Bad enough you have to wrap your dick for any fun now yah gotta do the bike too ?

 

This moved up to the top of my must do list. After seeing the amount of salt that is used in the North East I'll do anything to keep my paint protected till retirement & I move.

On another note, there is a lot of high end cars here that are wrapped for that very reason.

Before I moved there was a R8 we use to see locally that is wrapped, was getting gas once & asked him why the wrap and not a paint job. Was to protect the paint underneath, turned out the wrap and paint were the same color. Just food for thought, if its good enough for a 114k car, its good.

 

I have been thinking about this for the Trans-Am. Paint is 20 years old and showing its age. Cheeper than a Paint job.

 

You can wrap a helmet for a different look, too. I'm gonna do the chrome bumpers on my new truck and started reading about the material/procedure yesterday. Here's a primer on the different vinyls:
http://www.vinylforum.org/smf/genera...pes-of-vinyls/
This is the cheapest place I've found the Oracal brand 751 High Performance Cast material. It may or may not be the material you want for your application:
http://www.discountsignsupplies.com/...acal-751-hpc-1
With the 3M vinyl, you need to apply a primer around edges and in cavities/depressions. Good reviews on the Oracal brand with no primer required, afaik.
Tools required are minimal; a knife, a little rubber squeegee or two and a heat gun. Maybe a tape measure and Sharpie.

 

I get a company called Shadow Tint on McLeod Tr. to do it, they're the best in the city. They use 3M for a wrap, but I found out that it's only 87% clear, or something like that. For my bike I'm going to try a new product that they have called Expel Ultimate wrap which they say is 100% clear, it's a little more money. You can't tell on a colored vehicle, but I put the 3M on my white Tri Metallic Pearl Ford Explorer last year, and I wish they would have had the Expel product then.
Good luck, tell me if you put it on, and how you like it.

 

Hopefully I'll have better stories to tell at the end of my trips than talk about each rock chip, and about how bad I need a paint job.

 

Thanks. I've had my windows tinted there in fact. I will check them out.

MS

 

If its done properly all vinyl used for wraps need a primer on edges, contours etc. I own a company that sells wholesale only to other sign companies. We sell only 3M IJ180CV3 vinyl and 3M 8518 laminate for wraps. Remember you get what you pay for, someone posted they got a wrap for $60, 3M vinyl and laminate is over $1000 a roll, then its printed on a 1/4 million or more expensive printer then its laminated on at least a $10,000 laminator plus you have design time, install time. If done correctly it looks awesome and will last for years.

 

Thanks for the input.
It looks like you recommend the 3M IJ180CV3 to wrap my bumper. The bumper is chrome and brand new. Is there anything I should watch out for while wrapping chrome? Any tricks for the 3M primer? I've watched a couple Youtube demonstrations, and I'm sure I'll need to practice on a seperate piece, but it looks like something I can handle. Usually, I'm a patient person and don't rush through projects. I'd like to get it right.

 

If you just want to protect your bumper and still see the chrome use paint protection film. Same product to protect fenders and bags. Learning to wrap is a little harder than it looks. When you start getting to the compound curves it takes a good bit of practice to learn what way to pull the vinyl and where to use heat. For some really cool wrap products check out these guys.http://www.alsacorp.com/#
Jimmy