- It's 2020, almost, okay?
And car modifications seem to be getting more unique
and worn off more now than ever before. Okay.
One of the go-to--
Oh God, I got an eyelash in my eyeball.
Oh God, this is the worst.
I got it.
One of the go-to modifications right now
is wrapping your car.
You know, you throw some gnarly warp on your car,
you make the stock car angry,
make it look like it's been driven when it really isn't,
and making it look like it's been wrapped
in marble or something like that.
So honestly, I feel like I'm literally,
personally attacking myself right now,
but regardless, wrapping your car isn't just
like taking a big (bleep) sticker
and just throwing it on there and cutting around the edges.
It is a wee bit more than that.
I'm Alex, Alex.FI on Instagram,
and today we're gonna be talking
about some rookie mistakes people make
when trying to wrap their own car.
(intense dark music)
And of course, if you guys are looking
for after-market wheels, tires, or suspension,
be sure to check out, you know,
fitmentindustries.com, where we've got everything
from rotor form to work, ESR to roll,
and the whole shebang.
The whole shebang.
And if you guys don't even say the word shebang
you need to start, all right?
It's kind of like uff da, all right?
Its just a word that you gotta get in the repertoire.
And if you haven't yet, be sure to subscribe
so we can keep making banging videos like this.
And if you're wondering where uff da came from,
kind of a Norwegian thing.
And if you're super Norweigan
you can actually say uff da meda,
but nobody says that.
So wrapping your car can be a very exciting idea
but the biggest and most prominent rookie mistake
is most definitely not finding somebody
who's been around the block or two with wrap.
Not the other stuff.
I mean, I messed up.
What I mean to say is wrapping you car
can be a little bit of a dangerous task.
After all the wrap is a glorified fancy sticker
that lays on top of your paint
for a prolonged period of time.
If you were to simplify that,
that is essentially what wrap is.
That, paired with the fact that you need
to cut the wrap around
taillights, wheel wells, door jams, door vents.
All of the sudden just like slapping a big sticker
on your car gets a little bit more difficult.
Why this matters is because
to cut the vinyl to wrap around those little
itsie, bitsie pieces requires the use of specific tools
that can cut the vinyl, but not cut into your clear.
There are vinyl businesses that straight up use razors
to cut the wrap and once, or if, they get lazy
will start using X-Acto knives
to just cut up your car's vinyl where it needs to be.
Then when you take off your wrap
you're met with little cut marks up in your clear
and you question every life decision you've ever made
to your car after that.
Now, knives and other sharp objects are used
when people are installing wrap.
But it's how they're used where you need to be careful.
If you're getting your car wrapped by a new guy or gal,
try to find somebody that has had
their car wrapped by that same person.
But also not just wrapped
but also had their wrap taken off.
A lot of times anyone can put on a wrap
with enough patience.
It's how they get it on there
and how they minimize damage that's the tricky bit.
And it's super important to understand
that the more difficult of a car you have
whether that is looking at something like
a Lamborghini compared to an STI
could ultimately mean the difference
between somebody doing a fantastic job
on a simple body style
but then doing a terrible job on another body style
that is super angry or has a lot of after market pieces.
Always make sure you're trying to get it done
by somebody reputable.
But hey wrap is a pretty neat thing.
It's getting glaringly more popular
and has a ton of community support
and you can do just about anything you want with wraps
when it comes down to designs and colors.
But that doesn't always mean that you should.
Another big rookie mistake is getting a design or color
that just doesn't flow with your car.
It can be really tough,
but designs like vintage, patina wraps,
or other pattern wraps
can be really tough to pull off
on certain cars and styles
because ultimately your car has a body style to it.
So your wrap usually needs to match it.
You then have to line up the design
so it flows from one piece of wrap to the next.
And then any sort of shading is where it needs to be.
Like if you have shading around your wheel wells
or fenders and all that sort of good stuff.
And that doesn't even account for if the car
is supposed to look like a race car.
So pro tip here is to try and get the design you want
mocked up on your car via Photoshop.
You know one of the fancy softwares,
or something like that.
Maybe just take a little picture.
Phone a friend.
Pay them 20 bucks to do it for ya.
Because you may end up finding out
that green looks like trash on your car
and you'll completely change your mind.
Versus maybe you absolutely love it.
And finally once you get the wrap on you car
and ready to rock and roll.
It may be easy to think that you're done.
Spoiler alert, you're not.
Okay, I'm sorry but wraps require their form
of maintenance over time depending
on how long you're looking to hang onto it.
Little dirt pieces can start to get under the wrap.
The wrap itself can begin to peel back.
And if it was over heated and stretched,
guess what's gonna happen?
C'mon moseying on back, she gonna do a little
(makes mouth popping sound)
and then the paint and the wrap kind of
does this little thing where its like
(makes mouth popping sounds)
and it's just not a good time.
A lot of times because people didn't wrap
or have enough material,
they have a tendency to over-stretch the design.
I would highly recommend taking a close look over
your wrap at least one time a month
to repair and fix as needed.
Just like how we have ceramic coat options
for when you buy wheels through us.
There are companies that can ceramic coat your wrap,
which helps protect it from the same style problems
traditional paint has like the sun, and hard water,
ya know, other stuff like scratches and things like that.
You can ceramic coat pretty much anything.
You can ceramic coat your t-shirt probably
if you actually really wanted to.
And lastly were talking about wrapping your car,
but you also have to take time,
really need to take a piece off
to be re-wrapped or redone.
Because sometimes buddy that's just,
that's just how she goes.
But you can't just rip off the vinyl
you can ask Branded Title how that worked for them
on the roof of their R8.
You see, wrap has a very particular adhesive
that does a damn good job at staying on the car
without eating into the clear or even the paint.
But if you don't get the wrap
to the appropriate temperature,
remove it at a certain angle,
whisper sweet nothings in their ear,
and have the patience to go slow,
you're gonna end up with more damage than you started.
Over heating the wrap can melt the adhesive into the clear.
Pulling at a straight 90 degree angle
with no temperature can pull the clear off completely.
And if you have less than stellar paint,
probably not going to have any
if you just rip that bad boy clean off.
It's tough to know that wraps
are not a forever modification,
but if you get them done the right way
with the right materials, the right person,
and maintain continuously they can stay on
for actually quite a long time.
It allows people to do something truly one of one
and have some fun with their car for a season or two,
without the heavy repercussions of doing any sort of paint
or having painter's remorse.
But what's a rookie mistake you made
when you were putting on vinyl or wrapping your car?
We should probably take the wrap off the 911
and just see how well it was installed.
I'm staring at it right now and I think it's time.
I think it's time to take it off.
The headlights are gonna come back.
All right, whatever.
Ah, you guys might just wanna stop by and give me a hug
because I don't know how it's going to pan out.
And I'm a little bit nervous.
But anyway, at this point it could be a toss up.
Remember though if you're looking
for after market wheels, tires, or suspension
be sure to hit us up over at fitmentindustries.com.
Where we have it all for you lovely people
because guess what?
We care dammit.
That was aggressive and I'm sorry,
but I'm Alex from Fitment Industries
and I'm gonna stop yelling.
We will see you guys later.
Peace.
(quiet soft tech music)