Car Wrapping Process
DESIGNING YOUR VEHICLE WRAP
Designing a great-looking vehicle wraps takes a good understanding of design, scaling and creativity. The graphic needs to be designed in a way that the vinyl has correct bleed giving our installers excess vinyl to wrap around the curves.
Our designer understands how to set up the files. He checks and prepares the files, so everything fits perfectly on your vehicle wrap.
VEHICLE WRAP PREPARATION
A clean car is essential when wrapping a vehicle. We always ask our clients to give their vehicle a good wash removing all dirt and grime before bringing their vehicle into the shop.
REMOVING THE OBSTACLES
We remove all handles and lights from the vehicle. Taking off the handles and lights allows us to tuck the vinyl making for a seamless cleaner vinyl wrap finish. Companies that try to cut around the handles and lights will not get a clean finish on their vehicle wrap and might even cut into the vehicle paintwork in the prosses — leaving cut marks in the paint.
In House Clean
We then further fine detail clean the vehicle with IPA (Isopropyl Alcohol) and Autoglym, making sure all Teflon contaminants are gone from the paint work, so that the vinyl wrap graphics will stick and adhere without lifting. Proper cleaning preparation can make the difference between your vehicle wrap lasting for many years or failing in days.
Large Format Printing
Big Colour uses two large format roll to roll printers for vehicle graphics. Our HP 360 uses latex Inks; latex is a water-based ink and reduces environmental impact. The ink is instantly dry after printing and can be UV over-laminated immediately.
For redundancy, we have the Roland XF-640 solvent inkjet large format printer. When printing with solvent Inks, it is essential after printing vinyl we leave the vinyl to outgas for 24 hours before laminating. If laminated too soon, the vinyl will break down and often curl on the edges as the solvent try to escape through both vinyl films.
PRINTED CAST VINYL AND SOLID COLOUR VINYL
Printing to quality cast vinyl is critical. Cast vinyl starts in liquid form and is cast into a sheet or form and runs through ovens, evaporating solvents. When the solvents are gone, you have a solid film around 2mil – 4mil thick. Cast vinyl films conform well to shapes, have very minimal shrinkage. Big Colour only use cast vinyl when wrapping vehicles.
The durability of your vehicle wrap is essential, so using a top-quality cast brand film made from suppliers Avery Dennison, 3M, Oracal, Arlon, Hexis is paramount.
Cast vinyl also comes in many colours. Most solid colours look great for full commercial wraps or a full-colour change of your vehicle.
VINYL WRAP INSTALLATION
The installation sometimes overlooked by the client who is more interested in price. But this is where a vehicle wrap will either last or fail. Installing cast vinyl graphics to the vehicle takes training, practice and is considered an art form.
Applying vinyl to the car or van and conforming the material around curves, is done using a heat gun to soften the vinyl material. When heated at the correct temperature, the installer can manipulate vinyl into position, most importantly, we understand precisely how much stretch to give the vinyl. If overstretched the vinyl will pop out of vehicle curves and recesses, if that happens, the vinyl most likely will not conform back into place.
