Carbon Fiber effect roof wrap

[John Wilson]

I like it, it looks the part so can’t complain there

I’m very tempted to buy some for doing the roof of my mini but not sure yet as I know I’ll mess it up first time :lol1:

[Graeme Clark]

quote John Wilson:

I like it, it looks the part so can’t complain there

I’m very tempted to buy some for doing the roof of my mini but not sure yet as I know I’ll mess it up first time :lol1:

Its actually quite a thick film so has a lot of "give" in it John, you might be surprised!! and if you can get away with just a meter of it then all the better (from memory the film is 1.2 wide)

[Joseph Helm]

Great looking job!

I’ve been looking at doing some to my car.. might try and have a go at it after seeing that!

[Jon Marshall]

Looks nice. How much is that vinyl? Most other manufacturers only seem to have 610mm stuff.

[Graeme Clark]

quote Jon Marshall:

Looks nice. How much is that vinyl? Most other manufacturers only seem to have 610mm stuff.

We struggled to find it for this job and had to purchase 2m @ £70 per meter. However 3m tell us its around £516 for a 12m and £1957 for a 50m roll….. 😕

[Chris M Hooper]

Hi Graeme,

where did you purchase the vinyl from if you don’t mind me asking?

Thanks

Chris

[Robert Lambie]

Not sure where Graeme got it from but you can buy it through WmSmiths as they are official 3M distributors.

[Peter Normington]

check out apa they have a a similar product,
http://www.apaspa.com/gallery/curve/Com … tatile.jpg

a cast , and far cheaper then 3m

Peter

[Adam McGuire]

Is that a +vat price? I’ve got a customer wanting this, and the carbon vinyl I’ve used before was a complete waste of money for doing roof panels as it wouldn’t stretch much. I need to give him a cost etc as he says he’ll give me money up front to buy the vinyl.

[Lynn Normington]

Adam prices are always plus Vat.

Lynn

[Steve Underhill]

I am wrapping my whole van in carbon 5 year vinyl, not the expensive stuff but the stuff from grafityp, (well expensive enough at £7 odd a metre, Im lucky though as I have a citroen dispatch and its all flat panels, where there is any recess I will just use black cast with lettering over it, we have used some samples on it and it seems to stick well and looks really good wont be doing the roof though as theres no point just use black cast again. its a 5 year vinyl too so should be fine.

[Graeme Clark]

quote Robert Lambie:

Not sure where Graeme got it from but you can buy it through WmSmiths as they are official 3M distributors.

Thanks Rob, I know WMS are official 3m but it took a call from 3m technical to help us out with them. They have priced a 12m roll for us! thanks again!

[Graeme Clark]

quote Peter Normington:

check out apa they have a a similar product,
http://www.apaspa.com/gallery/curve/Com … tatile.jpg

a cast , and far cheaper then 3m

Peter

Thanks Peter, that’s a find and a half!!! Have you used it before? I am going to try them tomorrow to see if they will deal direct! Again, great find, thanks!

[Karl Williams]

Very expensive but it looks the dogs.

[Graeme Clark]

quote Karl Williams:

Very expensive but it looks the dogs.

I am glad we quoted that one high Karl!!!

[Adam McGuire]

quote Lynn:

Adam prices are always plus Vat.

Lynn

I only asked because I’m not VAT registered and have to think of the whole picture.

Anyone used that APA cast? I’ve bought cast carbon fibre vinyl before, and it’s been nothing short of awful! It stretched a tiny amount, then melted and the carbon weave was ruined. I can’t afford to make another mistake like that, this guy has an Lancer Evo X and wants it to be right as he’s spending 10’s of 1000’s on the car.

Thanks
Adam

[Graeme Clark]

Thats interesting Adam, I have samples of that APA coming tomorrow and still have some 3m, I can compare them side by side and let you know if you want?

B Rgds

Graeme

[Adam McGuire]

Any news on the comparison Graeme? This guy wants the roof panels on his three Evo’s doing ASAP! 😕

Adam

[Alex Tucker]

Hi, we just printed the CF and wrapped as normal with it, saved the worry of using non cast and the cost of the 3M stuff, looked pretty good and the few clients we have done it for loved it.

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[Adam McGuire]

Yes but I’m not lucky enough to have a printer.

The other thing is, he’s now decided he doesn’t want the finish of the 3m stuff as it won’t match his carbon bits on the car. Back to the drawing board.

[Graeme Clark]

quote Adam McGuire:

Any news on the comparison Graeme? This guy wants the roof panels on his three Evo’s doing ASAP! 😕

Adam

Hi Adam, Yes its a very good alternative, not as thick as the 3m but we have got some pleasing results with it all the same. Cost wise its great and we are now using it in preference to the £m which was always limited in its supply to us for some reason.
I have attached a pic of it so you can see the finish:

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[Alex Tucker]

nice job Graeme.

[Graeme Clark]

quote Alex Tucker:

nice job Graeme.

Thanks Alex – the customer was very happy and we ended up wrapping his BMW Motorcycle Panniers and topbox in the same material for him so he’s got gucci matching luggage LOL !!

[Russell Huffer]

I got it even cheaper than that, my Lexus has a plastic dash that a previous owner had drilled to fit a phone kit, i printed carbon effect onto MD5 and used this to cover the holes, still looks good as good as real thing.

