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Wrapping truck utility box

gnubler

gnubler

Active Member
Got a request to wrap this truck box - both sides, front, back. Not the top. Customer wants it charcoal gray to match the truck, logo/text on sides and rear. Has anyone wrapped a box like this? The rear doors look tricky having to deal with the indentations and hardware. Any other challenges I might encounter? I don't have much experience doing wraps and don't want to bid on something above my skill set.
IMG_3672.jpg
 
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signheremd

New Member
The back doesn't look bad at all - assuming you use wrap vinyl to change the color. But remember, you will need to clean this really well to have good results - about half the time you have it - I would windex it first then hit with alcohol or Rapid Prep twice. I think you can do this in 2 days (1 of them just for cleaning), and should keep it one more to make sure nothing needs to be re-squegeed. I would trim around the hinges as seams pull apart. I would also expect to have a seam where sides/roof meet back. If he can remove the ladder racks, or you can, it will be much easier to lay the roof. If he wants the sides inside the bed done, the whole thing will need to be removed from the truck bed.
 
gnubler

gnubler

Active Member
Customer wants the "front" wrapped also, meaning the side that faces the rear window of the truck. So the whole thing would have to come off and be left in my shop for a couple days. Here's another angle:
IMG_3674.jpg
 
gnubler

gnubler

Active Member
Painting was my first thought, and it would look better too. I bet the customer looked into it and figured a wrap would be cheaper.
 
Notarealsignguy

Notarealsignguy

Arial - it's almost helvetica
gnubler said:
Painting was my first thought, and it would look better too. I bet the customer looked into it and figured a wrap would be cheaper.
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They all think that and it's not. There are places that do overall paint and there are places that do mainly collision work. The collision guys are gonna give you the go away price because they don't want that kind of job.
 
petepaz

petepaz

New Member
i haven't priced paint jobs in years but the customer always thinks wrapping is cheaper than painting but is it?
you used to be able to go to mako and get a $1000 paint job, not sure what the quality is but definitely cheaper than wrapping
 
Gino

Gino

Premium Subscriber
Quoted on a rather large trailer a few weeks ago and the guy outright said to me, we know it'll cost about 25k to paint this. Til we mend things, clean off all the rust and tape it off for painting, it'll be cheaper to just wrap it. I said to him, I'll give ya a quote, but don't think you're gonna save all that much. All the stuff they hafta do to prep it for paint is exactly all the stuff we hafta do to make it vinyl-ready..... and then some. It was cheaper, but not by a whole lot. Thing is still sitting in their yard with nothing done to it.
 
Gino

Gino

Premium Subscriber
Hahahaaa...... that's when an average car cost about $2,500 new and gas was like 25¢ We'd put our coins together and go 'joy' riding all night in one of those old aircraft carriers.
 
gnubler

gnubler

Active Member
I passed on this one, my gut was telling me DON'T DO IT. The box is fiberglass and the customer said he was advised not to paint it because the paint may crack. I suggested installing some large spot graphics instead of a full wrap, so it may come back to me yet.
 
Johnny Best

Johnny Best

Active Member
You learn from doing new things, Most boats are made from fiberglass and paint like AllGrip is use with no cracking. You should not be afraid of a good challenge. It will put hair on your chest, not like you need anymore.
 
N

netsol

Active Member
petepaz said:
i haven't priced paint jobs in years but the customer always thinks wrapping is cheaper than painting but is it?
you used to be able to go to mako and get a $1000 paint job, not sure what the quality is but definitely cheaper than wrapping
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so, earl sheib doesn't paint any car for $29.95 any more?
 
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netsol

Active Member
Johnny Best said:
I had my Ford F150 painted not to long ago at Maaco for $2200. They did a great job.
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we do some computer work for a couple local maaco franchises.
10 years ago, my 1995 jaguar xjs was going to be repainted.
I DIDN'T ASK for a quote, but he volunteered to give me a "special price"
no one will be surprised, it was higher than a good friend's high end body shop (who actually did the job)
maaco is great, for a lot of things, the quality, for a franchise surprises me, sometimes
 
U

unclebun

Active Member
netsol said:
we do some computer work for a couple local maaco franchises.
10 years ago, my 1995 jaguar xjs was going to be repainted.
I DIDN'T ASK for a quote, but he volunteered to give me a "special price"
no one will be surprised, it was higher than a good friend's high end body shop (who actually did the job)
maaco is great, for a lot of things, the quality, for a franchise surprises me, sometimes
Click to expand...
They probably quoted higher on the Jaguar because they figure a Jaguar owner is more likely to come back demanding things be fixed....so they have to break their routine to do things better.
 
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