How do you wrap the ridges on the side of a bus?

[WhatsYourSign?]

We're trying to wrap the side of a school bus and are trying to figure out how to wrap vinyl in the ridges on the side of a bus without overly stretching the vinyl or causing the vinyl to wrinkle as we work our way up.

The image below isn't the bus we're doing but you can see the ridges I'm talking about (and they've done a great job with them, so there's clearly a method to doing them).

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[Superior_Adam]

depends on the vinyl you are using. There are some vinyls that will allow you to heat and press into the grooves and will hold without a problem. I would suggest a small amount of Primer 94 to help in those areas

 

[Dan360]

I would only heat and stretch if the ridges are very shallow. Otherwise, feed the vinyl in as you work from top down. I would keep the liner on for the bottom half so you can make a pole and control it easier. You can compensate in your design by stretching that portion using the masking tape measuring method like you would on a corrugated shipping container.

 

[jfiscus]

IJ480 is the vinyl you're gonna want to use, and have a 3M Certified Installer put it on for you. We're getting ready to do one this month here ourselves for a food bus. They're not fun at all.

 

[a77]

That bus looks great.
Would be real curious to see it after a year. All wraps look great when they leave the shop...

 

[2B]

these are a TOTAL PITA!!!!!!! charge accordingly.
we have done some and the price is not worth the hassle IMO

use a material that is very conformable and lay into the valley, instead of heating.
our installers use a top-down method.