Changing your car colour with vinyl: what to know first

What changes and what stays the same

Everything you see of the bodywork changes, and the factory paint stays underneath, intact. That is the underlying argument for wrapping rather than painting: it is reversible, and what holds the car value when you sell it or hand back a lease is exactly that original paint.

What does not change are the parts that are not painted metal. Rough unlacquered plastics, rubbers, seals and some textured trims either take no film or do not end up looking like the rest, and that has to be seen on your car before we start.

Where the original colour still shows

It is the most common surprise after a handover, and talking about it beforehand avoids it. A well-executed full wrap covers what you see while using the car, but some areas fall outside it unless they are specifically requested.

Door frames and the inner edges are part of a complete job. What falls outside is the list below, and if you want any of those areas in the new colour it is planned from the quote: they are extra hours of dismantling, not a last-minute detail.

• The engine bay under the bonnet: the outer face is wrapped, not the inside of the panel.
• The inside of the tailgate or boot lid, for the same reason.
• The runners and rails of sliding doors on vans.
• The fuel filler recess.
• Inner pillars and the areas that sit under the rubber seals.

Choosing the colour without regretting it

A ten-centimetre sample and a four-metre body do not tell the same story. Saturated shades gain intensity as they scale up, greys shift with daylight through the morning, and chameleons depend entirely on the angle you look from.

The useful way to decide is to hold the sample against your own car, outside the workshop, and look at it head-on, at an angle and against the light. And think about the whole: the new colour will live alongside wheels, glass and plastics that are still the old ones.

• We work with 3M, Hexis, Oracal and TeckWrap: the range of shades is wide, but not infinite.
• If the exact shade in your head does not exist in film, we show you the closest ones on the car.
• Special finishes — chameleon, chrome, textures — also affect the price and the installation.

Paperwork and how the car is used

A full colour change is not the same as wrapping a roof, and it is worth checking the specific case and the vehicle documents before starting. We can point you in the right direction for your situation, but we do not replace whatever procedure applies.

If the car is on rental or lease, wrapping works in your favour because it is reversible and protects the clear coat in the meantime. Even so, it is worth reading the conditions of your contract: some finance companies ask for notice, and it is better to know that now than at handback.

The state of the paint decides the result

The film sticks to the clear coat and follows its shape, so it does not cover: it fixes. A particle embedded under the adhesive leaves a raised dot that shows in grazing light, and an area with flaking clear coat will lift with the film when it comes off years later.

That is why the job always begins by preparing the body, and why two cars of the same model can end up with different quotes.

Preparing the bodywork →

What to expect from the result and the timing

• Edges are tucked inside: it is what makes the job last and what takes the most time.
• On parts that cannot be removed without forcing them, the edge is finished in place and stays visible at some point. We tell you beforehand.
• A full wrap needs several days of bay time, with the in and out dates fixed in the quote.
• For the first few days the adhesive is still settling: no washing and no pressure water until the deadline we give you.
• A tiny air bubble at the start is normal; if it stays, we correct it at the workshop.

Full car wrap →What moves the quote →