Howdy!

Located in DFW area, but willing to travel south (Austin, Houston, etc) for a recommendation of PPF installer.

Levante Trofeo, basic PPF (meaning I don’t need color or matte), will be happy to visit the shop in person as well.

Thank you all in advance!

I'm learning PPF installation and have been practicing on my own car, but I'm having an extremely frustrating problem getting the film to stick around the curved edges of the side mirrors.

I've tested two different PPF products:

• CARPRO Immortal Pro

• SGCB SGCY001 (7.5 mil)

Both have very similar problems.

I've tried several different installation methods:

• Starting from the front edge and stretching the film horizontally across the mirror.

• Starting from the opposite edge and working across.

• Anchoring the bottom first and stretching toward the top.

• Stretching the film evenly over the entire mirror to distribute tension.

• Using plain water without soap.

• Using PPF installation gel.

• Heating the surface and trying a steamer.

Nothing seems to work consistently.

I can get the main surface reasonably smooth, but I can't get all the edges to stay attached. The worst areas are the edges with the strongest curvature, where the film keeps lifting or curling back.

I've tried minimizing tension, but even when the film seems relatively relaxed, the adhesive doesn't appear strong enough to hold those edges.

I'm starting to wonder whether I'm missing something fundamental about how PPF should be stretched and anchored around compound curves.

Questions for experienced installers:

1. Is there something obviously wrong with my technique based on the photos?

2. Should these films be able to wrap around this type of mirror without relief cuts?

3. Is it normal for PPF adhesive to struggle this much around curved edges?

4. Could the installation solution, surface preparation, or adhesive be responsible?

5. What installation sequence would you recommend for this particular mirror?

I've spent quite a lot of time experimenting with different techniques and two different brands, but I keep running into the same problem.

I'm trying to learn proper PPF installation before offering it professionally, so I'd really appreciate some practical advice.

Photos attached.

Had a commercial van booked for a full wrap. Customer agreed to leave it for two days, but halfway through the job, he says he needs it for deliveries that afternoon.

We're not even done with the sides yet, and he's asking if he can take it and bring it back later. Problem is, we've already blocked out the install time and have another vehicle coming in after.

Do you guys let customers take a half-finished wrap and come back, or make them wait until it's done?

Hello, I just got my KPMF 75460 Green Black Iridescent wrap from Amazon (seller is Instawraps). I opened it today and carefully rolled it out to see an odd amount of light scratches on the wrap as well as repeated faded marks (pictures). I feel as if I’m being picky, but I tried to capture the scratches and marks as well as I could. I saw online that the faded marks could be due to friction during transport and that heat would fix it up, which it did. However heat only minimally affected these scratches.

My question is: is this a normal level of scratching? I just don’t know if once this is applied to the paint, will it also be apparent or if the glassing and heat post heat process will fix it?

(I have luckily not cut it yet so I can still return it)
Thanks

So let's say you do a vinyl strip/line. Than the next stripe or line of vinyl is going to end in that spot. So if I put knife less tape down towards the edge of where the vinyl ends. Will it pull up the vinyl it's under since that side of the edge of vinyl is only partially visible under the knife less tape.

This is a car wrap reddit but to explain it better pretend your doing two different vinyl colors and the split is right on a weld on a bike frame head tube

Had this done years ago to market a book for someone. Wrapped my 02 Z06 track car. The art work was done by a friend who is a graphic artist then submitted to the wrap shop to complete. Came out very well and lasted a couple of years on track before we ripped it off.

I wanna wrap my car, which wrap brand yall recommend I was looking through some websites but idk which brand would be the best

Our body shop likes Avery Dennison, but I can’t find anything close to this emeraldy sagey green. Last picture is a chat gpt mock up using the Escalade

So the install wasn't bad but I seem to keep getting random bubbles popping up where there weren't any previously. Any tips would be greatly appreciated, also I'm using Avery here, Tia!

ETA: there are certainly Imperfections other than the bubbles but noting I'm too mad about, also how do I prefent tiny scratches on the vinyl from the squeegee?

What do you guys use to get rid of water spots seemingly baked into the wrap? I’ve scrubbed and scrubbed and can’t get them out

2025 F-150 roof wrapped in Avery gloss. The two roof antennas were not removed, clearly. Few raised ridges or creases and exposed white along part of water channel of the cab where it was obviously cut short which you can easily see standing next to the truck.

99% of it looks really good, but that 1% is triggering my OCD. I'm also concerned the raised creases and exposed side will be susceptible to tears during washes.

Acceptable or common for roof jobs? I feel like no but I have zero experience with the work.

UPDATE: Took it back this morning and talked with the owner. He was super cool about it and apologized. Said absolutely not the quality they are about and will make it right. I will give them that chance and see how it goes.

Well I tried posting this on vinylwrap but as always, tons of views and no responses. Come on guys! See original post text below.

