Advice on wrapping a BMW325i boot lid please?

[Gavin Dooley]

James, Start at the angle/fold, get that right first & the top & rear will become easier. Use lots of pulling pressure to get vinyl smooth with no folds. Work in areas rather than trying to tackle the whole thing.
You might try a joint at the angle/fold if you’re not confident, lots of guys do this. Boots can be a bast**d.

[Neil Davey]

With all due respect James what did they teach you on the Vehicle Wrapping courses.

[Martin Pearson]

What film are you using James, carbon as you say but which brand??

Are you working on your own or do you have someone helping you??

What courses have you done??

[James Cody]

quote Neil Davey:

With all due respect James what did they teach you on the Vehicle Wrapping courses.

When i hear people say "with all due respect" it usually means with no respect at all. I hope this isn’t the case?
I put my hands up to say i’m new at this and after 9 years of signmaking I decided to increase my skill set to help grow my first sole business.

I gained a great deal of knowledge from a well known and long serving vehicle wrapper. I have tried to use the techniques i was shown but come up short at the moment.
As the material I am using is a cast carbon film i have found it very difficult to manipulate like a cast colour change change film would.

I’m sure most seasoned vehicle wrappers find things like a boot lid easy but we all have to start somewhere.

…

In reply to Martin, I have attended the Roland Academy course where I was taught by James Deacon and then at Grafityp where James also resides.

[Martin Pearson]

James, both those courses have had good reviews so there shouldn’t be any problems there BUT you haven’t chosen the easiest of panels to start with looking at that boot lid & you have compounded your problems if you are working on your own from my own limited experience. Having someone to assist makes a big difference & they don’t need to be a signmaker or have any real experience with vinyl.

I am sort of in the same boat as yourself, work by myself & although I have been on courses have had trouble actually applying the knowledge I gained. I have put this down to a couple of factors, just my opinion but this really is a 2 person job as you really need someone to keep some sort of tension on the vinyl as you apply it. Relatively flat panels are ok on your own but once you start hitting compound curves it becomes more & more difficult on your own especially when your first starting out.
Secondly I have found a huge difference in some of the brands even though they all should do the same job & generally cost about the same price per metre.

There are some very knowledgeable vehicle wrappers on the forum so hopefully one or two of them will be able to help more.

[Neil Davey]

quote James Cody:

quote Neil Davey:

With all due respect James what did they teach you on the Vehicle Wrapping courses.

When i hear people say “with all due respect” it usually means with no respect at all. I hope this isn’t the case?

I assure you James that that wasn’t the case. The remark was aimed at your defence as I think after 2 wrapping courses they should have at least taught you to wrap a boot lid!
I’m not a vehicle wrapper but have part and fully wrapped quite a few cars and also come up against these problems but surely you should have learnt enough to tackle such a job? Again don’t take this as a slur against you.
I’ve seen James working close up and he makes it look very easy.
The material you are using will make a huge difference to the ease of the job.
I’ve tried the MD7 and find it not as forgiving and quite grabby, try 3M or Avery. But these cost alot more than the MD7 but are far easier to use.

[James Cody]

As the product is a carbon film this behaves very differently from regular cast films used for colour changes.
I have spoken to James this morning who has offered some advice on the best way to tackle the job.
As the boot lid has lots of compound curves i know the carbon weave will distort but i am trying to get it as straight as possible,.

Neil, sorry if I went on the defensive. I don’t profess to hold any reasonable knowledge of wrapping, just a foundation in the techniques used.
Whilst on the courses i wrapped smart cars, (as most people do on these courses) van doors and wing mirrors. We did speak about boot lids but didn’t have them to attempt.

On-wards and upwards. I’ll keep trying.

[Martin Pearson]

James, from my own experiences forget what you have learnt about applying cast & calendered vinyl over the years & go back to square one :lol1:

I made the mistake of treating a wrap film the same way you would treat any other vinyl, was very careful with it so as not to over stretch it, tear or shatter it especially as it wasn’t a cheap film. It wasn’t until I really started to pull it about that I made any real progress with fitting it.
You also have to watch your fitting temperature very carefully, even though the weather hasn’t been that bad it hasn’t been that warm & that makes a big difference. I was told that if you didn’t feel comfortable in a T shirt then it was to cold to wrap properly.