a ten year service life, meanwhile the inside of the joint is exposed to condensation from sleeping inside , remember when your windows have condensation on them , so has the inside of the panels! and in the case of the joints exposed behind the rear wheels, road water, salt etc usually do the honours

Modern vans eg Merc Sprinter Transit etc paint the vans first and then use a rubber jointing material, which is left black, this is more flexible, but the fact that it is going over a fully painted surface means that even if the seal fails, the metal is protected

All our vans are minimum 20 years old & all have some rust , even if it hasnt popped out yet, a vinyl wrap will accelerate this, as it further prevents water from drying out, even if all fittings, windows etc were removed and the wrap was applied under everything the condensation etc work away at your joints.

and I know all this because I work in this industry, Vinyl wrap is great for advertising, it can look cool , but it is not a rust inhibiting product!

Lastly if you need to sell your bus, who is going to buy it, not knowing what is underneath?

Fighting rust is a rearguard action, and if money is tight learn to do some remedial / preventative work yourself while you save up for a proper job. Keep drain holes clear, waxoil or dinatrol from the inside using a heat gun or hairdryer to dry joints first. Leave windows and doors open when possible during/after sleeping overnight to allow air through the van, pull you step rubbers off periodically and give the steps a lash of waxoil, dont garage it when its wet and when you do get to the bodyshop the bill wont be so big

[Krugerbaydesign]

I will get some pictures for you. If you check out this link the previous owner documented the application of the wrap http://www.volkszone.com/VZi/archive/in ... 63674.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; other than that you can google t-torque van.

I have removed one piece so far on the Back left side and found light seam rust, plus its taken some paint off with it and was absolute pain to get off.

The Wrap that has been used was an expensive custom design one professionally fitted by Mini Pirate, also as you can see the van was in very very good condition and still is completely solid with no rot, but like I say I have found seem rust so I will have to see what else I find as i remove the rest of the wrap. I am just finishing the custom interior off then going to attack the outside so will let you know if I find more rust, but I suspect I will to be honest. I love the wrap but think its time to get it painted up so I can get polishing again.

[Plasticman]

the above 2 posts sum it up perfectly.
a wrap can look very very good and complex images reproduced at a fraction of a freehand job, but at the end of the day, a wrap is a look and is not ,never has been and never will be an alternative to a solid repair/repaint , so as long as that is born in mind then spend the grand plus on making it look pretty for a few years,:D
as an aside , i have spent enough years welding stuff up and happily passing it on to owners to finnish via spray or roller, it matters not really as long as the base is repaired as well as possible
mm

[bluedirtydigit]

Wow definitely interested in seeing this! Any idea how it wears with stone chips etc, also what happens to the original surface under the vinyl?

Apparently the surface under the vinyl is fine, The guy that's doing mine was saying last night that he had to do a van for a filmed advert they hired a van from a well known company wrapped the front,the one side that was being filmed and the back, filmed the advert and then removed the wrap and returned the van the following day, tricks of the trade aye?

As for chips and scratches it's easier and cheaper to replace the damaged section of wrap than spraying as you quite often have to blend in to another panel or spray a lot more than the damaged area.
The more I go into this the more I like it, can't wait to have my van done but having a nightmare deciding what to have looks like it's going to be a fade from front to back at the moment just not sure if a van is to big to take it, I like it on a sleek car but the van! not sure if it's too much. Lot of money if I get it wrong.

[bluedirtydigit]

Thank's for all your comments regarding the vinyl wrap of my van, but I think I need to clarify a couple of points.

First of all when I first spoke to the guy at the car show the price of £800 was for a straight colour on the van without the roof, which is why I got him to visit to give me a proper price for alternatives.To give you an idea the prices he quoted were £1100 for a straight colour/s all over using 3m vinyl not a cheap version, the second price was for £1400 for two colours metalic and a perlescent for the whole van, and the final price was £1680 for a printed vinyl all over the van all using 3M products and labour for two guy's for a day and a half, even at £1680 it was still less than half the price I was quoted for a re-spray from two seperate spray shops, so saying it last's for three years I could have it done again and it would still be cheaper than one respray and done a lot quicker.

The reason I want it done is not because the van is in a bad condition, far from it it's because like a lot of the vans in original colours they are so boring and everybody must think the same which is why they all paint them in different colours, my van has obviously had a lot of work done to it over the years as I have a lot of paperwork for panels, paint, grit, sealer, etc, the rust I said I needed to do before it is wrapped is a small stone chip on the front which when I looked into it was surface rust which i have now removed treated and made good, and a very small dent in the rear offside bottom corner panel the size of my thumb nail which popped out when I hit it with my panel beaters hammer again the surface rust was removed and repaired, so I now have no rust to the surface of the van or seams so it's good for wrapping.

I am not having this done to hide or prevent rust! but because it's boring! and I am lucky enough to be able to spend that sort of money and not worry to much about it, their is no chance of saving for a proper paint job as I am retired and have no income as I retired 7 years to early to receive my pension I still have another year to wait, and to be honest after seeing this I am not sure I would spend it on paint anyway.

I don't think it would be a problem to sell on if and when the time comes that I decide to do that as a clean and tidy serviced vehicle will always find a home if the price is right.

Don't get me wrong I am not having a moan I just didn't want guy's on here to think I was doing a cover up job to sell on to some unsuspecting sole in the future I just like to do things different and with some of the ideas and help I have had on this forum I am having fun, and I really appreciate all the input let's face it that's what makes a good forum great and that's what I think this one is.

[Crankin-wagen]

I agree that vinyl will strip clean, and not damage paintwork. But you are relating a story about removing printed vinyl from factory paintwork, this is always successful, but most of our vans have had some collision damage in their 20 odd years of use, and therefore will have repainted areas.,
Also we advise not washing vans for at least 2 weeks after application, this is because the adhesive cures after application, so again your story relates to stripping a promotional wrap after a few days, again this is always successful. Ring a local sign company and ask what would they would charge to strip a Short wheelbase transit , that has a wrap on it for 3 years and the van is 10 years old, when you hear the cost it will give you an idea of how much work is involved , they will probably also mention the potential for paint loss. I wont take on a stripping job unless i did the application, and then i know what I am dealing with.

As i have said wraps are very successful on vehicles with individual panels, ie any modern car - wings, doors are all separate panels, the issue on T25s is the fact that the long side is comprised of over 30 ft of panel joints , the vertical panel joints, the roof to the side , the rear joints above and behind the rear wheel, and the front joints at both ends of the windscreen and funnily enough this list includes all the places where they rot!

The vinyl will not seal these joints, rather it will offer a minute capillary to allow the moisture to travel up and down your joints

I work at this and I have driven 25's for over 20 years, and I wouldn't wrap one of mine even though it would cost me nowt. Your guy is trying to make a sale, so his motives may not be as pure as you think! I am just offering my tuppworth to help you make an informed decision

But the heart wants what it wants, and one of the nice things about VW s is anything goes, every one is personalised and different ,so go for it!

Metalmickey is giving good advice, get the metalwork up to scratch if you must wrap !!

If you want a outline drawing template for your van , to mock up some concepts i can mail you one, pm me. just print it off and get out the crayons!
, or work it up on a computer, or get your wrapper to show you how it will look

Good luck with it...

[keith]

Sounds like good advice there from someone who knows.

[Plasticman]

Agree^^^
OP you should not be comparting the cost of paint v cost of wrap, they are both totaly different and done for different reasons.
put it this way
for the wrap..., how much of the van are they going to strip. windows out handles off ,grills etc all the external fittings,??
mm