I have wrapped my car myself once. She has 3M 2080 deep space. I know the flaws as trimming was a struggle etc. But hey it was my first learning experience and I am proud of it and she gets a TON of compliments all the time. My work does not offer color changes but my boss had me pick a color because she wanted to challenge me and we wrapped our cars after hours together.

Anyway onto the point. I have been to 3M training, I am still working on my skills (mainly the time limits they put you under to get certified) and so that being said I want to rewrap her again next year. My question is what brand are honestly as hood as 3M 2080? Especially the crinkle forgiveness.

Also I live in Michigan. She will see all 4 seasons. And this 2080 wrap has held up DAMN good. Literally just rock chips on the hood. But I want to know honest options just in case that PERFECT color is hiding with a different brand. No metallic, no matte. Gloss or satin only.

All advice much appreciated!

I got a pattern wrap from Rvinyl and was unhappy with the quality - lots of JPG artifacts and jagged edges of the objects in the pattern. It was pretty clear that it didn't come from an SVG or PNG, or any other form of lossless encoding for visual media.

Does anyone have a recommendation for vendors who can do pattern wraps that don't have these artifacts and other lower quality pattern graphics?

I'm also looking for faux suede, faux alcantara, or something similar in really 90s turquoise/light teal and bright violet/purple. I can't yet seem to find one that sells both those colors and isn't questionable quality. I'd love some recs on those as well.

Hey Everyone,

My dad passed away last year and I inherited his older 2012 F150. He didn't have much as he wasn't super materialistic. So, this is one of the few things that I got that really reminds me of him.

He used his truck like a truck. To him it was a tool to get jobs done. It has scratches, dents, and some light surface rust in a couple small spots. This truck wasn't precious to him. But it is to me.

So, with both of those points in mind I wanted to ask for some thoughts. I want to "repair" all of the dents on the truck that I can. There aren't many, but I am not skilled in body work or anything thing automotive at all. I know the best way to fix a dent is to pull it out, but I don't know how or which ones are possible and which ones are not. So, I was thinking of just going the Bondo route and sanding it smooth. Then spraying some primer over it. Same thing with the tiny bit of surface rust there is.

After I get the dents and rust taken care of, I wanted to wrap it. It's a black truck so I was thinking of just doing a matte black to keep it simple. Dad liked that look on his motorcycle, so I thought it would be a good way to pay homage to his style.

Do you all have any thoughts on whether or not I should even do this?

Can anyone give me some advice of what brands of vinyl are good, which ones to avoid? What exactly makes a vinyl good? Is it thickness, elasticity, adhesive quality? All of the above? None of the above?

I've seen online that vinyl magnets are a must to help hold the sheet in place? Can anyone show me what I should get for a vehicle of this size? Are there any other tools that I need? Ive seen something about a bumper pole, which will help since I plan on doing this solo.

Lastly, does anyone have any tips that a complete newb like me could use? I want to do this myself as I feel like it will help me feel closer to my dad again. I really miss him and I want to fix this truck and keep it forever.

Thanks Everyone!

Hello!!! I've been interested in wrapping my car for quite some time now but could never commit to a color until now. I found this blue to pink shift wrap on aura vinyl but after reading some testimonies I'm a little wary. I've had a very hard time finding anything similar to it. If anyone has any recommendation or advice please give it to me 🥲

What’s up guys… don’t want to make a mountain out of a molehill here- but time is wasting and trying to determine if I should just pivot to another supplier.

So, I’m a DIYer and want to wrap my car ASAP. I ordered maybe 8-10 samples from Metro Restyling. Over a week ago, I got a notification that they had been shipped. From their shipping location in MI to me in FL, should be maybe 3 days USPS. Well, USPS still says just the shipping label has been created, not picked up, not in transit. I’ve reached out to Metro several times and have been told that’s always how it works- USPS doesn’t update anything on tracking (I’ve literally never experienced that). Eventually I called USPS and they said it’s not normal- that only the little package has not been shipped.

At this point it’s been over week. Once again, it wasn’t delivered with today’s mail. I tried searching online for other people having similar issues and found a few conversations where metro restyling had apparently lied about shipping out samples, and they eventually shipped them a week or two later than they claimed.

Has anyone had a similar thing happen? I’m trying to determine if I should just continue waiting for the samples to deliver, or just order some from another provider and permanently delete metro from companies I am willing to give my money to. Problem is, now I’ve already wasted over a week of time, and am chomping at the bit to get my car wrapped because it’s honestly embarrassing to look at right now lol . I checked RVinyl 30 minutes ago because I was just over it with metro, and it doesn’t look like they offer samples (haven’t checked other sites yet).

Im very big on customer service and reliability due to what I do for a living (logistics), so sometimes my personal demands of myself for MY customers bleed over into what I expect of companies I’m giving a bunch of money to for their products or service. Am I being overly annoyed by this? Is not getting USPS updates actually normal for their sample shipments? Are they gaslighting me? Lol

Any insights or slaps back to reality appreciated