I'm not a fan of flat-matte paint automotive jobs or wraps, but after seeing pictures of "art" cars, new Italian exotics, and some flamboyant paint jobs on Rolls Royces (circa 80's from the deported Bagwan Rajneesh), I wondered if anyone has done a wrap instead of repaint.

Every paint place I have shown my bottom front bumper paint degradation to has said leave it alone or redo the entire car.

 

Dumb question I'm sure but what is a 'wrap'
Al

 

Wonder why they say that? Is the paint of the rest of the car still good?

I painted the bumper and bonnet from my black coupe (PEF) and it was a pretty easy match. I HIGHLY recommend removing the bumper to do it though. The car is too low to get the bottom side without making a mess of runs. It's pretty easy to remove.

 

A wrap is a plastic film that adheres to the body of the car. I've wrapped my dash and the front of my car is wrapped in clear (similar to clear bra but up to the windshield). XKRacer did a XK150 in flat blue and I have a picture of a Maserati that has been wrapped (I also found some others). Pictures below. Nice thing about wraps is you can take them off and they resist damage nicely (some of the newer ones are self healing).

 

My friend wrapped his prius hood, top and rear, basically everything but the sides, in black carbon fiber look wrap. (Car's black too) I have to say, it took bland daily driver and really gave it some style!! It almost turns as many heads as my jaguar!!

 

I had to have the front bumper on my Sapphire Blue 2001 XK8 repainted twice in five years for stone chips. No problem getting a match.



The issue for a paint shop with the bumper is the materials and technique required for refinishing plastic components.

As for 'wrap' - it allows much more flexibility!



Graham

 

Do I spy with my little eye my little island nation's beautiful flag on that XK?

 

Well spotted!



Graham

 

About 6 weeks ago I had the whole front clip painted including front bumper, side fenders and the hood. After 130,000 miles I had many rock chips although the paint still looked very good. But when on a trip something bounced up and took a quarter-sized chunk of paint off the passenger side fender, I decided it was time. Color match was perfect, however, clear coat was much deeper and richer on the newly painted surfaces. I then had the rest of the car wet sanded, I polished and waxed the car, and it looks nearly new. And by the way, the front bumper match is much closer than the original paint from the factory was.

 

What is the price range for a wrap on an xk? I would imagine that a solid color would be far less expensive that the graphics on the xk sporting the wild stuff...? Just curious!

 

GTO and a Jag? wow. I had this dream of finding a 1968/69 tempest/lemans/gto to restore before I fell in love with the 1st gen XK8's. You have both! Little jealous, gotta tell you!

 

The quote I got was around $5K for the whole car. The graphics don't make that much difference. To do this right they have to strip the car down almost like you would for paint and then wrap the parts. I've had people tell me they've had it done for at little as $3k but they have to be hungry.

 

You would have a friend that carbon wrapped parts of their Prius, Phil!

 

I also have a friend that has a Bentley Contental GT!
And my friend with the Prius also has a BMW X6 and a Porsche Boxster. He gets a pass on the Prius!

 

Like this.....