Wrapping trailer with aluminum trim

[Doyle]

We are wrapping a 42' trailer (police mobile command center) that has a lot of aluminum trim around doors and slide-outs/compartments etc. The customer supplied the artwork and has some text that goes over these wide trim areas (trim is up to 2" wide on some parts). My question is, if we wrap over these trim pieces (with relief cuts, obviously) will the vinyl adhere to this raw aluminum for the long-term? If these pieces of the wrap fail over time, it will be isolated to just the trim, but I just want to know what the possible problems that we may encounter and what I can do to prevent/avoid them?

 

[Doyle]

We are also contemplating wrapping over the black window trim as seen in the attached photo as well. There is a small strip of rubber at the bottom of these windows that we would trim out, but if anyone has experience with wrapping these please let me know any pointers or advice you may have, thank you in advance!

 

[Hero Signs]

Black window trim/rubber, it will not stay unless you ruin the stuff with gobs of primer. I have also learned that small adhesion area is exactly that, less to grip equals less grip = fall off. Maybe others have had better experience and are better wrappers than me but I don't put my name on work that is half *** or will fail.

Graphics must be redone, you explain to them that is why they higher an expert like me. Lol I will gladly charge them to redo the art work.

 

[SightLine]

It will stay on the bare aluminum as well as on black painted metal window frames just fine. Just make sure not to leave it on the rubber seal around the glass itself (and be careful to NOT cut the rubber seals all up). Also make SURE if any windows are emergency exits that ALL joints in the frame are cut so that the window can be popped out/opened in an emergency.

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

Raw aluminum is a tough one. Alot of the petroleum products used to make alumium seep out over long periods of time and you may experience failure points. You can always clear coat the aluminum then wrap.

 

[Doyle]

Thanks for the reply! When trimming around the compartments and windows that have caulk around them, do you usually trim the graphic back off the caulk?

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

We do that or we remove the caulk, wrap and recaulk.

 

[Doyle]

I think that removing the caulk will look much cleaner. This is a brand new trailer, so it seems it shouldn't be too difficult compared to caulk that is old and brittle. Any tips for removing the caulk? And I would then just replace it with a clear silicone caulk? Thank you!

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

We just use a flat plastic scraper and a olfa knife. Cut it away from the framing edge and then use the scraper to remove from the flat siding. For caulk we use Clear Silicone with a rapid dry (20mins or less).