Vinyl Wrap Color Change

M

MikeC

Weekend Rider
Hey guys,

It's like 4am and I just ran out of vinyl, so I'm making a thread about my progress.

Anyways today I decided I wanted a white FZ8. It came down to it that vinyl was the least expensive but more complicated way (vs professional paint vs plastidip). It worked perfectly since I can do most of the pieces in my room and work all night.

The vinyl I'm using is 3m wrap film called 1080 in gloss white, it's really great stuff but costs about $35 bucks a yard directly from the supplier. Pricey. I've heard great things about the Hexis HX20000 or HX30000. I also know Oracal makes the 970ra line which is pretty close. originally I was torn between matte white or gloss white, and I came to the conclusion that matte white just looks a little "unfinished" or primer, and I'd much rather rock a shiny white "paint job".

I've determined that I'll probably end up needing 1.5 to 2 yards to complete the job, as I still have the tank and plastic tank cover to do. Definitely 2 yards if the front fender is going to be wrapped too.

This is the little locking washer thing that needs to be pried off before you can separate the tail pieces.


got it all apart


wrapped - Ideally I would have liked it to be one piece, but it was REALLY difficult so I trimmed it a the midline and used two separate pieces, one for top and one for bottom. I hate using seams, but i didn't have a whole lot of patience, time or heat gun.


Some other pieces wrapped white;


Quite a bit of ghetto wrapping, some are not as good as I would have liked, but I'm getting tired so maybe I'll redo tomorrow.
 
cambo

cambo

Avid Rider
dude that is so freaking crazy, I was JUST watching a video on some guy vinyl wrapping the roof of his subie and I though, "hmm...I wonder if you could vinyl wrap the entire bike?"

...and then I see this post.

freakin' awesome man, can't wait to see the finished product! wfdowns has a plasti dipped white bike so I'm curious to see what the difference will be aside from a more glossy look that you'll have.
 
DLSGAP

DLSGAP

New member
At $35 per yard and needing two yards, I'm failing to see how that is cheaper than plastidip

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2
 
Rabbitman109

Rabbitman109

Lumen Junkie
That is awesome! Would have never thought to vinyl wrap a new color. May be more expensive than plasti dip, but I bet it would be more durable.
 
M

MikeC

Weekend Rider
DLSGAP said:
At $35 per yard and needing two yards, I'm failing to see how that is cheaper than plastidip
Click to expand...

That's because you failed to think critically about it.

But yeah, you make a good point. In terms of raw material cost, plastidip would would have been a better value. BUT it really depends on how much dip you use and also if you want to use a glossifier.

2 yards of 60" vinyl is 30 sq ft. and 1-11oz can of plastidip covers about 5 sq ft. at that rate you would need 6 cans to match the square footage of vinyl.

1 case of 6- 11 oz cans of white plastidip will run you 45-50 bucks. Then add in a few cans of glossifier, and masking tape. At that point the upfront cost to do your bike is about...exactly the same. Maybe less, if you spray light.

Rabbitman109 said:
That is awesome! Would have never thought to vinyl wrap a new color. May be more expensive than plasti dip, but I bet it would be more durable.
Click to expand...

Thanks Chad, why don't you send me your bike and i'll wrap it for you. haha . There were quite a few factors that made it more convenient for me to go the vinyl route including:

A preference with working with vinyl
no drying time
less messy
able to work at night (no spraying at the apartment).
Durability - Especially this one, as there was a huge concern for durability on the tank.
Glossy Finish
Material availability (white plastidip was available at my local home depot by special order, and by the case only. Vinyl was available same day).
and finally doing something new.
 
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master paper clip

master paper clip

New member
micha3lchu said:
That's because you failed to think critically about it.

But yeah, you make a good point. In terms of raw material cost, plastidip would would have been a better value. BUT it really depends on how much dip you use and also if you want to use a glossifier.

2 yards of 60" vinyl is 30 sq ft. and 1-11oz can of plastidip covers about 5 sq ft. at that rate you would need 6 cans to match the square footage of vinyl.

1 case of 6- 11 oz cans of white plastidip will run you 45-50 bucks. Then add in a few cans of glossifier, and masking tape. At that point the upfront cost to do your bike is about...exactly the same. Maybe less, if you spray light.



Thanks Chad, why don't you send me your bike and i'll wrap it for you. haha . There were quite a few factors that made it more convenient for me to go the vinyl route including:

A preference with working with vinyl
no drying time
less messy
able to work at night (no spraying at the apartment).
Durability - Especially this one, as there was a huge concern for durability on the tank.
Glossy Finish
Material availability (white plastidip was available at my local home depot by special order, and by the case only. Vinyl was available same day).
and finally doing something new.
Click to expand...

Where would u find something like this at a local store, I plasti dipped my bike a coupe months ago, and I love the look but I sprayed to light and wanna redo it but washing plasti dip is annoying as hell, I actually wouldn't min redoing my white parts with vinyle instead of painting it this time, that way its still not permanent and easier to keep pretty
 
M

MikeC

Weekend Rider
wfdowns said:
Where would u find something like this at a local store, I plasti dipped my bike a coupe months ago, and I love the look but I sprayed to light and wanna redo it but washing plasti dip is annoying as hell, I actually wouldn't min redoing my white parts with vinyle instead of painting it this time, that way its still not permanent and easier to keep pretty
Click to expand...

Yeah! I heard your name mentioned. Actually I was wondering if you have any pictures! If I had my own place with a garage, I probably would have plasti-dipped first cuz spraying seems a hell of a lot more straight forward than having to wrap and cut and heat and shrink. lol.

Did you have any problems with adhesion? Did you have to prime the plastic before you dipped? You know, I've heard that keeping dip clean is difficult, and that it wears away if it's sprayed too light. seems like you hit it on the head.

Where to buy? Probably not at walmart or a big box retailer. You'll probably want to call around and find a local vinyl distributor OR shop online for comparable prices. The listings on eBay seem like a fair price, I just hate waiting for shipping.

Most big vinyl distributors like here that also carry 3M will be able to place an order for you for anything you want from the catalog, but some of them will have minimum orders if the distributor itself doesn't keep any of the more custom materials on hand. If you order some crazy color it may take a week or two for you to get the item, and you'll have a minimum of 10 yards of it, and it'll cost you 400 bucks. If the distributor itself carries the color you want, they'll be able to sell it to you by the yard.

For my shop, I personally order from FELLERS, the World's Largest Wrap Supply Company. Since they have a branch nearby I can will call to save on shipping time and cost. As with most distributor type businesses you don't have to be a business to order from them, but i believe you do have to setup an account since they're a distributor.
 
master paper clip

master paper clip

New member
It wasn't hard to spray on, don't really have to worry about drips and anything kinda evens its self out as it drys, as for prep all I did was wash all the para with soap and warm water then let them dry and sprayed away






It lasted like a month or 2 before i took it off, because i couldnt clean it but I also didn't spray on enough or thick enough layers
 
M

MikeC

Weekend Rider
In Progress, oh boy this crap was a mess.













Thoughts:
After seeing this thing put together, i wish I would have spent more time on the edges and intricate details. Unfortunately I rushed through most of the tail and gas tank the shoddy workmanship is evident when you get up close. :(

well, that and it was seriously a pain in the ass to do. total time took about 6 hours.

Overall, it looks pretty clean and nifty. I'll probably be redoing a bit of the tank and cleaning up the tail later on down the road.

Total vinyl used was 1.6 yards.
 
T

Tango59

New member
Looks good !!! Bet it was alot of work. Wish Yamaha would have taken a page from the Harley book and offered colors.
 
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