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Need help selecting car wrap material/lam

victor bogdanov

Active Member
I only make indoor graphics, murals/decals and was approached by a neighboring car wrapping business asking if I can print car wraps for them.

They wrap expensive cars ie rolls royce, Bentley etc and "pop trunk" type cars mostly with color change vinyl but are looking to do more regular cars and business vehicles with printed wrap. They are outsourcing the printing, someplace online they found but would rather work with someone next door.

I told them Ill do some research on materials as they do not know anything about the printed/laminated wrap materials, their current supplier just asks them "3m" or "Avery" and they prefer the Avery, they are trying to find out the specific material/lam

I'm clueless about car wrap materials but with some research it looks like it is between:

3MIJ180 and Avery 1105, only problem is both are out of stock at fellers and fellers is recommending ORAJET 3751 as an alternative

The rough price they said they are paying is $1400 for 25yd x 60" of printed/laminated wrap, which seems doable with the above materials.


What are some good printed wrap/lam combos with average quality, not looking for the cheapest but also don't need the most expensive stuff.

Will be printing on Roland SG2s.

Another thing Ill have to figure out is lamination, I only have a CWT flatbed laminator but can purchase a roll to roll laminator. How much material will I waste learning how to laminate if I buy a laminator?

I have a friend will a roll to roll that I'll use on the first few wraps if the CWT doesn't work out (works good with 3-4 mil laminates but not sure it'll work with the thin stuff)

Any advice is appreciated, I'm using this opportunity to learn something new
 

victor bogdanov

Active Member
Ok I'm going with the following, since it is about the only thing in stock

Avery 1105EZ vinyl with either 3M 8518 or Avery DOL1360Z lam.

Any problem with this?

Also is $600 to print and laminate (not counting material) 75ft x 54" too low or about the going wholesale-ish rate?
 

jfiscus

Rap Master
Call Grimco if Fellers doesn't say they have it in stock. They had around 140 rolls yesterday in stock of 3M IJ180c.
Right now, everyone is "out of stock" but it comes in in a week or so. We order 10 rolls of each at a time just to keep a couple extra in stock, unless it's a big order.
The end customer might also want their wrap in gloss or matte laminate, so you might have to order each laminate "per order" so you don't get unnecessary rolls in stock.

Always match your laminates with your vinyls (same manufacturer) if you ever want to claim any type of warranty.
However, I would ask the customer which material their installer prefers, some really like working with Avery or 3M over the other.

I would recommend a GFP563th Laminator to you, very easy to learn and operate. However, roll-to-roll laminators are not cheap.
 

jfiscus

Rap Master
I would definitely see what all is involved in "printing" these wraps for the customer before you price it to them. I would base it off of the square footage as far as "printing" goes, but usually there is some setup/art time involved unless they have a good designer on staff so price that separately. I would also have everything in writing about who is responsible for correct scale/bleed on panels.
 
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victor bogdanov

Active Member
I would definitely see what all is involved in "printing" these wraps for the customer before you price it to them. I would baase it off of the square footage as far as "printing" goes, but usually there is some setup/art time involved unless they have a good designer on staff so price that separately.
Ok I'm waiting for them to provide a file so I can see how much I'll have to do to get it print ready, also figured out the material they are currently using is Avery 1105EZ with Avery DOL1360Z lam so I'll go with that
 

unclebun

Active Member
We use Avery MPI1105 EZ RS with DOL 1360Z. It is currently available from Grimco.

I wouldn't mix brands of film and laminate.
 

rjssigns

Active Member
6000xrp is nice, though I'm more of a fan of the SLX+, especially if it's going to be plotted. I'd definitely recommend the 3220 or 3270 over 3m's 8518 for days! That stuff makes me hate myself.
I've wanted to try the SLX but end up ordering the 6000 series.(old habits die hard I guess) How does the white point of SLX compare to 6000? Got a lot of shuttles out there that need new panels from time to time and color match is important. And yes the 3220 is the best laminate I've used and I've used them all.
 
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