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  • Advice on wrapping a BMW 1 series please?

    Posted by John McNickle on 2 September 2011 at 15:46

    Hi i was hoping someone would have tips on doing a roof of a 1 series bmw, i have wrapped loads of roofs also full and half wrap vehicles but this little bligter has me beat, she wants it in gloss black so i bought in some kpmf wrap, im thinking the material is what let me down, it wasnt cold in my workshop or anything like that but it was a bit brittle and stuck really hard down to the car even when it was just touching (no pressure on it) also the aerials these cars have these days are massive, how would different people go about getting round these?

    Thanks
    John

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    John McNickle replied 14 years, 1 month ago 5 Members · 10 Replies
  • 10 Replies
  • Martin Pearson

    Member
    2 September 2011 at 20:36

    John, you say you have done loads of roofs plus full and half wraps but what materials have you used for these??

    I’m guessing it wasn’t the KPMF wrap. Reason I say that is because it does seem to be a different material to work with than other wrap vinyls.

    For one thing it doesn’t have the air release technology and it has a higher initial grab than other wrap films. Using it is more like using a normal type of vinyl in my opinion.

    Price wise it is obviously cheaper than other films but I do think it takes a bit of getting use to, like you say it does seem to be affected by temperature, it’s fairly thick and snaps back off ok when applying normally but I have had problems when it’s been a bit cold and instead of snapping back it has almost shattered.

  • John McNickle

    Member
    3 September 2011 at 09:34

    hi martin, i have used Hexis and 3m, both easy to use, i thought as KPMF is marketed as a wrap vinyl it would have the same characteristics but i was way off, it would be ok on sides of vans etc but anything trickier then no way, also it was marking easily with even felt squeegees 🙁

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  • Martin Pearson

    Member
    4 September 2011 at 01:02

    John, it is a wrap vinyl but it’s been on the market for over 10 years and is still manufactured the same way as far as I know.
    hexis use to sell it, in fact I did the wrap course at hexis with it some where round about 2000 or 2001.
    Although it is a wrap film I don’t think you can compare it to other films on the market in terms of ease of fitting but then again most if not all of the other films available are a lot more up to date. Someone did say that KPMF were going to start using the air release technology but I don’t know how true that is and how it will affect the price.

  • Jon Marshall

    Member
    4 September 2011 at 07:43

    I don’t even think it should be classed as a wrap film anymore if it’s the polymeric version you are talking about. it’s just not up to the task IMO.

  • John McNickle

    Member
    5 September 2011 at 09:02

    i do know the difference between polymeric and wrap jon 🙂

  • Ian Davies 2011

    Member
    5 September 2011 at 12:04

    KPMF did briefly release some air release wrap vinyl a few months ago but it is currently not available due to some kind of issues with it, what they are I do not know as it was a distributor who informed me. Had a small sample of it and whilst it was a lot better than the older KPMF wrap vinyl it wasnt the best stuff to work with.

    Ian.

  • James Deacon

    Member
    15 September 2011 at 23:30

    Hi John, the moral of this story is ‘don’t have a go, until you know’
    What i call a panoramic roof job! ha ha
    I believe its most important to try your films yourself on test panels first, before selling them on, most films on the market all have a use it is up to us as professionals to test them all and pick most suitable for the job based on its properties.
    Re aerial pre cut aerial shape but slightly smaller than footprint maybe put masking tape round the area first to prevent it from splitting if this is an issue.

    Go on a wrap course !! its only the cost of a job gone wrong!! if not with me then anyone experienced to help save you time and money in the long run.

    Some films are marketed as wrap films but are polymeric and this can be confusing, always get a datasheet etc polymerics can be used for wraps but only short term or when no stretching is required

    James

  • John McNickle

    Member
    16 September 2011 at 12:52

    hi james i did do your course in ireland 🙂 it was the first one you did over here, it was in mulangar.. thanks for replying

  • James Deacon

    Member
    16 September 2011 at 14:36

    Thought I remembered the face , Kevin has come back to the uk now
    Good luck all the best

  • John McNickle

    Member
    19 September 2011 at 09:56

    same to you mate

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