Vinyl Wrap Buying Guide

Looking to purchase vinyl car wraps but don't know where to start? This vinyl wrap buying guide will give you some insights to start with on your vinyl wrap project. First and foremost, you will need to set up a plan for your project. Purchasing vinyl car wrap with plan will not only speed up the progress, it will also keep you on track and reduce time and cost. By answering the questions below, it will give you a rough idea on your purchase.

Coverage - Do you want to perform an accent, partial or full color change wrap?

Labor - D.I.Y wrapping or hire a professional installer?

Style - Decide if you are looking for custom printed graphic, special effect or color change wrap?

Color - What is your desire color and finish?

Durability - How long do you want the wrap to last?

Budget - What is the overall budget of your wrapping project? 

What size do I need? - This is the most common question we get from our customers. Getting the right size of film for your project is really important! Getting too large of film will just be waste of money and material; getting too small of film, you won't be able to cover the entire surface in a result of having to reorder and redo the surface.

A good/ accurate measurement is the only way to find out the correct film size and to avoid "short of film" problem while applying. Each panel needs to be measure carefully. Most panels on vehicle are in irregular shapes, it is essential to measure the width and length of each panel at the widest point and make sure you do not miss out any part / corner while measuring.

Once you have the exact measurement of each panel, the next step is to find out the film size.  The film will come in a large rectangle shape, and it has to be larger than actual panel's size in order to cover the surface. Normally, we suggest our customer to purchase the film a couple inches larger than the actual measurement of the panel, the reason is those extra couple inches can help you grip, hold, stretch and reposition the film while applying. Since most car wraps are available in 53" or 60" wide and sold by linear foot, you will have to make sure either the width or length is no larger than the films width. Otherwise, multiple pieces application might need to be considered.

Once you’ve finished all the steps above, what left is to figure out the correct length of film you need for the project. If you are planning to wrap a single panel only, you already have the needed film's length. But what if you are performing a multiple panels or even a full color change wrap? For multiple panels’ project, you will also need to plan out the trimming pattern on the film. Meaning, the better you can layout all panels’ patterns on the film, the more you can maximum the usage of the wrap film. After adding up all the panels’ layouts on the film, you will get the correct length of film needed for all panels. However we always recommend our customer to order a few extra feet as spare when performing a full wrap just in case if anything goes wrong during application. It will also ensure you get the same batch of material if any repair/replace may be needed in the future.

• This picture illustrates the ideal size needed for this vehicle's hood measurement.

Next time we will discuss more factors that you need when purchasing vinyl wrap!