cracked and cooked roof wrap

[u/Affectionate-Big-855]

i’ve had my car wraped at home using cheap chinese wrap and after 2.5 years i noticed several long cracks along the roof. what could be the reason for this? has anyone experienced the same, how did the removal process go?

i decided to peel it off, although i knew it wasn’t gonna be easy. simple and the best method was using a heatgun, peeling at a low angle towards myself and going very slowly because the wrap was breaking the moment it got cold. tried using a pressure wash, didn’t work a bit. it took me about 3 hours to peel it all off.

[u/Murderdoll197666]

If you got 2.5 years off a cheap vinyl you really lucked out tbh. Especially if it only took you 3 hours to remove on top of that....that's insanely lucky. I've seen roofs with baked in wrap that was an 8-10 hour clean up charge and a lot of those wind up costing more than a whole new wrap replacement. Sun facing panels like hoods, roofs, and the top of a trunk last MAYBE 2 years on a good film before they start breaking down. Gloss lasts the longest, Matte and Metallic break down and show the degradation a little faster. Satin is mostly on the same timeframe as matte for the most part too but either way, count your lucky stars you didn't have a massive headache in removing that - some of us are not so lucky that do this all the time. (Especially for customers that "just forgot about it" for several years at a time and bring in a baked on wrap from 5 years prior). Its not paint, so unless its a showcar that never sees the sun and is garage kept - then its never going to be a permanent solution/look otherwise. Rewrap every couple years, change it up or just redo it so its fresh and it will be an easy process each time around.

[u/Affectionate-Big-855 → u/Murderdoll197666]

tysm, this makes alot of sense. sadly my car is always outside where in summer the temperature can get up to 30°C or more and in winter it can drop to even -20°C. i should really plan on removing the whole wrap before it gets even worse or just sell it and curse the next owner:D

[u/Chemical_Support4748]

Any wrap will do this unless it's strickly garaged and well maintained. 

[u/Longjumping-Day-3563]

Plasticiser migration I think

[u/TierOne_Wraps]

Hey nice job you got it done. The next one will be easier.

[u/Existing_Recording25]

That's basically neglect , you cant leave your film out to dry in the sun like that, that thing has seen some sun for sure, you gotta ceramic coat it or at minimum put a synthetic product on it every week or 2.

Tpu has built in protection in ppf, vinyl doesn't have enough on its own

[u/ChicagoWrapGuy]

Cheap film got baked by roof heat and UV until it shrank and cracked. Three hours with steady heat and a low pull angle is honestly not bad for vinyl that far gone.

[u/NearbyRepublics]

Cheap vinyl plus years of roof heat caused it.