# Wrapped cars, let's have a chat about them.



## Soul boy 68 (Sep 8, 2013)

I stumbled across this you tube video of this man called Archie Hamilton who had bought himself a brand new A45 AMG in Black but decided to wrap it in Blue, a complete change of color, looks like the installers did a great job But I am not sure if it's worth it with regards to costs, I'am on the fence with this one, what do you guys think, would you ever or did you ever consider getting your car wrapped? Money well spent?


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## Kimo (Jun 7, 2013)

Hate wrapped cars

Cheap, tacky and cringey

Oh and a bad job makes them even worse, a few at waxstock but the abarth springs to mind !


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## wd40 (Jun 20, 2007)

Yep not a fan of these either. As Kimo says looks cheap and tacky. Was a guy in my village had his Mazda wrapped in blue after buying it in red. Looked horrendous with blisters everywhere! 


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## Caledoniandream (Oct 9, 2009)

Not a fan of it, but it makes somehow sense.
Buy a car in a popular easy to sell colour.
Wrap it in your favourite colour, drive it for a year or so, and take the wrap of and sell the car easy and fast.

It is something what has been going on in the commercial world for years, don't sign write or paint in company colours, but wrap, and on the end of the lease take the wrap of and hand the vehicle back.
Paint still in good condition, and no hassle to spray paint again in the plain colours for the rental/lease company.

Painting a vehicle is an expensive business.


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## Kerr (Mar 27, 2012)

Buying the car in blue in the first place would have been so much cheaper and better looking.

Wraps never look anywhere near as good as paint.


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## steveo3002 (Jan 30, 2006)

id always be finding faults /joins in it

and id like to know how often when its taken off do they find knife marks and paint peeling off etc

cool for a sky van....not on a car


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## K777mk2 (Jun 30, 2016)

not that keen on most wrapped cars, especially matt, although occaionally one looks good.

and, whilst I am not that keen I did wrap just the roof on my 640D which made it look even better.



















For sure it wasn't as perfect as paint, but it had no joins as only one panel, and edge trim bits were done separately, the idea for me was to see what it looked like and then take it off and paint it if i liked it, but the wrap was so good I left it on.

Infact I was going to have the Panamera done, but it wouldnt look right as the top of the tailgate would still be white.


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## Y15HAL (Aug 29, 2006)

K777mk2 said:


> not that keen on most wrapped cars, especially matt, although occaionally one looks good.
> 
> and, whilst I am not that keen I did wrap just the roof on my 640D which made it look even better.
> 
> ...


Been thinking about the black roof :thumb:

What did that cost if you don't mind me asking?


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## K777mk2 (Jun 30, 2016)

Nothing, he did this for free as his son was just getting started with wrapping.

I am a good mate with the body shop owner, id say probably £100.

GFS Automotive in Leeds.


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## Soul boy 68 (Sep 8, 2013)

K777mk2 said:


> not that keen on most wrapped cars, especially matt, although occaionally one looks good.
> 
> and, whilst I am not that keen I did wrap just the roof on my 640D which made it look even better.
> 
> ...


Wouldn't you have to be careful when power washing as there's a risk that the high water pressure could lift off the wrapping ?


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## Simz (Jun 7, 2013)

I quite like it, remember each to their own


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## X6JTM (Jul 27, 2016)

I love the work that Yiannimize Refined do on hugely expensive cars but would I be able to polish it which for me is half the fun of having a car?


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## Simz (Jun 7, 2013)

Nah when you have that much cash the fun is in driving them and letting someone else do the hard work.


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## DLGWRX02 (Apr 6, 2010)

I've had my roof done and there's not a single bubble or join in it, if you get professionals to do it there won't be any bubbles. If there is then take it back.

Before


After


My mums also had 2 of her cars fully wrapped

This before


After

All the graphics were removed and replicated in chrome to be perfect oem copies.

