Applying Carbon Fiber wrap to Plastic fenders, will it work.

[Stormyj]

Hi all.
Had a guy come in to the shop and wants to apply oracle carbon fiber wrap to the plastic fenders of his 2013 Ford pickup. They are the plastic material and have a slight rough texture to them. I told him that I don't think you can and that they will likely start to peel off and not stay secure. If you look at the image attached, the fenders are secured with screws. He also wants to do all the parts attached to the outside that are of the same plastic. Anyone have any luck with this type of application? He paid like $750 for two rolls and I dont want him throwing it away. Thanks.
Jim

 

[WildWestDesigns]

Hi all.
Had a guy come in to the shop and wants to apply oracle carbon fiber wrap to the plastic fenders of his 2013 Ford pickup. They are the plastic material and have a slight rough texture to them. I told him that I don't think you can and that they will likely start to peel off and not stay secure. If you look at the image attached, the fenders are secured with screws. He also wants to do all the parts attached to the outside that are of the same plastic. Anyone have any luck with this type of application? He paid like $750 for two rolls and I dont want him throwing it away. Thanks.
Jim
View attachment 100321

Most of the guys that I know are just putting clear film on theirs. The painted bumpers aren't lasting like the old chrome ones did. I wonder how long the ones on my 2014 are going to last compared to my 2006.

 

[Josh Klassen]

camo

I have seen these trucks rolling around with camo on the fenders. I am not sure if they are wrapped or what..i would assume so?

 

[toucan_graphics]

I wouldn't do it.... in my estimation, the install will fail. Not sure if Primer 94 would be helpful or not as you would probably have to cover the entire surface of the plastic.

Interesting video from 3M on this very topic... watch at the 2:00 mark and see the adhesion of the film on plastic v/s painted surface.

[video=youtube_share;NV50qfA4sJE]http://youtu.be/NV50qfA4sJE[/video]

 

[HulkSmash]

1st - if you guys don't know don't try to recommend you're going to cost the guy a customer.........


now... primer eats oracal vinyl - never use it on oracal. Never.

Oracal has fairly high tac, you can do it, but it wont last long, and you can't warranty anything. We stay away from these type of things
because in the end reflects on the installer - so we turn this stuff away daily.

 

[Stormyj]

Thats what I thought. The material they use to do the fenders almost has a Teflon surface to it. I imagine its made like that on purpose to keep off dirt and road grime. I felt the wrap would go on, but would come off fairly easy. I will recommend to him not to do it. Waste of some fine vinyl.

 

[synergy_jim]

Just pulled 180c off of some textured plastic we wrapped 5 years ago. We primer 94'ed the entire panel. No failures.

 

[toucan_graphics]

Just pulled 180c off of some textured plastic we wrapped 5 years ago. We primer 94'ed the entire panel. No failures.

But as Colorado said, Primer 94 tends to eat through Oracal vinyl.... I missed that the OP mentioned it was Oracal when I mentioned primer94 on the entire plastic surface.

Personally, I've never had a problem with Primer 94 and Oracal... but have heard of some issues - I wouldn't risk it on $700 worth of customer vinyl.

 

[rubo]

it's called hydrographics - or water transfer printing, or cubic printing. there is bunch of videos on YouTube, one can buy their own film and print the pattern themselves - you need waterbased inks though, solvent ink will eat trough the film like nothing, UV inks don't work, period. Latex doesn't work either. Ask me how I know :Big Laugh

 

[worthy1]

Personally, I've never had a problem with Primer 94 and Oracal... but have heard of some issues

We have not had an issue with Primer either, having said that we don't use Oracle but the particular brand we do use the reps say primer can eat away at the vinyl also (we haven't seen it happen).

Seems odd that the makeup of the adhesive is different enough where it is fine for one brand and not the other but hey im def no scientist.

The reps unfortunately do demos and deal with nice shiny new cars not cars with areas of gravel rash or road grime build up that no matter how much cleaning is done it wont all come off. These are the only times we will dabble some primer on, I agree it is not always needed and we don't need to use it unless there is an area we know might give some grief in time.

Agree also that I wouldn't recommend wrapping the plastics, you can try a simple adhesion test with an offcut of vinyl. Show the customer how it sticks to the car paint and then the fender. That always helps to show them how easy it may come off.

 

[jetblack3s]

pro bonding the edge should work, primer 94 wont do chit on those material. it's your call, i know my guy won't even take the job.