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Calling all WRAPPERS.............
- Thread starter Gino
- Start date
Joe Diaz
New Member
The majority of vehicle work we do are semis. Not wraps, but large graphics with lots of edges. We use RA (for the rivets). These bad boys get a lot of wear and tear and with the exception of a batch of Avery that went bad on us back in the day, we have never had a truck come back due to premature failure and we have been doing this a long time. Since our truck clients usually can't afford to have their entire fleet wrapped, we can't have a layer in front overlapping the graphics we install. So I guess we have been doing it "wrong" all this time. Who knew?
tsgstl
New Member
I have always wrapped from back to front. Only because there is no benefit to not do it that way. If there was a reason I wouldn't think twice about it. Not starting anything but I find it extremely difficult to understand that it would fail in three months only because of "wrong direction seam" I have had several split bumpers and hoods. Granted the seam is going with the wind. But being on the front of the vehicle it would be subjected to much higher winds in all directions. Not to mention bugs and everything else its hitting. To be honest I don't think I have ever seen any damage of any piece of vinyl ever that could be attributed to wind alone or a seem the wrong way. Most of the time it is a improperly prepared or installed trouble area, and it spreads like cancer from there. Wind may help with failing but not cause it. My 2 cents.
HulkSmash
New Member
Joe you of all people know we're talking 2 different types of animals. Lettering and Wraps are much different. Lots of surface area compared to very little.
tsgstl
New Member
John Butto
New Member
You mean 2mil cast vinyl compared to 4mil (2mil cast with 2mil overlaminate). You can take just your touch and feel the thickness of a wrap vinyl edge and that is really noticed on a boat if you have that exposed to water going by. That is why if you do overlap it better be from back going to front when installing. With 2mil cast vinyl lettering it rarely lifts on a boat because of the thinness of it.
Go put door lettering on a silverado truck on one side. Then go wrap a door on a silverado truck. You tell me which has more area that you are covering? That would be surface area!
Joe Diaz
New Member
Bingo!
Some of the trucks we do have just as much if not more exposed edge area than a lot of wraps out there. I'm talking large sweeping graphics that cover a good deal of the truck itself. The film is just as thick as film used on wraps because it's the same film we would use on a wrap 3951RA with 290G. And these trucks see way more action than your typical wrapped Silverado. Not only do they not fail because of wind or weather damage, but they continue to come back for more when they add a new truck to their fleet, or replace an old one.
If the issue starts at the bumper, than if someone did want to start at the center of the vehicle what's the difference? The bumper still would overlap the next panel installed behind it.
Hey look, I've got no problem with someone deciding on the best way for their shop to install graphics, especially if they believe doing it an alternative way gives them no advantage. I just don't agree with saying it's "stupid" and "your doing it wrong" or calling someone and "idiot" over something like this.:Sleeping:
Border
New Member
John Butto
New Member
Air fairings, deflection of air over the tractor trailer is probably less than a regular car or van. Therefore if you wrap with edges from middle to back or vice versa it seems it really does not matter on these large trucks. Trucking companies do studies on air drag and have improved fuel costs. And they have also found out that the ribs on trucks have less drag and wind resistant. So it seems that it should be left up to the "wrapper" how he wants to do it and chin up if he is called a idiot or stupid. But when you look at a wrap up close, it looks a lot better when the seams are uniform running from back to front.
SIGNTIME
New Member
always back to front why do it any other way? Do it the best you can / least chance of failing. we did a bud light trailer a year or 2 ago and they sent a diagram it was for 4 different sized trailers ... but even without the diagram which we didnt really pay attention to, anyone with basic math skills (addition, subraction, multiplication and division) can figure out where to start and where the end will land in about 5 minutes.... Why justify doing something that COULD lead to premature failure?
HulkSmash
New Member
for those who think wind damage doesn't hurt.
We did this back in Oct. 1 week later this happened. My guess is that my installer who did the hood, didn't tuck it into the grill all the way in that area. This is the result. I'm trying to save everyone the hassle of doing something twice.
We did this back in Oct. 1 week later this happened. My guess is that my installer who did the hood, didn't tuck it into the grill all the way in that area. This is the result. I'm trying to save everyone the hassle of doing something twice.
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HulkSmash
New Member
You should have overlapped that with a panel in front of it.:Big Laugh
Funny.
Gino
Premium Subscriber
Good discussion going on.... and no one is stoopid or crazy because of how they do things.
This is all based on what this guy told me yesterday and does not reflect on how we do it in our shop or anyone else here on s101 does it. It's just the way this guy does it and has been doing it for years, without any failures. The guy I was talking about is given a graphics package for a vehicle. Usually two a week. He has no idea if he's doing a Coke truck, Pepsi, one of many beer companies or many many others. They are a fleet company and do everything from painting whole vehicles, to decorating them to rebuilding their motors or whole undersides. He is not given any instructions other than certain parts which cannot be removed when positioning panels due to wheel wells, hinges or major obstacles. These graphics are made by a company who sends them out with no concern of how much over or under the end results will be. He says it takes too much time to set everything out and worry about too much overlapping or incidentals getting in the way, so they've been instructed to start in the middle and work your way to each end. He then either cuts off the excess or just patches in with a solid color. He mentioned most of them end with nothing coming to a complete edge, so it's easy to add or subtract vinyl.
I had the same reaction most of you have here. When you have the ability to do it from back to front..... you use it to your advantage, if not.... you hafta go with the flow and get the job done. Whatever floats your boat, but like I said, he told me he's had no failures in his years doing this. He has two monkeys working in his department, but they aren't allowed to do anything more than get this or that, so I assumed he must be union and they aren't paid to help to keep costs down. Corporate America, I guess.
This is all based on what this guy told me yesterday and does not reflect on how we do it in our shop or anyone else here on s101 does it. It's just the way this guy does it and has been doing it for years, without any failures. The guy I was talking about is given a graphics package for a vehicle. Usually two a week. He has no idea if he's doing a Coke truck, Pepsi, one of many beer companies or many many others. They are a fleet company and do everything from painting whole vehicles, to decorating them to rebuilding their motors or whole undersides. He is not given any instructions other than certain parts which cannot be removed when positioning panels due to wheel wells, hinges or major obstacles. These graphics are made by a company who sends them out with no concern of how much over or under the end results will be. He says it takes too much time to set everything out and worry about too much overlapping or incidentals getting in the way, so they've been instructed to start in the middle and work your way to each end. He then either cuts off the excess or just patches in with a solid color. He mentioned most of them end with nothing coming to a complete edge, so it's easy to add or subtract vinyl.
I had the same reaction most of you have here. When you have the ability to do it from back to front..... you use it to your advantage, if not.... you hafta go with the flow and get the job done. Whatever floats your boat, but like I said, he told me he's had no failures in his years doing this. He has two monkeys working in his department, but they aren't allowed to do anything more than get this or that, so I assumed he must be union and they aren't paid to help to keep costs down. Corporate America, I guess.