Teran Marsell | Published on January 31st, 2022
Sometimes your ride needs a fresh look. Things start to look sour or the color that you thought would give your vehicle a cool custom look all of a sudden feels dated and weird. In either case, you might think that the best way to shake things up is to completely change the look of your motor vehicle. Ponder the pros & cons of painting your car vs. using vehicle wrap.
Often, the look of a vehicle wears out faster than its actual performance does. When this happens, some people choose to spring for a new paint job, but what if there were a better option? What if there was some way to change things up without actually having to apply paint to every last part of your car’s bodywork?
Smart vehicle owners will often choose to wrap a vehicle in vinyl rather than repaint it.
Why? Take a look at these advantages.
Wraps have the following benefits:
- Temporary
- Protective
- Flexible in terms of visual design
Let’s explore some of the pros and cons of painting your ride vs. vehicle wraps. Taking a simple look at car wrapping pros and cons is a great way to start things out.
Vehicle Wrap vs Paint Pros and Cons At A Glance
When you’re first considering car wrap vs paint, you’ll want to take a look at this basic chart:
Pros Of Vinyl Vehicle Wraps
Motorists who get vinyl vehicle wrap installed won’t have any lack of choices when it comes time to pick the design they want. Unlike paint, vinyl vehicle wraps could theoretically be made in almost any pattern. Even camouflage is an option. Some enterprising individuals will have advertising content put on their cars in this way.
A wide variety of colors are available, and vinyl vehicle wraps can theoretically help to protect against damage. If they get scratched up, then they can simply be removed and a new piece of material applied. When you scratch the paint job on a car, the only option is to have the vehicle repainted. In many instances, this isn’t going to make economic sense, thus making the overall cost of ownership for a vinyl vehicle wrap that much more reasonable.
Cons Of Vinyl Vehicle Wraps
Improperly installed vinyl vehicle wraps look really bad and might have cut lines around certain projections, like the driver’s side mirror. This gives it a really unfinished look and might even eventually start to come off.
Pros Of Painting A Car
Painting a car gives you the freedom to customize the paint scheme and apply airbrush effects later on. This has long been a favorite of car clubs. You probably can’t even count the number of times that you’ve seen a hot rod painted over with flames or maybe dice. This advantage is somewhat starting to recede, however, since there are now custom services for lowriders and other types of aftermarket designs now available.
Cons Of Painting A Car
Perhaps the biggest drawback to painting a car is the fact that what you do is permanent. The color change can’t be easily undone without repainting the car entirely a second time. If a paint scheme gets damaged in the future, then you’ll have to repaint it again anyway. You usually can’t easily get any sort of advertising or other content on a vehicle this way either.
Wrapping A Car Pros And Cons
The Pros:
Vinyl Vehicle Wraps Are More Accessible Than Ever
A traditional paint job used to be the only way to transform or refurbish the look of your vehicle’s exterior, while wraps or films were for luxury vehicles only.
These days, vinyl vehicle wraps are more accessible than ever to the mainstream market. Accessibility and visibility drive demand, and demand has created a number of wrap product choices for consumers.
Consumers have multiple options to consider when considering getting a wrap. This makes sense because wraps let you change your vehicle’s car colors as often as you would like, and have your original one back just as soon as you need or want it.
Vinyl Wraps Give You More Colors, Textures, And Designs
What’s more, you can throw your own spin on a wrap because they give you a wealth of design options. Designs can be created either for the sake of style or for advertising and branding. While paints typically offer the driver a monochrome style, there are no limits on the design you can print on a wrap. You also get to play with the finish on the wrap, with different feels and textures.
- Gloss
- Matte
- Satin
- Carbon fiber
- Brushed metal
These are options that are not possible when you work with just paint. You can turn heads with designs, colors, patterns, textures, and finishes. Do a partial wrap to save money while still getting some decals. Some people choose to wrap just the hood with a design.
Pro: Wraps Cost Less Than Paint Jobs
Wraps are the most affordable options for refurbishing or customizing your vehicle’s hull. They cost less than paint jobs, on average. These wraps can last for about seven years. During those seven years, they guard the original paint job against bad weather, damage, rust, minor scratches, and similar damage.
The Cons Of Vinyl Vehicle Wrapping
There are some traditionalists who insist on the permanence and look of a paint job. Classic cars preserve some of their value when they are as close to their original condition as possible. However, a clear wrap can reduce sun damage on a classic car’s coat.
Potential Con: Avoid The Risks Of A Shoddy Installation
Many cut-rate places skimp on time or materials in order to attract business with a low price tag. However, this creates a number of potential problems.
- The wrap can bubble, shred and fray on the sides
- If you use the wrap for a business, shoddy work is a bad first impression
- The wrong type of adhesive might leave a permanent effect
Keep Your Vehicle In Good Condition With Team Acme
Fortunately, working with a professional organization like Team Acme can help to ensure that you don’t run into these kinds of problems. Getting the wrap installed by experienced professionals is important to prevent fitment-related issues as well, which sometimes become a problem when the dimensions of a vehicle weren’t taken into consideration.
Enjoy the pros of vehicle wrapping and avoid the cons with help from Team Acme, expert auto detailers in Henderson outside of Las Vegas, Nevada. Contact us online to learn more. You can also always feel free to request a free vehicle wrap quote now.