The other was a black merc ml350 that was fully wrapped in pearl white inside and out. Can't find pics of that though.
Here's the merc.
http://www.totally-dynamic.co.uk/gallery/mercedes-ml-wrapped-pearl-white-including-door-shuts

The merc fully wrapped in pearl was around £2400, you could not tell it wasn't paint and the best thing is if you damage a panel it can be replaced. And you don't have to change your log book as its not classed as a permanent change of colour.
The mini was only £1400 but £200 was the design and reprint of the oem graphics, it's only been done on the outside so the doors are all original colour when opened but to be honest it all matches up. It's been done now at least 2-3 years and still looks as good now as the day it was done.


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## Blueberry (Aug 10, 2007)

I've had a few bits wrapped on my R. If the job is a quality job then it's difficult to tell it apart from paint. That is what my wrapper strives for and achieves. He also does not cut on the car. He uses a special tape that cuts from the inside out so no risk of marks on the car. There are no bubbles and if there were you would take it back to be sorted, which is quite easy to do, in the right hands.

Some of this is painted, some is wrapped. Everyone thinks it's all painted.


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## Bristle Hound (May 31, 2009)

Saw this in Prague while we were there a couple of years back


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## Kimo (Jun 7, 2013)

Simz said:


> I quite like it, remember each to their own


That looks terrible



DLGWRX02 said:


> I've had my roof done and there's not a single bubble or join in it, if you get professionals to do it there won't be any bubbles. If there is then take it back.
> 
> Before
> 
> ...


That mini looks full on tacky



Bristle Hound said:


> Saw this in Prague while we were there a couple of years back


Chavtastic!


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## K777mk2 (Jun 30, 2016)

no issues with my roof with a pressure washer, no bubbles.
I even waxed the roof.

I like the range rover, and oddly I like the mini, maybe as my OH has a mini I appreciate it more.

The gold is horrible, the blue is nice but that car is a different league for us mere mortals.


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## Soul boy 68 (Sep 8, 2013)

K777mk2 said:


> no issues with my roof with a pressure washer, no bubbles.
> I even waxed the roof.
> 
> I like the range rover, and oddly I like the mini, maybe as my OH has a mini I appreciate it more.
> ...


The reason I asked is that I'm thinking of having my M2's roof only wrapped in carbon fibre, I'm sure it would look really good, the other M models have carbon roofs and they look good too so I am thinking why not. Some examples on here do look good except to say that Gold Audi,doesn't suit it at all.


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## TYPH3OUS (Oct 9, 2014)

I like wrapped roofs and I like the idea of wrapping wing mirrors and small sections to tweak the look of the car. 

But I'm not a fan of whole cars wrapped unless it's for business use 


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## K777mk2 (Jun 30, 2016)

Soul boy 68 said:


> The reason I asked is that I'm thinking of having my M2's roof only wrapped in carbon fibre, I'm sure it would look really good, the other M models have carbon roofs and they look good too so I am thinking why not. Some examples on here do look good except to say that Gold Audi,doesn't suit it at all.


I wanted an M6 look, hence why i did the pipes too, but without trying to pretend to be an M6 - hence the badge stayed on.

I considered carbon look, but as the M6 roof was shaped different I felt just gloss black would achieve the look I was after.

I would definitely do it, as it made a great looking car look even better, more sporty look. Everybody said it looked great. I was one of the first 640D in the country, and even had people stopping to take pictures of it.

I think if you have an M then carbon look would be ok, as your not pretending, you have a real M. 
The beauty of a wrap is you can take it off if you dont like, I didnt fancy painting it black then having to go back to white if i didnt like the look.

Only thing with a wrap is, keep some detailing spray in car with you, dont leave bird sh*t on it to long, like paint, but if you see it get it off.


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## DLGWRX02 (Apr 6, 2010)

K777mk2 said:


> Only thing with a wrap is, keep some detailing spray in car with you, dont leave bird sh*t on it to long, like paint, but if you see it get it off.


That's the beauty of the range rover, its so bloody tall if anything does mark on the roof, you cant see it.lol


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## sshooie (May 15, 2007)

I see a wrapped car, I think accident damaged, drug dealer vehicle.


