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Fitting vinyl over a wheel arch
I might have a job to do 8 vehicles but to get the job we have to quote below £160 a vehicle. The only problem is that there is a strip of brown vinyl that goes from the top of the van to the wheel arch the strip and to get below that price we would have to use a calendered vinyl to do it. Does anyone think i will have a problem applying the vinyl on top of the wheel arch. The vehicle is the new shaped ford transit (lwb) hitop.
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10 Replies
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Hi James
The wheel arch is not a problem for most decent 5-7 vinyls. but if your working to a price and worried about the few extra pounds a reasonable vinyl will cost, maybe you need to think about if you really need the job?
What sort of coverage, and how many colours are we talking about?
6-10 metres of 610 vinyl will do a reasonable job on a tranny
so say £25 qid tops on vinyl, as opposed to really cheapo 3 year stuff for a tenner
Are you realy trying to compete for a 15 quid difference?Peter
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James
without seeing the design its impossible to say. £160 sounds cheap for a transit requiring more than just text for the design. Also there are a lot of variables in what you are asking the main one being the width of the stripe, the 2nd is the customer prepared for the vinyl to pop. Plus a customer should not be dictating your prices, if you go with the cheaper vinyl make sure the customer knows the materials being used for the job are being used to match his price & may fail which you will not be liable forKev
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The main reason I’m sticking to using a calendered is i use metamak media who dont sell cast and dont really want to go to another manufacturer such as oracal whos cast is apparently equal to metamarks 7 series.
The stip is about 550mm and has a cut out image on it which is why i also thought i could use the impact outline to cut the vinyl to the shape of the wheel arch apply the vinyl over the recess and then cut the vinyl on the line of the recess which would leave you with a slight gap. But I think the customer is expecting it to wrap over the arch.
But what do you think of my idea. Thanks
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Hi James
A good calendered is a poor mans cast if you like, should stretch over a wheel arch fine although I don’t know Metamark materials.Monomeric would even do it but would never use it on a vehicle.
Cast used to be reserved for rivets and severe contortions, calendered for everything else, monomeric simply for flat surfaces with not much sun exposure.
Ian :lol1:
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Think if you are quibbling over a few pounds on materials to get within a price, you have your pricing wrong. Either price it right or walk away as you will be doing yourself no favors in the long run……Better to price right and loose a couple of customers than being a "busy fool" taking a few pounds per job.
Remember if you double your prices you might loose half your customers!!!!!
Basically same money for half the work :lol1: -
Hi Graeme, I see where you are coming from but I was also wondering what is the best method to do jobs like these without hopefully using a cast material.
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I think I agree with the general consensus.
If you can’t afford to do it in cast as opposed to a good calendared then your margins are waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too low and you might as well close the doors on your sign business.
Cast costs aren’t that much more than that of calendared. (eg. 3.40 v 7.50)
Say I was to use 5m of vinyl for a transit (1220 wide) – it would be the difference of £20.
Sorry…and I mean this in the nicest possible way, but if you can’t cover the difference in the materials cost – or pass it on to the client as a ‘superior material’ what’s the point.
I’m all for saving a few quid to increase profits, but if it means the job is cut so tight – especially if doing 8 vans then really weigh up if you can afford to do it in a ‘cost v profit’ fashion.
Dave
I was in a very similar situation middle of last year. Quoting on around 20 vans of transit size. I knew other companies were going in cheap…crazy cheap. I quoted fair…as if I needed to do them for £100 each just to get the job I wouldn’t…easier ways to make money in this world.
Oh, yeh. Calendared should be fine in most cases. With patience & a bit of skill it’s amazing what you can get it to do…and stay there.
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The method is straight forward
You could even do it in 2 or 3 pieces so the job is split down into smaller parts. having a join on the panel recess for instance.
I would not rely on impact to accurately make the shape, cut over size in length, and then trim by hand around the wheel arch.
If you have 8 to do, it may be worth using the first to modify the cut file to make life a bit easier, but it only takes seconds to trim in situe.
like I said any reasonably priced vinyl will easily do the bulge in the wheel arch, its hardly a bulge anyway, and for all intents is a flat surface.Peter
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Hi James
Where abouts are you based mate?
Yes calendered vinyl would be ok, but as a small business myself (sorry to all the BIG boys out there)! if your trying to save money for the customer, as it seems you are, surely if you use a vinyl your not 100% would do the job, and it ‘fails’ who’s going to cover the cost to re-do the job? The customer? I think not!!!
Just out of interest how many of the vans were you planning on doing in what time space?
Matt
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Hi Matt there’s we’ve got 2 weeks to complete the vehicles from signing of the proof. So should be plenty of time. Thanks for everyones help again.
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