Lotus Europa Community
Lotus Europa Forums => Garage => Topic started by: Dilkris on Friday,September 03, 2021, 09:50:56 AM
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Not that I am contemplating doing it - but just out of curiosity, has anybody vinyl wrapped a Europa and if not why not? Is it feasible or simply an "off the wall" idea? :confused:
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I don't now a lot about wrapping cars beyond talking to a guy at a tint shop about it. I would guess it would be feasible. As I understand it, one disadvantage is that it is that it is more susceptible to scratches. I seem to remember some issues around how long it lasts and dealing with refreshing it but I don't remember clearly and could also be wrong but I would suggest you discuss this with the "wrapper" if you are considering it.
Of course, the good thing about it is that it's a lot cheaper than paint, probably takes less time, and may be more flexible in terms of design choices.
If you delve into this further, let us know what you find out.
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I know a guy who wrapped his Porsche Cayman in order to change colors. He had no experience doing this and says it took him about 35 hours to complete. I was quite impressed with the results. When you looked closely, there were some apparent application shortfalls but you could not see them from a distance. He reports the cost of the material to be around $500 US dollars. Quite a bit less than a paint job.
As BDA says, it is subject to tears and stone punctures, exposing the original color beneath the vinyl.
No information on longevity.
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I suspect you will still need a pretty much blemish free surface or it will show through the vinyl.
You could also get it printed with a picture on the side, possibly of a car so that other drivers think you are driving a Hummer (for example). Obviously this wouldn't help with safety, as to make it all fit on a Europa it would look like you are further away.......
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Not that I am contemplating doing it - but just out of curiosity :confused:
I was really thinking out loud - I appreciate preparation would have to be done but..... ??
A cursory search on vinyl wrap seems to suggest that the technology has come on in leaps and bounds with the actual application reserved for professionals only.
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You could also get it printed with a picture on the side, possibly of a car so that other drivers think you are driving a Hummer (for example).
If you're driving a Europa, (you've arrived!!), so why would you want to pretend you were driving something else..?? :FUNNY:
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I have helped wrap a Jeep Gladiator, some cars/trucks are worse than others. The gladiator was a complete pain in the butt!
There was an Europa that was wrapped in Blue and White at one point. I haven't seen much of it lately. The biggest challenge with any old Lotus is that there are no body lines that make a nice stopping point for a wrap so you always end up with a seam somewhere that you can see unless you wrap the whole car at once.
Ross
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Better living thru chemistry...wrap it up!
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This is the wrapped car I have seen.
http://davidsclassiccars.com/lotus/58691-1971-lotus-europa-s2-blue-white-over-black-hides.html
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A member of this forum in the early days wrapped his car....
http://www.lotuseuropa.org/LotusForum/index.php?topic=329.0 (http://www.lotuseuropa.org/LotusForum/index.php?topic=329.0)
I've seen saloon cars wrapped in chrome and it seems to work better if you've got large flat panels. Our cars are all curves so I could see problems around the front indicators, headlamps, rear windows, etc. It would be nice if you could arrange the seams to get pinstripes to cover most of them ;)
Brian
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A member of this forum in the early days wrapped his car....
http://www.lotuseuropa.org/LotusForum/index.php?topic=329.0 (http://www.lotuseuropa.org/LotusForum/index.php?topic=329.0)
Brian
That's an interesting insight and that goes back to 2012 I notice - vinyl wrap, as I understand it, (both the material and methods of application), has come on in leaps and bounds in 9 years - so for 2021 its an interesting option.
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I'd agree the concept of vinyl wrapping is interesting but I'm not convinced I'd do it on my car. I would always be looking at the joins and that'd spoil it for me.
From the Youtube videos I've seen I reckon you need a very good surface so I'd imagine stone chips, surface crazing, etc, would all have to be properly repaired before wrapping, and after you've gone through that you might as well throw paint on ?
Where I am interested is for things like the front/rear bumpers. Chrome plating is getting expensive these days and I'd wondered about wrapping a bumper and seeing how that turned out.
A few years ago I tried a rear lamp surround from the Elan - the oval Vauxhall ones - and found the surface has got to be very good, good enough for paint really. My repairs to the mazak pitting wasn't good enough & showed at certain angles and getting the chrome film neat enough was another problem.
But I do think it's possible with some work on a front or rear bumper. At some point......
Brian
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Paint is another option for bumpers. There are some amazing chrome paints now!
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I have wrapped a 35 ft boat and part, so far, of a old Ford truck. The son has wrapped and dewrapped his 911 a couple of times. I did the boat three years ago and am using 3 year old material on the truck.. or rather was. The son used new stuff. The new stuff is very forgiving and much easier to use than the three year old stuff even whe it was brand new. The son noticed an improvement between wraps even a year apart, doing it last about 6 months ago. FYI, the wrap is off again. That illustrates the benefit of a wrap if you can do it yourself, you can a hanger pretty much on a whim.
The older wraps were difficult to get to wrap around some of the corners a Europa has. From what the son says, the new stuff conformed much easier.
As to longevity, the boat has been through several storms and the remains of a hurricane where it spend hours hard on a pilling and a flattened fender. The wrap got a couple of short marks but stayed in place. It is still shiny after three seasons and I expect to get another three out of it. And yes, any imperfections in the surface will show through the wrap, tape strips protects the gel coat and when removed, the protected gel coat is just slightly higher that the exposed gel coat and the old stripe shows through the wrap. So do slight depressions from filled chips.
I intend to get new stuff for the truck and frankly have been thinking about a wrap for my Europa though mostly so I can drive it sooner and have better cosmetics.
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I have wrapped my custom hood with semi-gloss CF wrap and it turned out nice.
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Nicely done!
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Very nice job on both, the wrap and the bonnet.
Dakazman
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My Lola S2 Race Car is wrapped silver, black and yellow. If I knew how to post a pic I would :-[
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Tony, does this help: http://www.lotuseuropa.org/LotusForum/index.php?topic=1379.0
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Tony, if you have a I phone , mail it to yourself . it will ask you what size to send . chose something less than 1 mg. then save that SAVED picture from your mail . post it.Dakazman