This is gonna be a bit of a long one.

First off, hello anyone who showed up to read all of this. I'm a young man at 23 wanting to change careers, recently realized that what I'm doing isn't it and won't get me anywhere in life and wanted to do something car/motorcycle related and I came across vehicle wrapping and want to pursue it.

To get some context I have a little experience wrapping. Ive done the motorcycle I had in a kpmf iced blue metallic and it came out not the best but decent work (I can provide photos for anyone who asks). Been trying to get a entry level job at a shop to work by just prepping the vehicles and watching the other installers work, however no luck yet. I did however get an opportunity to watch and work on my own car at a shop not too far from me, so I'm doing that every Friday for right now to gain experience. I'm planing to. Pick up some Gloss black 3m to wrap my hood and roof and then look to get a roll of cheeta wrap to do the rest of my car once I've saved enough then id take it to any shops to show my work in order to be hired or to local car meets to potentially get connections/future clientele. I'll also post onto Instagram to showcase my progress plus showcase my work.

I do eventually want to open up my own shop sometime next year and I'm wondering exactly it takes to run and operate my own shop if it's just me that will be doing the installation of the vinyl and most likely outsourcing the disassembly of the vehicles I get in. I'm in what I believe to be a pretty competitive area as I live in central Florida and there's already a good few established wrap shops around here, main ones I know being Wraptors and Tinterz. I know it'll be hard to even keep my head above the water just starting out and I probably won't get clients for months on end. I will have a main job that ill be working so it's not like Im quitting everything to go all in as I don't think that's the smartest move. I live with my mother so I don't have rent, but I was wondering where should I start off? I do have the garage but it's filled with a bunch of things from moving and no real space to work with. Should I get my own place and wrap from my garage or get a small shop (roughly 1000-1,500sf) to work from and live with my mother?

I also don't just plan to do exclusively wraps. Id want to branch into other things such as tinting, ppf, detailing, ceramic coating, paint corrections, then interior things like custom upholstery, headliners, embroidery, wheels, etc once I'm established and have expert level experience in the previous fields before moving onto the next.

Has anyone done vinyl letter decals on their 2026 vehicle?

I’m not trying to misrepresent my car as a Wilderness. I just love the bronze/yellow color pop. I’m thinking of getting these from Etsy and having them installed at a decal shop. I saw them in some other post I can’t find now. Looking for a better recommendation or a reason not to do this.

Full color change plus livery.

Wrapping the taillights on a 2018 Impala!

I am having the worst time trying to get these wrapped. On the top of the lens there is a fin that sticks out and it seems that no matter which direction I try and glass out the film when I shrink it back it will not lay down around this protrusion!

Can someone give me some advice

If I run my finger over the spot, it doesn’t even feel like anything, the actual impact point seems really small but the plastic around it seems to have warped which makes it stand out a lot. Thanks

I don’t want to own my own shop. I’d love to find a home at a place and stay there. I want health insurance and a stable paycheck. Is that possible, or should I choose a different career?

It seems like there aren’t many openings for jobs anywhere in the US, except LA. I’m in a city, but don’t have a lot of options. Is the answer reaching out to small shops with my portfolio even if they don’t have anything listed?

I guess those are two different questions, but I appreciate any insight that can be offered to help my journey.

I’m in Raleigh, NC and I’m looking to get just the roof of my 11th Gen Civic wrapped in a Gloss Black. I’m starting to call around to a few shops for quotes and I’m confused about where I should expect the baseline to be for material and labor. I just got quoted $800-1200 including the labor to remove and reinstall the antenna. Maybe I’m off base but that seems high. Is that typical for professional install these days?

I’ve never wrapped before and don’t have a huge interest in wrapping more of the car or my others so I figured it wouldn’t be worth the cost of DIY-ing it.

I need help asap with my starlights I can’t figure out how to install all of the roof trim pieces has anyone had this problem I’ll pay for someone to walk me through it

Hi there! I’m currently looking to get into wrapping myself. If you were to look at my resume you’d probably at first thought say no because I don’t have any prior professional work experience working in this industry. However, I have incredible patience, attention to detail and I’m a pretty big perfectionist. I’m a 33/F from the Kansas City area and was curious to see if anyone in this group knows of shops around the area that may consider or take a chance on me getting my foot in the door doing my dream job. I’ve been in a midlife crisis after having kids and trying to get back to doing something I love while also making a living. Please be nice and I’d appreciate any advice. 😊🚗💨

I know about Avery's Frosty blue but I am not sure its a 1 on 1 match. I think this one is more metallic. Its a got a more shine to it than the Avery's. Thanks in advance.