Best regards

Russell.

[Adam McGuire]

I just ordered a sample and a pricelist from APA, so hopefully my customer will like it!

Thanks for your help!

[Graeme Clark]

quote Russell-H:

I got it even cheaper than that, my Lexus has a plastic dash that a previous owner had drilled to fit a phone kit, i printed carbon effect onto MD5 and used this to cover the holes, still looks good as good as real thing.

Best regards

Russell.

In fairness Russel thats our preferred solution but we can’t print at the mo so resort to this material!

[Adam McGuire]

Well, I’ve taken the plunge, I’ve ordered 10m of Carbon from APA. Now to put my money where my mouth is and wrap the three Evo’s. I really hope it’s not too difficult! I could use the money now I’ve shelled out for the carbon! Hope I don’t waste too much lol

[Adam McGuire]

Ok, had my delivery and have done 2 Evo’s for my customer. That APA carbon vinyl looks great!

Quick question though, does anyone know of a ‘Wet’ carbon look vinyl with the same or similar wrapping properties? Whilst these Evo’s look great, they’ve got carbon bonnets etc and they’re lacquered carbon. Even something I can put over these roofs as they stand, although I have tried putting clear vinyl over the top and it doesn’t quite work as you can see air in the recesses of the weave.

Many Thanks

Adam

[Graeme Harrold]

quote Adam McGuire:

Ok, had my delivery and have done 2 Evo’s for my customer. That APA carbon vinyl looks great!

Quick question though, does anyone know of a ‘Wet’ carbon look vinyl with the same or similar wrapping properties? Whilst these Evo’s look great, they’ve got carbon bonnets etc and they’re lacquered carbon. Even something I can put over these roofs as they stand, although I have tried putting clear vinyl over the top and it doesn’t quite work as you can see air in the recesses of the weave.

Many Thanks

Adam

Was the clear applied to the car after the carbon was fitted, or to the vinyl (through a laminator) before fitting to the roof??

[Peter Normington]

I dont think it would make a difference Graeme, the carbon effect actually has a fine texture, you may get away with a liquid laminate, not tried it, just a thought?

Peter

[Adam McGuire]

Hmmm Not sure about the liquid laminate….never used it myself, but don’t fancy spraying that near a car?! Unless I’m just being chicken!

I’ve put paint protection film on the carbon vinyl on the fuel cap to see if it settles down a bit after a while.

Will see how it goes. Would be nice if the grafityp carbon vinyl was as conformable as this is!

[Peter Normington]

Adam, liquid lam can be rolled on, Like I said never used it, but may be worth a try without actually doing it on the car.

Peter

[Gwaredd Steele]

I suppose masking the car up & actually spraying the roof with lacquer is out of the question?

In my experience with rolling on liquid laminate, it won’t settle to a high gloss shine, nor will you be able to buff it back to achieve one like you can with lacquer.

Are you friendly with a local body shop at all?

[Adam McGuire]

Yes I deal with the local bodyshop a lot, so I’ll see if they can throw any light on a solution for this. I prefer the finish as it is though!! Convincing the customer is another thing!

[Alex Tucker]

If you over-lam the carbon it really takes away from the textured material and the carbon effect I reckon, I have some samples here and I ran one through our laminator with an Avery cast lam and it looked ok, nice and smooth etc but the raw vinyl looked much better.

No way I know of to get a nice gloss finish without starting again with a lam’d vinyl, can’t imagine any lacquer going onto the bonnet that would not have some adverse effect on the vinyl and adhesive.

[Ben Damo]

quote Graeme Clark:

Thats interesting Adam, I have samples of that APA coming tomorrow and still have some 3m, I can compare them side by side and let you know if you want?

B Rgds

Graeme

How much is the APA per meter?

[Peter Normington]

about £26 @1500 wide
minimum order 5m

Peter

[Rod Gray]

i`ve had my sample of this from APA sitting on my desk for about 6 weeks now.

It`s shrunk about 3mm from each edge in that time.

That concerns me.

[Robert Lambie]

quote Rod Gray:

i`ve had my sample of this from APA sitting on my desk for about 6 weeks now.

It`s shrunk about 3mm from each edge in that time.

That concerns me.

that would concern me too… 😕

[Graeme Clark]

quote Robert Lambie:

quote Rod Gray:

i`ve had my sample of this from APA sitting on my desk for about 6 weeks now.

It`s shrunk about 3mm from each edge in that time.

That concerns me.

that would concern me too… 😕

We’ve done about 12 roof(s) in this now and have had no shrinkage even over some quite "compound" curving roof surfaces. In fact one of the worst was my business partners E46 3 series so we’ve been keeping an eye on it and its been good. On that vehicle the leading and trailing edge go into the screen rubbers but only to a depth of about 2-3 mm so we would have noticed it creeping back out to say hello!

Was it shrinking on the backing paper Rod ?

[OwenTaylor]

Having only done smaller panels using the APA vinyl up to now, I’ve taken the plunge and bought a roll of the 1500 wide stuff. Got a car booked in for a roof wrap on Saturday…I’ll post the results, good or bad…

Graeme – any advice for a first timer? There is no aeriel on this car so that should make things a little easier.

Cheers, Owen

[Jon Marshall]

It’s not hard to fit at all on roofs. I have heard it isn’t so good on recesses or mirrors though.