Today’s project is going to be Wrapping the Roof of the Gem. My 2017 has a White Roof
(The car is all black). So I wanted to install some black vinyl to the roof. I bought some vinyl from Amazon. I went with the Vivid Brand vinyl because of the good reviews I had seen from the thousands of online install videos that show you how to install vinyl on YouTube. For some reason I took a likening to just watching the different techniques, the installers use to wrap high end cars. The do some amazing work. The roof should be a pretty straight forward job. I went with a satin finish carbon fiber vinyl for the roof. I’ll show some progress as I go today. I pressure washed the roof last week and blasted all the dirt out of the nooks and crannys last weeK. Then I used a clay bar to remove all the tree sap and contaminants.
Now I need to run to the store to get some “isopropyl alcohol” to do a final clean on the roof before I attempt to install . Wish me luck
@grantwest
I have done a lot of wrapping ( no pun intended) use a little soap in your spray bottle… Like on or two drops. Have a nice padded or rubber squeegee, and take your time. A heat gun is your friend if you have any curves, that stuff will stretch like crazy to get out a seam or wrinkle.
I did mine . Gloss black on the rails and top . Matte carbon fiber on the inside roof . Looks awesome .
Having never done this before. I did the roof in 2 sections. I split the roof down the
Middle and did the drivers side first. No drama no heat gun. Then when we went to do the other side of the car the vinyl was all stretched and not happy causing us frustration. That’s when we busted out the heat gun. The heat gun Shinks the vinyl and makes it lay flat. The heat gun worked out all the problem areas where the vinyl would start to bunch
Looks good Grant nice work rookie.
From what I understand some vinyls are much easier to use (wrap) then others the thinner cheeper vinyls are supposed to stretch and bend easy, while other thicker more durable materials are harder to wrap
I would think you’d want to use a heat gun on all of it since it will get hot when the sun is baking on it come summer time. Or is there something which will prevent it from shrinking when the sun is heating it up?
It will not shrink, once it is attached to the panel of the vehicle. There is actually glue in the wrap as well that helps it stay in place.
I obviously don’t know much about “wraps” but I was watching a Netflix show on sleeper cars and a number of times it was mentioned about a good looking “wrap”. I figured out quickly it was a vinyl covering and hearing the guy with the chrome Ferrari saying it was wrapped blew me away.
Decals have come a long way. LOL
Looks great. Any tricks doing the inside?
G, that look really good . Can’t see the seam at all . Good choice on the matte finish .
Wrapping the underside of a 2016+ could be harder???
The early cars in my opinion would be easy cause you not Wrestling with a 5 foot wide and 6 foot long piece of vinyl. The early cars only have 2 Small sections and the sunroof takes up
Most of the roof
Anyone here ever wrap the body panels, front and rear spats for older GEMs, circa 2007? I’ve had a few quotes on paint that were outrageous and I’m leaning now towards a DIY wrap job as I’m not in a hurry and could take my time with it.
Any suggestions on approach and materials? What works and what didn’t?
Unless you are a skilled “wrapper” no pun intended you are going to have a difficult time. The older models have LOTS of curves and that will be your enemy. As long as you are willing to start over ALOT as you learn you might have some luck.
I wrapped my Infiniti FX (lots of curves) and I threw out almost as much wrap as I used by the time I was done.
I agree with what mike said. I bet the front hood and rear spat would challenge even the most skilled vinyl wrapper. I think a Vinyl wrap would be in the $1500 range.
You could always wrap what you could and then take the hard stuff to a professional. I don’t think wrapping is that hard for a amateur, it just takes way way longer then it would if a pro did it. If you watch how to videos on wrapping and then just take your time and be very patient im sure you can do it