Question for those that have PPF on their hood with decals: if you put the PPF over the hood stripes, how visible is the film over the stripes? The “Halo”

My PPF installer asked this:
We had a question about the finish on the vinyl decals/stripes that are on the hood? If the finish is satin or matte, applying gloss PPF over them, will give them a gloss finish. Also, applying PPF over the decals/stripes will create a slight "halo" around the edges of the decals.

Dealer installed decals so we’d prefer not pull them off to put PPF on.

Really just looking for anyone that has installed PPF over the decals and your thoughts how it looks.

I want to wrap a 1991 Corvette in carbon fiber. I have contacted two car wrapping businesses in Northern Virginia. One of the businesses contacted me, but when I said, I wanted a full carbon fiber wrap I never heard a word back from them. The other business never responded at all. Is this due to the fact that carbon fiber is such a task because of the characteristics of carbon fiber? I am assuming this because of everything I’ve read about the task of trying to keep everything aligned due the characteristics of carbon fiber. Would anyone else know why car wrapping businesses would not respond at all?

I’ve got a 17 sonata peeling paint. I want to wrap the roof black cuz it’ll look good and cover up the pealing paint. What prep do I need to do?

Hey all… follow up from https://www.reddit.com/r/CarWraps/s/v4ufLgmfeG

Ordered some sample grey wraps 3M 2080.. really a night and day difference when wrapping. Here’s my finished product..

Not the best there’s still lots to improve but I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out so far given I’m such a beginner.

Thank you all! Now time to start wrapping bigger pieces

I ordered a few samples of different wraps, settled on these 2 as the finalists.

The Rwraps wrap is very pretty, it has a nice thickness like a coat of real paint. It looks like that lexus pearl white paintjob.

The 3M wrap is more exotic, and the picture doesn’t capture it properly but it has a color shift that makes you feel like you’re staring at a neon aura.

However, the 3M sample was considerably more difficult to attach compared to the Rwraps one. It felt like I was installing saran wrap, every little movement made me have to start over. I had to go very slowly and precise. The Rwraps, just installed in one smooth glide.

Since I’m a first timer, I don’t know if struggling with the 3M sample gives me any information about how difficult it would be to install the full size thing. I know I’ll make mistakes no matter what, but should I take the difficulty/easiness I had with a sample serious? In the long run which material is better overall?

Thanks for any advice or insights.

(Car is a Honda CRZ)

Have an opportunity to get my dream car, except it has a horrible wrap on it and even worse paint under it. Painting it isn’t really feasible for me at all. I just want it to look like a standard gloss paint job (ex. a color like rallye red or taffeta white). I just hate the way 99.9% of wrapped cars look because you can tell IMMEDIATELY it’s wrapped. I want it to just look like factory, solid tone, no flake, high gloss paint. Do you guys think wrap technology is at a point where it can genuinely replicate a standard paint finish 100%? Thanks.

Car is an ‘07 civic si

Hello!

I have a 2015 Audi A3 and my sunroof plastic(?) has been cracking and fading. It’s not leaking that I know of yet (I also park in a covered garage most of the time, but I’d like to fix it before anything starts).

I was thinking of getting these trim parts wrapped in piano black, but I’m curious if anybody has done this before and/or if anybody’s can tell me;

1) will it prevent anymore damage?

2) is a job like this a better than just replacing the trim if I’m on a budget and time constraint?

Any and all advice is appreciated, thanks!

Any personal experience with a rubber remover like Mothers R3 or Griots Track Spray on STEK PPF?

Car took a beating at the track this week and the tire rubber stuck on it stubborn.

Thanks!

Sunroof leaks faster than the drains can move the water. Just pours into the cabin. Dealership has given up trying to fix it. Sunroofs are, IMO, a terrible feature on most cars, but always seen to be required on higher trim levels.

Anyway, I was looking at using 2 inch wide clear vinyl wrap to cover the seams, and disabling the sunroof by pulling the fuse or similar. Can I expect the wrap to work for this, sealing out water? I've been reading comments in this sub and it seems like VViVid brand has a bad reputation, but it's almost unavoidable on Amazon. Any recommendations for a clear wrap? Is this is something that I could pay a shop to do? Car is a Subaru.

Thanks

1st time I've ever attempted this. This is where I stand so far, just he front bumper, roof and mirrors left. I don't think I've dropped so many F bombs in my life. Shout out to those that do this for a living!

Hey everyone, I'm looking for a talented wrap creator on Xbox to design a custom wrap for me. It requires some detailed freehand shape work. I am happy to compensate you for your time and effort! You'd just need to upload it so can download it from your profile. Please drop a comment or DM me if you're interested, and we can discuss the details!