Geek Wraps Training A+

[Rebel Graphics]

Hi Guys, I just completed a Geek Wraps Training and it was pretty intense. Lots of knowledge, great training crew.
Any tips for this rookie who's about to wrap his first car soon? Where can I buy cheap vinyl just for practice?

 

[Dennis422]

Congratulation on your training.
First thing you have to learn before wrapping, DO NOT USE CHEAP VINYL!!!!

If you learn on the cheap vinyl, you will not know how to handle the good one. Every vinyl handles differently, Avery is very easy to instal, Oracal has more aggressive adhesive, Hexis' is even more aggressive than Oracal. Call your local rep and ask for a small sample roll, try a few different ones and pick one that you will use.

Stay away from Amazon and eBay vinyls. They are cheap, old and they suck!

 

[Jester1167]

I agree on not using cheap vinyl, make sure you use a cast air egress vinyl. Do not use calendared vinyl for vehicle wrapping. It's not made for complex curves and you won't really learn anything. 3M and Avery are going to be the easiest to install and remove. Color change vinyl would probably be the best bang for the buck. If you mess up a fender, cut off another hunk and redo the fender instead of a reprint, outgas, and laminate. I would also stay away from carbon fiber, metallic, and chrome vinyl for anything other than accents. They behave differently than straight colored vinyl.

Make your first wrap your own vehicle. The benefits of wrapping your own vehicle are that you can practice over and over without a deadline, use it like a business card to show your potential customers, and you can keep an eye on problem areas and learn which techniques worked and which didn't over time.

 

[Kwiksigns]

I don't know about not practicing on a cheap CAST film. Some years ago, mactac rebranded a cast film for fellers called Gamut. It was terrible and had adhesion problems at first but they made it higher tack. When they finally stopped making it, when I started to use 3M it was a breeezzeee to install. So much faster. So I think if you are using a cast film to learn, you should be fine. vvivid has some thats not too bad. I think Instant One Media has a cast vinyl too.