I am looking for some opinions on this. I have a friend who has a vehicle wrapping, graphics business. He wanted to add a few nice cars to his portfolio that were not advertising oriented, so he has offered to do whatever I want to my 8. I have plans to have a custom paint job done at some point next summer, but this offer has made me second guess it.

I have a velocity red GT (with the body kit). I was considering letting him wrap the top half (hood, roof, trunk) in black (similar to this... http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2207791), since I am in the midst of having my trunk custom fiberglassed with velocity red & black paint for my stereo system as well.

I have been assured that he can do it so it is basically bubble/crease free with some high quality vinyl, but wanted to get some opinions on if people would think this is cheesy and should wait to paint it or if it is a good idea to save some major bucks on a paint job & put the funds towards more performance upgrades. Thanks all!!

 

There's nothing wrong with that. It's getting pretty popular since it can be easily replaced. I've even heard of people getting pearl body vinyl. I say go for it.

-Steakboy

 

The only thing I would worry about is how long you have it on there, what you plan to do when you take it off, and how long is your car in the sun. I am not sure how much the paint fades on the 8, but if you are looking at a few years timeline type thing, when you take it off you may have slightly different shading. Probably won't stop me from doing a couple things, just a thought.

Plus, if I had a quality place doing it for free I would be all over it. If you don't like the way it looks, he can take pics for his portfolio, then you can take it off right away and get it painted

 

Any chance it can ruin the paint underneath? How does it get removed?

 

The setup looks great with the vinyl! Just curious.. what type of custom paint job were you planning on doing? i would def put that money towards performance upgrades. But it all depends on what type of plans you have for your car..

 

Free= do it. It's not permante at all, which is even better. And if someone tells you it looks stupid, come up with a quick "your mom" joke as a come-back. Works everytime.

 

I think most can be removed with a blowdryer/heat gun just like you would tint, but I am not positive.

 

if you are still going to go custom paint route, then do it.
the best thing about vinyle is that it can be taken off whenever you want.

 

At the casino I work for, we have our buses wrapped and it looks quite nice. Your options on graphics are limited only by your imagination. It could come out gaudy, or it could be a real head-turner. It could be as graphical as some of the fancy airbrush paint jobs that bikers do, but at a fraction of the cost.

I say "Go for it!"

 

Yeah, I actually helped him get his business going when a job landed in my lap for a fleet of Army of One vehicles (called me because I do graphic design & needed the graphics done as well). Had to help him wrap them since he didn't have any other help at the time. Vinyl actually comes off pretty easily if you get quality stuff and won't damage the paint at all (yes heat guns are a good way to loosen the adhesive). Although if you have it on for a long time, you definitlely run the chance of having it faded where there is no vinyl & being able to notice it (talking 4-5 years though). There are a few metallic vinyls you could use if you are interested, but BIG WARNING... metallic vinyls are not as forgiving coming off & could mess up your paint to the point of having to get it professionally buffed or even repainted. The metallic flakes are actually in the adhesive, so beware.

My paint job was going to be similar to what I was going to do with the vinyl, but there is a very specific dark cherry metallic red that I am obsessed with (as I mentioned, not a big fan of metallic vinyls, so...) & will be adding a bodykit. So figured I would get it painted at that point, since the bodykit needs to be done anyway.

Since getting my 8 in November, I have replaced the battery with an optima yellowtop, AEM intake (lot of work to put in BTW), and a nice sound system with the fiberglass setup for the trunk currently being made. Springtime was going to bring some 19" rims & the paint job, but if I go the route of vinyl I will probably go for a tanabe exhaust & tein suspension with EDFC. Possibly NOS, but unless they come out with a legitamately good turbo/supercharger solution soon to give this engine some actual horsepower, I may wait another year and do a 20B swap.

Mainly, I just wasn't sure if vinyl was frowned upon outside of the advertising arena. Sounds like it might be OK though. Any other opinions, I would love to hear 'em.

 

damn you must have some deep pockets for a new paint job and considering the 20b swap

 

thats what i was thinking.

don't use NOS, use Zex.

thanks for the warning about metallic vinyl. there are some/a lot of people here are opposed to making this car look like your typical ricer, so I have read a few threads that down vinyl, but I think there are ways to use it and make the car look good without going too far into the ricer croud. if you are looking to do that anyways, well then you have no issues.

 

i think its a cool idea. ive talked with the people over at APE wraps http://www.apewraps.com/ in the past about what they do. i may get something done by them in the future.

 

what if you are buying a body kit and need it painted black? Is putting vinyl on the body kit and alternative to painting it or is this not suggested?

 

Please, if you do nitrous, go with ZEX.

 

Not super deep pockets, but came across a guy in this area who had a nice 20b for $4500 (nice price and no shipping).

Regarding the bodykit. Most body kits don't come painted & you really need a smooth coat of paint with clearcoat for the vinyl to stick to. So that said, if I am painting it anyway, might as well spend some extra money & get it done how I want it. Although, I do like the velocity red already, I am obsessed with the dark metallic red.

Yeah, I like the ZEX actually. I didn't necessarily mean NOS brand.

Just an FYI, if anyone is in the eastern michigan area, you can talk to Brad at American Sign & Graphics at (586) 270-8101 if you are interested in vinyl wraps or decals. He is my buddy that is doing mine.

 

I was thinking about doing the same thing to my car.
I know that your getting your car done for free. I was wondering if anyone knew about how much a job like this would run.

 

Just get the car painted. It will look ALOT better. If you leave vinyl on the car to long the sun will fade the rest of the car around the vinyl and when you take it off you'll have the image showing on the car still.

I had my old civic done up for free to show off the shop. It looked ok but the gloss of the car was like glass, and the plastic over it didnt match at all. When I took it back off I lost some clear coat on my after market fenders.

If the guy will do it for free thats cool, but if you plan to keep it like that just have it painted and get the respect. Vinyl isn't a paint job.