how long to wrap a car

[watchdaride]

Going to a wrap course next week then to sema  then will tackle wrapping over the winter  .Will be only doing color change to compliment my window tint business .  From the experience guys how long would it take 2 guys to wrap say a 2012 bmw 3 series . i will be using avery supreme. . some people say 2 days some keep the car for a week . 

[Supreme]

I wouldnt take my car to someone that thinks they can wrap it in two days (unless they have 10 staff!)

 

A lot of things come into play but will try break it down for what you can expect for a professional wrap.

Parts removal

Removing all parts necessary to complete the wrap (light, mirrors, aerials, handles, sideskirts etc). We used to remove everything on the car to begin with but after a week its very easy to forget how things came apart, so now its remove as we hit the panel. Parts removal sometimes can be easy and sometimes hard and you never know until you start getting into it e.g Some cars headlights come straight out, some cars require bumpers to be dropped/removed just to take the headlights out (you can imagine the time difference between the two)

 

Prepping

Clay bar, IPA (a number of times) is not a quick process. Any car that has seen road time will be filthy, areas and corners that have all types of grime that is a pain to get off. Cleaning under seals, under/behind edges. This is the most important part of the wrap process, skimping on this will only lead to failures in the wrap.

 

As you can see from the above two there is a good day there, so would love to see this done PROPERLY with a day left for the rest (below)

 

Wrapping

Proper colour change wrapping is panel by panel. Wrapping each panel individually with at least 10mm around edges where possible. Time taken to get edges and corners wrinkle free. Post heating all areas that have seen stretch is also a must and not the quickest to do properly. Its also a good idea to run the heat gun over the whole surface as it will highlight any areas that did not get squeegeed.

 

Reinstall part/Clean/Final check

Just as fun to reinstall parts. Then you will need to clean the car and protect it with a wrap detailer. Once done check all edges and the whole wrap in general.

 

Each one of those areas can have corners cut to do it quicker. Some places will lay the whole side of the car at once and then just trim in between doors, speed wrapping at its best.

 

Just depends how you want to set yourself up as a wrap shop, high quality or a cheap option for people. I have an expert installer and an intermediate and a normal size car is usually a week with XL cars about a week and half. Just starting out id add extra days as there will be many a redo to get things right.

 

Hope this helps and good to see you are getting some training, hands on will be the best training to 

[WearTheFoxHat]

:yeah :yeah :yeah :yeah :yeah :yeah :yeah :yeah :yeah :yeah

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[watchdaride]

so at that rate its about $8-10K to wrap a car ? the going rate for top notch installers here in orlando is $2500 . not worth it spending a week tying up 2 installers . I make that in 2 days doing window tint . 

[Supreme]

$8-10K hell no....i wish. 

 

Cant comment on the $2,500 and if they are really top notch installers as how many staff do they have working on it, what materials are they using, what discount do they get materials for, how it will look in a year...etc

 

A full wrap is at a discount if you were to pay for each panel individually it would be a lot more. Here in Aus its around $2,800 for a small car and up to $4k for an XL (prob the same as starting at $2500 in US). Yes not great money that's why a lot of places end up cutting corners.

 

The idea is when your confident with your speed wrapping a car you can get 'gap fillers' in during that time. Meaning you get bonnets, roofs etc in to increase the money.

 

full wraps are what you need to put your business on the map but not the best week in and week out. You will shave a day once both wrappers are at the expert level. personally id rather wrap 2 bonnets a day or other gap fillers. 2 bonnet a day is a good wage for the day at about 4-5hours labour, those days are good.

 

Just the nature of business, PPF and Tint have better profit vs labour so if you are getting enough business to stick with that otherwise adding other business lines isnt a bad thing to..

[RockyDaz]

Nice post as usual Supreme. Too many people get into things without considering the 'business' side.

Your time is a very valuable commodity

[waxworkz]

Supreme nailed it. If you're just starting out plan on at least a week with two people. But it also depends on how many hours a day spend on the car. Do you work 8 hours days or 12 hours days? Also if you plan to do quality work, the details will be what takes your time. I have done cars and been almost done with fenders, doors, roof, hood and quarters and then bam, the bumpers eat up a whole day.

[watchdaride]

Well i took the course and just spent $1K to realize there is no short cut in wrapping and the money you make for the time is not worth it  . I have looked at a few cars wrapped that looks great 25' back like in the magazines and when you look up close you see tons of defects . From experience in tint people complaining about a dot in the tint i can imagine how they would complain on vinyl .  i am sticking to just doing hoods , roofs and racing stripes . Going to SEMA so maybe it will give  me a different outlook on wrapping cars . The trainer said color change doesnt make money only advertising wraps is the money maker . 

[Supreme]

Shouldn't be a shortcut with anything you do just to make more money. Yes full cars aren't the greatest profit margin but as you get quicker and you shave a hours/day its still a decent wage. Get a bonnet, roof (gap filler) in during that time and its a dam good wage for that week.

 

Theres the first problem, never sell vinyl as a paint like finish. Yes what sets you apart from the rest should be no wrinkles in the corners, wrapped edges etc but dust, contaminants etc will find their way under the wrap during install, as soon as you take the backing off you have a giant static surface area, anything airbourne will stick to it. Yes you can get stretch lines, minor defects in adhesive etc but making the customer aware of this and having a car wrapped to show them ensures they know what they are getting themselves in for.

 

I wouldn't say colour change doesn't make money, people wouldn't do it if that's the case. Advertising wraps are done quicker but depends if you have to muck around with design, printers etc. Dealing with Advertising customers can be painful, they expect all types of design work for next to nothing, small changes that take up time. Colour change customers know the price, they should know the quality and what to expect (thanks to you).

 

The quality is obviously good enough for how many supercars/high end cars are wrapped. They are the ones you check out as they have had the money to pay for a quality wrap. Too many cars out there that wanted to do it on the cheap and wonder why their wrap looks shabby.

[waxworkz]

Well i took the course and just spent $1K to realize there is no short cut in wrapping and the money you make for the time is not worth it . I have looked at a few cars wrapped that looks great 25' back like in the magazines and when you look up close you see tons of defects . From experience in tint people complaining about a dot in the tint i can imagine how they would complain on vinyl . i am sticking to just doing hoods , roofs and racing stripes . Going to SEMA so maybe it will give me a different outlook on wrapping cars . The trainer said color change doesnt make money only advertising wraps is the money maker .

May I ask, what class did you take? You can PM me if you don't feel comfortable posting in the open.