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## JJ0063 (Apr 1, 2014)

DLGWRX02 said:


> I've had my roof done and there's not a single bubble or join in it, if you get professionals to do it there won't be any bubbles. If there is then take it back.
> 
> Before
> 
> ...


Almost certain I've seen both of these cars in my village. Do you have any relation to Sporle?!


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## PugIain (Jun 28, 2006)

Soul boy 68 said:


> I stumbled across this you tube video of this man called Archie Hamilton who had bought himself a brand new A45 AMG in Black but decided to wrap it in Blue, a complete change of color, looks like the installers did a great job But I am not sure if it's worth it with regards to costs, I'am on the fence with this one, what do you guys think, would you ever or did you ever consider getting your car wrapped? Money well spent?
> 
> WRAPPING MY MERCEDES A45 AMG!!! - YouTube


Surely his Dad could have just bought him it in blue in the first place??


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## SBM (Jul 4, 2013)

I think if a wrap is done professionally then as a product it is faultless. remember wraps have a quoted lifetime, I have heard of 5 to 7 years quoted by most.

The big advantage of a wrap is it does protect the original paintwork (again as long as it is professionally applied and removed) and is a cheaper way of either enhancing or changing the colour of a car without going for a full on respray. I have seen some very poor resprays in my time and they cannot be removed..

I do really like some parts wrapped like roofs etc. look really good.
I keep considering whether to have my S4 wrapped - just fora change of colour, wouldn't be too bad as its a convertible and the windscreen frame and wing mirrors are pure aluminium so they would not be done. literally doors, wings bonnet and boot..


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## Soul boy 68 (Sep 8, 2013)

K777mk2 said:


> I wanted an M6 look, hence why i did the pipes too, but without trying to pretend to be an M6 - hence the badge stayed on.
> 
> I considered carbon look, but as the M6 roof was shaped different I felt just gloss black would achieve the look I was after.
> 
> ...


I am almost sold on this, like it was said on an earlier post, carbon will look great and a few bits like mirror sect, just to finish off the car.


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## DLGWRX02 (Apr 6, 2010)

JJ0063 said:


> Almost certain I've seen both of these cars in my village. Do you have any relation to Sporle?!


Yep, my mum.lol. And my Range Rover used to be hers untill she got her new one and sold it to me.


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## DLGWRX02 (Apr 6, 2010)

sshooie said:


> I see a wrapped car, I think accident damaged, drug dealer vehicle.


It has to be a damn good repair, because if it's anything but perfect any little mark will show through, chips, scratches and dents will stand out like a sore thumb. That's the reason I didn't wrap my wing mirrors as one has a chip due to some idiot in tescos carpark! But then if I want them black I can buy gloss black covers to replace which are cheap enough.


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## phillipnoke (Apr 1, 2011)

I saw a Rolls Royce the other day top half electric blue with silver bottom half BLODDY awful


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## JJ0063 (Apr 1, 2014)

DLGWRX02 said:


> Yep, my mum.lol. And my Range Rover used to be hers untill she got her new one and sold it to me.


Small world  my partner used to do your mums Avon I've just realised! Lois? I live in one of the cottages on the main road through the village.


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## Harry_p (Mar 18, 2015)

Soul boy 68 said:


> The reason I asked is that I'm thinking of having my M2's roof only wrapped in carbon fibre, I'm sure it would look really good, the other M models have carbon roofs and they look good too so I am thinking why not. Some examples on here do look good except to say that Gold Audi,doesn't suit it at all.


Carbonfibre looks good.

Carbon look stickers do not.

Personally I'd try it with a gloss black roof which will give a similar look without trying to be a cheap copy of the real thing


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## Soul boy 68 (Sep 8, 2013)

Harry_p said:


> Carbonfibre looks good.
> 
> Carbon look stickers do not.
> 
> Personally I'd try it with a gloss black roof which will give a similar look without trying to be a cheap copy of the real thing


That's exactly what I'm thinking, the gloss carbon look and not the satin look finish.:thumb:


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## DLGWRX02 (Apr 6, 2010)

JJ0063 said:


> Small world  my partner used to do your mums Avon I've just realised! Lois? I live in one of the cottages on the main road through the village.


