Newb Here trying to Vinyl wrap a Del Sol

teknicalissue · December 31, 2016

Hey Guys!

I'm new to the whole Vinyl Wrap community and figured I'd join a forum and post for some knowledge and assistance!! So I've decided to wrap a Del Sol I have just for fun. I simply want to learn a new skill while at the same time make the car look good. I say that to say that I do have the option to get my car painted, I simply choose not to because I find vinyl wrapping extremely intriguing.

That being said, I did the first thing professional wrappers tell you not to do. I purchased cheap ebay here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/262298522623?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&var=561472803192&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Some say that it is possible to install it just not the easiest. That being said.. I purchased a 5 x 20 ft sheet and all of it in in the trash now lol. I watched several youtube videos including this Triangles one:

which makes wrapping the hood of a car look extremely easy. Needless to say this method didn't work for me. Every time I tried to "stretch" the vinyl by applying decent amount of pulling force, the vinyl tore and broke. Similar to what happened to these guys (skip to 7:48):

All three attempts resulted in the vinyl breaking/tearing/ripping like in that part of the video.

I feel as though the vinyl is supposed to cold stretch just a little bit but it feels like printer paper. In some instances the vinyl would stretch around my finger tips but not where it would peel off the hood. Could this be a temperature thing? I've been trying to apply the vinyl in my unheated garage while it's 40* outside. Could this issue be the cheap vinyl? I know at some points I had to lift the vinyl up and down multiple times to work out the creases so could it be that lifting the vinyl multiple times damase something?

I'm trying to follow the triangles method so the only time I used a heat gun was when I needed to Post-heat and I obviously didn't get that far. Also used heat gun for minor repairs and crows feet removals. The tears are the only real thing that is an issue.

I gave up on the hood and tried the T-Top on the del sol and the samething happened too! My guess is that the temps are too cold which doesn't allow the vinyl to stretch or the fact that it's just cheap vinyl.

All in all I would love some input and sharing of knowledge!

waxworkz · January 4, 2017

You are experiencing fracturing of the film because it is too cold. I don't know the temps of the cheap stuff you bought, but with Avery and 3M, anything below say 55° and you can forget about any cold stretch. It can be heated in large areas, but it's hard with one person and not much skill. You could get an IR heater and use that, but don't know what you want to spend to get into the game. A hood, on a good day, with decent temps should take no more than an hour completely finished and trimmed up solo.

tintcracker · January 5, 2017

Dude, I don't even work with vinyl and I can tell you that's way too cold.

Vinylspec · January 5, 2017

yep way to cold. it may be a good idea if you get a helper as well for another set of hands. IR heaters are great however they are a bit pricey to start off with. How much excess material are you allocating along the sides or are you trying to fit a 5x5 square with a 5x5 piece?

waxworkz · January 7, 2017

yep way to cold. it may be a good idea if you get a helper as well for another set of hands. IR heaters are great however they are a bit pricey to start off with. How much excess material are you allocating along the sides or are you trying to fit a 5x5 square with a 5x5 piece?

Shouldn't be an issue, you can stretch that ish lol