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Trailer wrap questions

Just Me

New Member
i just went thru this dilemma myself:wink: i decided on wrapping over the rivets, btw i printed this on my 30" versacamm this week.
 

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ProWraps

New Member
wrap over them. use a rollipro rather than rivet brush so you dont poke holes where the screw heads are.

removing them is opening you up to failures with the trailer (leaks, etc.) and is 100% not necessary.

sorry mosh, but BEGINNERS dont know how to wrap over screws. any "meathead" can pull them out. a professional, knows how to wrap over them correctly.
 

Flame

New Member
wrap over them. use a rollipro rather than rivet brush so you dont poke holes where the screw heads are.

removing them is opening you up to failures with the trailer (leaks, etc.) and is 100% not necessary.

sorry mosh, but BEGINNERS dont know how to wrap over screws. any "meathead" can pull them out. a professional, knows how to wrap over them correctly.

Looks like I'm a professional meathead then cuz I can do it both ways :p

:goodpost::corndog::corndog::corndog::corndog::corndog::corndog::corndog:
 

wes70

New Member
When going over screws, do any of you use calendered air-egress vinyl or do you only use cast (3m 180, etc)? If calendered vinyl, does it conform around the screws easily?
 

Just Me

New Member
When going over screws, do any of you use calendered air-egress vinyl or do you only use cast (3m 180, etc)? If calendered vinyl, does it conform around the screws easily?
these guys wrap the trailer every year as they change sponsorships, so i used Oracal 3165ra and 210 lam, worked perfect!
 

Bill43mx

New Member
I just tallied up the opinions and right now it's 8 to 6 in favor of "wrap over them", A question for those that do it that way and use the Rollepro......I've seen several videos of how you heat and roll the rivet/screw area but I haven't seen one that shows the step before that, how you get to the ideal "tent" over the rivets. It seems that that is what will make or break the end product. Anyone have any tips or video links to help me understand that part of the process?
 

turbo

New Member
I have Wrapped 100`s of different types of trailers. Although cargo trailers do have larger screw heads than riveted trailers we ALWAYS apply over, because if you remove screws when applying then someone is removing screws when the vinyl comes off, and if I was that somebody I would be p ssed. Wrap over way better final product.
 

grafixemporium

New Member
I just tallied up the opinions and right now it's 8 to 6 in favor of "wrap over them", A question for those that do it that way and use the Rollepro......I've seen several videos of how you heat and roll the rivet/screw area but I haven't seen one that shows the step before that, how you get to the ideal "tent" over the rivets. It seems that that is what will make or break the end product. Anyone have any tips or video links to help me understand that part of the process?

You might want to take into account the number of full trailer wraps each of your voters have done. It's probably not a good idea to take advice to heart from someone who has only done it once or twice. And remember, we're not talking about spot graphics, lettering or partial wraps in this thread. Just full wraps. We have done a bunch... and our installers have done hundreds throughout their careers. We cover the rivets or screws every single time.

By the way, we wrap every trailer with 180cv3 and the vinyl holds just fine around the rivets or screws... as long as it's installed correctly. What is the correct way? Depends who you ask ;)
 

phototec

New Member
Question #1....is it standard procedure to cut the vinyl at the point where one aluminum panel overlaps the previous one or is it better to heat the vinyl and conform it to the step? Second question...."remove and the reinstall screws" vs "wrap over the screws" method. Which do you prefer and why?

I like to start by making detailed measurements of all the panels on both sides of the trailer, then I make a full scale template and create the artwork based on all the panel widths and overlaps.

I print the wrap panels the the exact width of the aluminum panels on the trailer, including a bleed. Then install the wrap on each panel and cut the wrap along the seam of the trailer panel, it almost looks like each panel was screen printed directly on before the panel was put on the trailer.The only seams are at the panel over laps, I have NO wrap seams in the middle of a panel.

As for the screws, yes it takes more time to remove them, but IMHO, makes for a much more professional looking install, if you wrap over screws, sometimes the wrap lifts around the screws several years later (see example below).

One word of caution, I don't take all the screws out at the same time, I don't want the trailer to fall apart. Take out screws for one or two panels at a time, wrap the panels, re-install the screws, then move to the next panel(s) and continue removing screws, wrapping panel(s) replacing screws until one side is complete. This way the trailer doesn't loose it's structural integrity by taking out to many screws.
 

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GAC05

Quit buggin' me
Question for the "remove" guys.
How do you keep the screw from twisting the wrap when you set the screw tight after the vinyl is down?
We don't have many trailers put together with screws out here. Just about everything is the same as most box trucks with blind rivets that are not coming out.
When I am mounting metal signs through the face they always twist if I don't trim the material back enough to miss the fasteners.

wayne k
guam usa
 

kstompaint

New Member
these guys wrap the trailer every year as they change sponsorships, so i used Oracal 3165ra and 210 lam, worked perfect!
210 over screws? Yikes. I've used the 3165 or 3551 but always with 290 cast lam if there are screws. If it's screwless or has small rivets, the 210 is ok.
 

SightLine

║▌║█║▌│║▌║▌█
No failures for us going over them. Over the past ten years or so we have done well over a hundred full smaller trailers and have never once removed screws. I have seen firsthand on a trailer we redid where someone else had removed the screws, a LOT of the screws were loose and the trailer was overall somewhat loose and wobbly. Most all of the consumer level cargo trailers use aluminum supports inside - (most - Pace, Wells, etc are not using expensive harder aircraft grade aluminum) aluminum is SOFT. Once you have removed and reinstalled a screw a couple of times in aluminum, it will NEVER hold as secure as it did the first time it was installed.
 

mgieske

New Member
Removing rivets wastes time & leaves a matrix of silver dots on the layout. Do you guys pull them out upon removal as well?
Removing rivets on a 53ft trailer would take all day (few thousand rivets sometimes)
 

jc1cell

New Member
Anyone have any images of the screws before and after the wrap. Just curious how it would work since I have no experience with such an install. A visual would be great.

jc
 
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