Yup that's her. Crazy Xmas light lady.lol. Which I have to put up,every year..lol



Her new one isn't wrapped though, that's how she chose it to be made.


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## robertdon777 (Nov 3, 2005)

I like some of them and good use of wrapping can work well.

I've never seen a complete wrap that I'd be happy with though. Up close they have too many issues.

Keep to single panels, roofs etc and its great.

I've seen motors with full wraps on the internet where people claim they are brilliant, get to a show and see the same car up close and its a different story. Some people do have lower expectations though and that's fine, so wraps do suit a purpose.


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## Soul boy 68 (Sep 8, 2013)

robertdon777 said:


> I like some of them and good use of wrapping can work well.
> 
> I've never seen a complete wrap that I'd be happy with though. Up close they have too many issues.
> 
> ...


I agree with you on that robertdon, car roofs or diffusers exc work well on most cars instead of a whole body wrap, though there are some execptions.


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## Cookies (Dec 10, 2008)

DLGWRX02 said:


>


I really like that. I'm not sure I'd have the chrome decals, but I think the colour looks brill.

I was speaking with a local guy who wraps cars, and he is flat out wrapping lease cars, i.e. protecting the paint so minimising any charges from the lease company come hand back time.

If it's done well, I think some can absolutely look brilliant.

Cooks

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## Kimo (Jun 7, 2013)

Carbon wrap is the tackiest of tackiest ideas -.-


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## Starbuck88 (Nov 12, 2013)

Look up plasti dip paint, you can get all sorts now flip colours, pearl, candy and when your done you can peel it off.


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## Alex_225 (Feb 7, 2008)

As with anything like this, it's all personal taste and I think a simple colour change can look terrific on the right car.

I think matt black has been done to death but some of the satin finishes can look excellent on the right car.

I'd always have concerns about it though. I mean I love the idea of wrapping my CLS in a slightly darker satin silver/grey and the thought of protecting the paintwork appeals. Thing is though, firstly the paintwork is 99% mint I'm not sure I'm comfortable with someone going near it with a sharp knife. I have heard horrors of people removing wraps to find marks round the car where the vinyl was cut.

Also, my understanding is that to remove it generally it's a bit of a mission. Glue residue etc plus if you look at how they did the wrap on that A45, you'd have a lot of parts to remove to get the wrap of entirely.

Lastly, this was my experience of a vinyl wrap. I bought my old Megane 225 from a friends brother, they'd had the car in the family from new and had the bonnet wrapped in matt carbon vinyl. It looks pretty good but had been on the car way too long, where they'd had it garaged and I'd parked outside, the wrap deteriorated quickly and needed removal.

Not only did the wrap break up into tiny pieces, it removed lacquer (likely non-factory paint) and I ended up having the bonnet resprayed.










I'm not saying that's indicative of all wraps and I'd assume technology for wraps has moved on a lot since that was done but it still leaves me very wary.


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## Zetec-al (Feb 28, 2011)

I personally don't like wrapped cars.

However, looking at this Archie Hamilton on instagram i imagine hes not short of a few bob and can afford to buy cars like this and get them wrapped with not a care in the world..

He will just go and buy a new one if he doesnt like it anymore


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## Blueberry (Aug 10, 2007)

Alex_225 said:


> As with anything like this, it's all personal taste and I think a simple colour change can look terrific on the right car.
> 
> I think matt black has been done to death but some of the satin finishes can look excellent on the right car.
> 
> ...


My wrapper doesn't cut on the car. He uses some special tape (I forget the name) that cuts from the inside, out.

There is a huge difference in the quality of wraps, the wrappers themselves and their own individual standards. If you do have a problem with the wrap then many don't want to know months or years down the line.

It's a bit like choosing a professional Detailer to do your car. You would research it thoroughly, choose your Detailer carefully and seek testimonials and look at examples of their work. The same goes for a Wrapper. Differences can be night and day.


