How much does a solid car wrap cost?

As you can imagine we get multiple price quote inquiries each day for solid color car wraps. It is very difficult to provide an exact quote without actually inspecting the vehicle in person. There are many factors that would determine the final price of a quote and in this article we will go over what these factors are.

Solid Color Wraps generally are much more labor intensive than full color wraps. The reason is that with a solid color wrap the entire vehicle has to be covered to make sure the original color of the car doesn’t show, otherwise it may stick out like a sore thumb.

We try to remove as much hardware as possible to achieve a seamless and paint like finish on the wrap. However, some hardware on certain type of vehicles can not be removed without enrolling the help of professional individuals.

For example we recently wrapped an Audi Allroad in matte silver (the original color was black). The client requested a seamless wrap, which required the roof rails to be removed. However, in order to remove the roof rails the entire headliner had to be removed in order to reach the screws of the roof rails. This project went from a simple wrap to requiring a full removal of the entire interior of the car.

We normally don’t remove bumpers (unless necessary) since it’s much easier to wrap the bumpers while they’re on the vehicle. Taillights, door handles, emblems and side mirrors are usually easily removed, but again depending on the vehicle these parts could also result in additional labor and cost.

We always encourage our clients to stop by the shop so we can examine the vehicle in person and go over these hardware to determine the time and labor required to remove them. You may ask why this is necessary if we have already wrapped a car similar to yours! This is where it gets tricky, car manufacturers offer many different options and packages on the same model of a car, they even might switch parts around during the same production year which makes it almost impossible to guess what’s actually on the car.

If you’ve ever walked into a dealership and asked for a part for your vehicle, the first thing they ask you is the VIN # of the car even though you know the year, make & model. The VIN # lets the dealer know exactly what parts and hardware were used on your vehicle specifically because the next day the manufacturer could have switched parts, hardware or vendors for the next run of the same exact year, make and model of your car.

As mentioned earlier solid color wraps require a much more attention to details and take much longer to complete than a full color wrap (printed graphics). The vehicle has to go through a detailed cleaning process to make sure all dirt and debris have been removed from the entire body of the car as well as the smallest creases. The smallest amount of dirt missed could result in the failure of the wrap.

A solid color wrap must also be installed with extra care to make sure the vinyl is not over heated or over stretched as this could result in noticeable imperfections in the wrap.

The trim process of a solid color wrap requires a very experienced installer with a super steady hand. If the wrap is tucked too much it is impossible to guarantee that is fully stock to the body of the car and also it’s almost impossible to clean areas that are hard to reach. The wrap needs to be trimmed just enough to cover the original paint.

Post installation is as important as the installation and trimming of the wrap. At Lucent Wraps we do not use any type of primer (unless we notice that paint or the clear coat in certain areas is not holding up) on our wraps. Many installers use primer to ensure the wrap will stick extra hard to areas that might be vulnerable to lifting. However, using a primer does not guarantee the vinyl won’t lift but it does guarantee you will be faced with a nasty residue that is almost impossible to remove when you decide to take off the wrap in the future. The primer could also potentially damage your paint or clear coat at the time of removal.

In order to avoid using a primer the installer needs to spend many hours post-heating the vinyl. The post heating process ensures that adhesive in the vinyl is activated to ensure a perfect seal and adhesion. Since this is a very time consuming process many installers and wrap shops forgo this process just to get to the next job.

OK, Ok, you want to know the cost of a solid color wrap… I hate to tell you, but there is no straight answer to that question as the final price will be determined by the following factors:

* Make and Model of your car
* The color of your car
* The color you want your car wrapped in
* The difficulty level of removing the necessary hardware
* Any aftermarket packages or body accessories
* and finally the level of customization you request

With that said a custom wrap could start at about $11 per square foot and go up to $25+ for a chrome wrap.

So there you have it… The best thing to do when shopping for a solid color car wrap is to do your home work. You can start off by taking the time to read over our Free Wrap Info. Kit which goes over pretty much everything you need to know about car wraps. Second, visit few wrap shops and talk to the owners and the actual installer who will be working on your car. Check out their facility, view their portfolio, ask for references, ask the right questions.

You want to pick a shop that YOU feel comfortable with. The worst thing you can do is to pick a shop solely based on the price as I hope you have learned by now “You Get What You Pay For”.

Good luck and happy wrapping….