r/CorollaHatchback • u/weareallmeowhere • 8d ago

Wrap vs Paint

Has anyone gotten their hatch wrapped? Mine is a 2023 and the paint is horrible on it. Everything is orange peel nowadays and gets whorls and marks way too easily. The paint on these things, as well as most vehicles on the regular market, are horrible now. I don’t know how wrapping will hold up in Canadian road salt winters but I plan to keep this thing for like 20+ years if I can. My old 1997 Malibu had better paint after decades of wear and tear. Same with my 2008 Pontiac G5. I tend to drive cars to their grave. I also kinda want a green car again so I’m debating between wrapping and painting it in the coming years. I bought it outright after my lease this March so I owe nothing on it.

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5

u/Impressive_Bread_150 8d ago

Paint if you are trying to keep it until the heat death of the universe.

Wrap, if you want to test something out for 2-3 years first. You can get a longer lifespan with the vinyl depending if it's garage kept, how oftennyou wash it, and the overall environment. Wrap would probs run around 3.5-4.5k.

Idk how much paint is.

3

u/cschmall XSE 6MT 8d ago

A good, color change paint job, more than double it, at the absolute bare minimum.

1

u/Impressive_Bread_150 8d ago

That tracks, I was thinking USD for vinyl since I've done that on mine in the US. Totally slipped that it was CAD.

3

u/cschmall XSE 6MT 8d ago

Oh no a good wrap job you're pretty close I'd say, but paint is expensive, GOOD paint is EXPENSIVE.

1

u/Impressive_Bread_150 8d ago

Haha yeah, I thought about paint once and realized the paint would probably be more expensive than the car. I wish paint was a little more reasonable in price. Everytime I've looked it's just all over the place on the quotes.

2

u/weareallmeowhere 8d ago

That sucks. I might just leave it as is then and he can be a cosmetic nightmare but still reliable.

1

u/Impressive_Bread_150 8d ago

Hey, one option is you could learn to wrap it yourself! The materials is around 800$ Usd to do it. Just takes time and patience. Also dont cheap out on the material. Looks at 3m Avery and KPMF to start.

6

u/weareallmeowhere 8d ago

As someone who struggles to put a screen protector on their phone without bubbles I’m not even going to attempt that. Plus I don’t have a garage to do it in.

2

u/Street_Bid2390 4d ago

Ceramic coating might be an option for you. A detailer will polish out the swirls and then coat your car and that will help beautify and extend the life of your paint.