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## CoOkIeMoNsTeR (Mar 6, 2011)

I tried wrapping once, was a hell of a laugh but the result was repellent. Mind you it was 2am in a barn with many empty beer cans and pizza boxes and someone decided it would be really funny to use some leftover carbon wrap to improve one of the lads cars.

Trouble is it was dark and we were drunk and we ended up wrapping the bonnet of the barn owners wife's Range Rover!!! Fortunately for us it came off pretty easily as it had only been on a few hours (days?? It was the most hazy weekend I have had since I was 18 and it wasn't as long ago as you'd like...) before it was removed 

In principle it sounds great, using the proper inside out cutting tape and removing body panels like the doors boot and bonnet to do a proper job might cut it for me. The MINI posted earlier in the thread sums it up for me really. I couldn't buy a car in that colour, you'd never sell it but if you wanted one in such a colour the option is there to have your cake (funky coloured car) and eat it (easy picking the car as you're not fussed about the colour and easy resale when the wrap is removed and a more easily saleable colour is underneath). I could wrap the Volvo in a huge Swedish flag lol, that'd confuse the neighbours haha


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## Alex_225 (Feb 7, 2008)

Blueberry said:


> My wrapper doesn't cut on the car. He uses some special tape (I forget the name) that cuts from the inside, out.
> 
> There is a huge difference in the quality of wraps, the wrappers themselves and their own individual standards. If you do have a problem with the wrap then many don't want to know months or years down the line.
> 
> It's a bit like choosing a professional Detailer to do your car. You would research it thoroughly, choose your Detailer carefully and seek testimonials and look at examples of their work. The same goes for a Wrapper. Differences can be night and day.


That's certainly out wraps up in my opinion if they don't need to be cut on the car! That would have always been a worry for me.

I'm sure a lot of car wrappers don't care too much about after sales. With mine it had been on far too long rather than a bad job.

One thing that intrigues me, if a car had been repainted or repaired, will a modern wrap peel off safely?


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## DLGWRX02 (Apr 6, 2010)

DLGWRX02 said:


> I've had my roof done and there's not a single bubble or join in it, if you get professionals to do it there won't be any bubbles. If there is then take it back.
> 
> Before
> 
> ...


Got a new addition to add to this collection now.....


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## DLGWRX02 (Apr 6, 2010)

DLGWRX02 said:


> Got a new addition to add to this collection now.....


From this









To this






























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## wish wash (Aug 25, 2011)

Archie's a race car driver by trade so he has plenty of money. I like some wraps that are tastefull but a lot of these YouTube bloggers are spending 3-4K on wraps. Especially if it's these new matte/ silk wraps as your wrapping the car twice to get the effect. They have to do something to make people watch there channels. I think they will get some discount as there always telling you who's doing the work


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## Soul boy 68 (Sep 8, 2013)

DLGWRX02 said:


> From this
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I quite like it.


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## DLGWRX02 (Apr 6, 2010)

It will be marmite, but it looks much better in the flesh. And really needs some sunshine to really get the reflections going. But the one person it matters too, is my mum and she's over the moon with it.


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## Kerr (Mar 27, 2012)

I seen this one the other day.



That's not going to change my opinion. :lol:


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## armufti (Oct 11, 2016)

Kerr said:


> I seen this one the other day.
> 
> 
> 
> That's not going to change my opinion.


Beckton?

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## Kerr (Mar 27, 2012)

armufti said:


> Beckton?
> 
> Sent from my SM-N910C using Tapatalk


Aberdeen.


