Vinyl wrapping vs body repaint?

[vixen_w202]

Has anyone done or considered a vinyl wrap of their 202? My car is coming along nicely, but the paint on my car despite doing my best to buff it and get what little brilliance is in it is just really tired. I'm not extremely familiar with vinyl wrapping a whole car or where you would go to get it done, but if it would be less to go the vinyl route over a repaint....I might consider it.

Here's a pic of my car, maybe people can mess around with it and photoshop it different colors for me for ideas:



I was thinking maybe a semigloss red or a semigloss gunmetal....idk.....just curious what people thought.

[MikeD]

You could also ask a pro how much they'd charge to polish it up and if it'd be worth it. Much cheaper than both options and you won't have the hassle involved in taking care of a wrap job or the long wait times associated with a good, full paintjob.

[Scary-Larry]

This is what I have done with another w202 pic, I will see what I can do with your picture. By the way, you car looks really nice.



This isn't the best I have done and it is not really that impressive since I have not finished it yet, but I have other one's that are better.

I do not know much about vinyl wrapping, but I think that it would be cheaper rather than painting the whole car again. If you do the vinyl rap and you don't like it, it is probably cheaper to fix rather than repaint the car.

[Scary-Larry]

Before I continue on- do you have any specific settings for the background and any preferences for the body like decals?

[vixen_w202]

Umm no preference for background, and no decals. Just make sure the exterior molding matches the car and the window moldings stay black.

[Scary-Larry]

I just did this in about 10 minutes as I flew through a few ideas. Please don't comment hard on it, it's just a rough draft. If you can get me some more photos, I would appreciate it. How is this?

[98Benzo]

I vinyl wrappesd my roof black and it has been going strong for 2 years and I live in Canada so we get bullshit winters!!! I paid $220 for high gloss black. Check the pics in my profile to get a better look.

[98Benzo]

I vinyl wrappesd my roof black and it has been going strong for 2 years and I live in Canada so we get bullshit winters!!! I paid $220 for high gloss black. Check the pics in my profile to get a better look. i have been a car and boat detailer for years now and from your pics I would just take it in and have it wet sanded, compounded and polished and your paint will look brand new. if you have mass amounts of stone chips then maybe wrapping or re-paint is the better route.

[vixen_w202]

Benzo, I went to your profile and the only pic I could see was a tiny one and I couldn't blow it up any bigger. Can you link bigger pics???

[jc1kz]

I vinyl wrappesd my roof black and it has been going strong for 2 years and I live in Canada so we get bullshit winters!!! I paid $220 for high gloss black. Check the pics in my profile to get a better look. i have been a car and boat detailer for years now and from your pics I would just take it in and have it wet sanded, compounded and polished and your paint will look brand new. if you have mass amounts of stone chips then maybe wrapping or re-paint is the better route.

Can you come to TX on your next vavation and do my car?

[vixen_w202]

You know....if I repainted.....I was thinking a semigloss or flat BMW-ish M orange, like this:




If I did it, I'd spraycan it. I'd sand down the car as much as I could, then do a quality base primer. Then I'd paint in that color mentioned, paint the exterior molding trim same color (keep the window molding black) and leave my wheels black. I really don't want a show-quality paintjob, because that's really not the direction of where I'm headed with the car. So I'm understanding I do it it's not going to look like a professional did it.

I think it'd look uber cool. I'd just have to be patient as I painted. I kind of want more of a sophisticated/classy but euro-trashy look. I think a vivid color like that in semigloss or flat would look siccccccck.

Opinions?

[98Benzo]

I dont know how to properly upload pics like you do on this forum. Sorry but this is the couple pics i uploaded quick so you can see the roof. Do not spray can the entire car unless you have a dust free spray booth to do it in. Any dust gets mixed with the paint your paint will a rough feel to it. Eventually i will wrap my entire car in a matte black or something different. Personally i would wet sand, compound polish, wax and paint seal the entire car before you go with the expensive route of re-painting or wrapping the car.

Jc1kz pay for my ticket down there and I`ll polish the car for you lol

[Scary-Larry]

You know....if I repainted.....I was thinking a semigloss or flat BMW-ish M orange, like this:


If I did it, I'd spraycan it. I'd sand down the car as much as I could, then do a quality base primer. Then I'd paint in that color mentioned, paint the exterior molding trim same color (keep the window molding black) and leave my wheels black. I really don't want a show-quality paintjob, because that's really not the direction of where I'm headed with the car. So I'm understanding I do it it's not going to look like a professional did it.

I think it'd look uber cool. I'd just have to be patient as I painted. I kind of want more of a sophisticated/classy but euro-trashy look. I think a vivid color like that in semigloss or flat would look siccccccck.

Opinions?

Here is another rough draft:

[hvmercy]

vixen: Can you make your image smaller.

[vixen_w202]

vixen: Can you make your image smaller.

I would but it's not linked off my personal photo dump. It's from the web.

[vixen_w202]

What do you guys think though? Would that color either wrapped or painted look good on a 202? I still plan to keep the wheels and window molding black.

[Scary-Larry]

I think that it would look good with a primary orange like in the picture you showed and with a secondary black also like in the photo. The BMW had a black top, which I think would also be appropriate on your car if you did this. Perhaps if you had an AMG bumper or added a lower lip & fog lights to the current bumper it might make it look all the better in orange. Adding a black spoiler would be a good move with the theme (in comparison with the BMW). In addition to the color combo, orange brake calipers would be pretty cool behind the jet-black rims.

It is an interesting color combo, but how do you feel about it? My rough draft is just an idea as to what it could look like.

[Scary-Larry]

Here is another draft now that I located your photobucket. It is not color corrected, but a good example for you.

[biomansalisbury]

if you have the money then get it resprayed, i had a pajero a few years ago and had the whole car wrapped. it was a nice job but i always regretted not paying the extra and having the car resprayed. you just dont get the same finish with vinyl i think and after a year or 2 the edges will start to peel and so on. here is a picture of my pajero i had fully wrapped and my merc w202 at the moment has just had a full respray but i did get the roof done in vinyl as i was unsure if it would look good with a black roof.

[Scary-Larry]

I saw a jeep today that had a vinyl wrap on it at work. It was a jeep wrangler with light pink, blue, purple, and white flowers all over the main base. The driver was a straight up serious guy; very unusual...

[Brodee]

If you are not wanting it perfect and want to get it done cheap have you looked at Plastidip'ing it? Check out DipYourCar.com for some examples and videos. It's cheap, easy, and reversible so you can try a few different colors if you don't like how it turns out.

[vixen_w202]

If you are not wanting it perfect and want to get it done cheap have you looked at Plastidip'ing it? Check out DipYourCar.com for some examples and videos. It's cheap, easy, and reversible so you can try a few different colors if you don't like how it turns out.

Can I get plastidip in others besides black and white? That's the only colors I can find anywhere locally, and honestly I've already done the bumper trim in plasti-black and honestly I don't want the car one flat boring color.

[Brodee]

Can I get plastidip in others besides black and white? That's the only colors I can find anywhere locally, and honestly I've already done the bumper trim in plasti-black and honestly I don't want the car one flat boring color.

Yes, if you look on DipYourCar.com they have tints. You can do about whatever color you want now.

[Brodee]

Can I get plastidip in others besides black and white? That's the only colors I can find anywhere locally, and honestly I've already done the bumper trim in plasti-black and honestly I don't want the car one flat boring color.

Yes, if you look on DipYourCar.com they have tints. You can do about whatever color you want now.

[Scary-Larry]

Ok, I found this video of someone doing a wrap on a C36 AMG:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJLp62kIBJo