I am waiting for delivery of a white S LR. I was not crazy about the Tesla colors other than red. Also, my preferred color (don't ask my why, hardly anyone else seems to like it) is a darker shade of green. I had hardly even heard of vinyl wraps before I began this process, but I gather it is cheaper than a high-quality paint job and protects the original paint job. There is also PPF about which I know just about zip. Words of wisdom?
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Vinyl Wrap or Paint?
- Thread starter diver110
- Start date
Leeclanual
Member
beatle
Active Member
It doesn't cost $20k to have your car painted properly. You're much closer with a $10k estimate.
That said, I would lean towards a vinyl wrap for temporary color changes anyway. PPF is thicker than a vinyl wrap and is more protective, but it may be more prone to showing seams. This is less of a problem when you're not changing the color of the car.
And your love for dark green paint needs no explanation:
That said, I would lean towards a vinyl wrap for temporary color changes anyway. PPF is thicker than a vinyl wrap and is more protective, but it may be more prone to showing seams. This is less of a problem when you're not changing the color of the car.
And your love for dark green paint needs no explanation:
SBDPlaid
Member
zoomer0056
Active Member
Awesome! You can DIY. You'll love the challenge, learn new skills and earn bragging rights. I did PPF myself,
DIY PPF on 2022 Blue Model S
Model S is one week old. I've spent the last four months YouTubing PPF. This first post is practice on the front license plate holder which I will not put back on. It's a good test piece for practicing several techniques. There are compound curves in the corners, edges to wrap and circles to cut...
teslamotorsclub.com
Leeclanual
Member
Depends where you go… D&V Autobody in NoVa are top rated and it costs that much. Lambos, Ferraris, Porsches line their parking lots waiting for work.
NewbyMaybe
Newby1Kenowby
zoomer0056
Active Member
lkstaack
Member
The difference between an expensive and cheap paint or wrapping job are the details.
Most "complete" wrap jobs only cover the exterior. They look great with the doors and trunks closed when experienced technicians wrap it. That's how most people get their car wrapped, paying between $2.5k - $4k. You'll see the original paint color as soon as you open the car door or frunk, though. Getting a 100% color change will double or triple the price because of the labor required to remove components and all the detail work around hinges, wire looms, etc.
You can get your car painted for about the same price of a wrap. However by doing so, you may lower the resale value of your car because: 1) there's going to be overspray on interior and trunk parts, as well as weather stripping, and 2) it may not look good after a few years if it's not prepped properly. Once you go down this road, the only recourse to reverse it is to take the paint down to metal, because you don't want to paint over poorly prepped paint.
The $10k paint jobs are those that spend a lot of time removing bumpers, lids, lights, door panels, etc prior to shooting the paint. $20k jobs do all that, plus removing windows, motors, etc, and then removing paint down to the metal.
The best paint is factory paint. The price you pay for a color change depends on what you can live with.
Most "complete" wrap jobs only cover the exterior. They look great with the doors and trunks closed when experienced technicians wrap it. That's how most people get their car wrapped, paying between $2.5k - $4k. You'll see the original paint color as soon as you open the car door or frunk, though. Getting a 100% color change will double or triple the price because of the labor required to remove components and all the detail work around hinges, wire looms, etc.
You can get your car painted for about the same price of a wrap. However by doing so, you may lower the resale value of your car because: 1) there's going to be overspray on interior and trunk parts, as well as weather stripping, and 2) it may not look good after a few years if it's not prepped properly. Once you go down this road, the only recourse to reverse it is to take the paint down to metal, because you don't want to paint over poorly prepped paint.
The $10k paint jobs are those that spend a lot of time removing bumpers, lids, lights, door panels, etc prior to shooting the paint. $20k jobs do all that, plus removing windows, motors, etc, and then removing paint down to the metal.
The best paint is factory paint. The price you pay for a color change depends on what you can live with.
Just a consideration if you want to go the route of wrapping the car. When I was putting on PPF I asked what the best base color was to apply different colors. They said "black". I am not an expert so you should fact check. I would have thought white would be a good blank slate to work with.
Black is generally the best color to start with for the reasons Ikstaack mentioned above. If you are doing a standard color change and not including the door jambs, under the frunk or the trunk jambs all other colors will stick out when the doors/trunk are opened. Black blends in to the surrounding pieces so doesn't stand out as bad when not covered.
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