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## alan hanson (May 21, 2008)

1400 pounds to wrap a mini, people wrap lease cars to minimise damage? how much damage can one do for the dealer to charge that much for paint work? someone else said by a more common car then wrap it in the colour you want? again for 1400+ how much does the colour you wanted cost? 

i like single panels/parts (soul boy wrapped roof as you said like other m series would look nice i'd do it)


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## shane_ctr (Dec 17, 2006)

Soul boy 68 said:


> That's exactly what I'm thinking, the gloss carbon look and not the satin look finish.:thumb:


A friend of mine done his M2 roof gloss black hope this helps. I would personal wrap the rails as well. I'm booking my 330d in next month for a black roof also


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## Soul boy 68 (Sep 8, 2013)

shane_ctr said:


> A friend of mine done his M2 roof gloss black hope this helps. I would personal wrap the rails as well. I'm booking my 330d in next month for a black roof also


The M2's roof looks great, he does need to do the roof gutters also, your 330d will look great also, these kind of wraps really suite the cars, all in my humble opinion of course. The good thing about these mods is that they're are reversible.


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## Kash-Jnr (Mar 24, 2013)

I think it depends on what you like. Wraps can be a bit of bother for maintenance but back in 09 when I got mine done, there wasn't much out there in terms of cleaning it apart from avery cleaner given by the wrapping company.

IMG_0931 by kashif Ahmed, on Flickr

What do you guys think of my first car, the only one to be wrapped?


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## Soul boy 68 (Sep 8, 2013)

It suites the Mini very well, maintaining wrapped cars is really simple, just go easy with the PW and wash it and wax it in the same way as you would with an unwrapped car but what ever you do; don't machine polish it.


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## Bristle Hound (May 31, 2009)

Wrapped cars ? I'll leave this one in here that I saw in Prague a couple or 3 years ago :thumb:


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## DLGWRX02 (Apr 6, 2010)

The guys at Totally dynamic Norwich just put this up




__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1421089064607886


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## Tomm (Jan 14, 2009)

Interesting to read this thread. 

I bought some vinyl, pretty decent stuff I am lead to believe, it sure cost enough, which I intended to use to wrap my TT. I've had it leant in the corner of the garage for a fair while now because I don't think I can deal with the embarrassment of having it plastered over my car if I balls it up!


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## DLGWRX02 (Apr 6, 2010)

Tomm said:


> Interesting to read this thread.
> 
> I bought some vinyl, pretty decent stuff I am lead to believe, it sure cost enough, which I intended to use to wrap my TT. I've had it leant in the corner of the garage for a fair while now because I don't think I can deal with the embarrassment of having it plastered over my car if I balls it up!


Have you done it before? 
I can tell you that there's not a chance in hell you'll get a good finish on one panel let alone an entire car on your own,if you have not done it before. They make it look so easy but having done it myself it's a right PITA. And that's just on small parts.


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## johanr77 (Aug 4, 2011)

Bristle Hound said:


> Wrapped cars ? I'll leave this one in here that I saw in Prague a couple or 3 years ago :thumb:


See post number 16 :thumb:


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## Tomm (Jan 14, 2009)

DLGWRX02 said:


> Have you done it before?
> I can tell you that there's not a chance in hell you'll get a good finish on one panel let alone an entire car on your own,if you have not done it before. They make it look so easy but having done it myself it's a right PITA. And that's just on small parts.


Well, some of my panels have awkward dings in them so I bought new and have wrapped them, however they've been very simple small, relatively flat with just one curve in them.

I did however buy a door because I thought this would be one of the harder parts with the door handle and the mirror. After using aboit 10 meters, I did manage to successfully wrap it to a standard respectable enough to put on a car and not be totally embarrassed.


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## trv8 (Dec 30, 2007)

Best wrap I've seen :thumb:.......

http://www.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/topic/160254-greg-nicolas-iq/


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## DLGWRX02 (Apr 6, 2010)

trv8 said:


> Best wrap I've seen :thumb:.......
> 
> http://www.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/topic/160254-greg-nicolas-iq/


:lol::lol::lol:
That is awesome, and a great bit of design.


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## Harry_p (Mar 18, 2015)

The tank tracks are awesome, but the window masks are a bit too much!


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## Cookies (Dec 10, 2008)

trv8 said:


> Best wrap I've seen :thumb:.......
> 
> http://www.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/topic/160254-greg-nicolas-iq/


That's fantastic!!! Love it. Cookie Youngster will want one lol.

Cooks

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