10 Reasons Wrapping Your Car May Be A Better Choice Than Painting It

Is It Better To Wrap My Car or Paint It?

Here’s 10 Reasons Why We Think Wrapping Is (Generally) The Better Option:

1. The Cost Is Cheaper.

• A paint job that is actually worth getting can range from $6,000-$10,000+ depending on the choice of color, who paints it, and the paint quality.

• Our professionally installed, high quality films cost $4,000-$5,000+ and will have a life expectancy of 4-10 years.

• We also professionally install partial wraps (roofs, hoods, chrome trim blackouts, Interior dash/console wraps, etc.) are also a great way to get started customizing your car, with prices beginning at around $300.

Car wraps are not meant to fix your paint, and though cheaper than paint, they aren’t cheap. The high quality material is expensive and a lot of experience is involved to really pull off a good wrap. You can get cheaper material and cheaper labor, but ultimately your end result will reflect that. In the end, you want a high-quality result. A high-quality result doesn’t come cheap in any situation.

2. The Quality Is Better .

Paint quality really depends on the price you pay for it. Like wrapping, cheaper paints will look great at first, but usually fail within just a few years resulting in wasted money. The thing with wraps is your money will go further towards that high end material. Professionally installed vehicle wraps will leave your vehicle looking great for years, especially with the high qualities we use. It also can keep a high quality paint job safe without changing colors (I.E. clear bra installations).

3. Ease Of Color Change:

Speaking of changing color, Furthermore, there are some colors, finishes and effects that can be done with vinyl, that cannot be easily accomplished with paint. Some of these include chrome, color shift, pearl, and satin finishes. For these options, it would be often better to go with a car wrap instead of paint.

4. Wraps Are Long Lasting:

Like what happens to a car when it sits in the sun (if you live in the southwest, I’m sure you’re nodding your head), a wrap is susceptible to sunlight. It will fade and lose it’s luster if not taken care of properly. But, when you do care for your wrap, it can be just as durable as any paint (and cheaper, like we previously stated). Really, all that you need is to cover it up when you can. Park in the garage, wash it regularly, etc. Much easier than coating it with polish every few months.

We wrapped this truck for a brand called Quick Kap. You can see how it looks almost indistinguishable from a high quality paint.

5. Countless Options:

Have you ever loved a car so much by design but prevented yourself from buying it because it doesn’t have the color you like? With today’s wrap tech, that’s no longer a problem. Now it’s easy and less expensive to be able to stand out from all of the others and have a truly one-off vehicle that suits your personality. If after a few years you want to change it up (or a few months like some of our customers), just have us remove it and pick something new! Who doesn’t like to keep everyone on their toes?

6. Installation Time:

Here’s a big one:

• When you get a paint job, you’re often without your car for weeks. That’s weeks of taking the bus, riding a bike, or bumming a ride from your mom… sounds fun, right?

• With wrapping a vehicle, we can have your car fully wrapped and ready to go within 3-5 days. That’s literally less than a 3rd of the time, and we’d guesstimate 100% less embarrassing moments with mom.

7. Wrapping Protects Resale Value:

With high end vehicles, collector’s cars, etc. Original paint = $$$. Maintain the original manufacturers paint will keep the resale value intact, and a devalued aftermarket paint job will just as easily drop it. But what if that original color is mustard yellow and you absolutely despise mustard yellow? Get it wrapped. You can keep the paint intact while also feeling better about your ride.

8. Wrapping Also Protects Paint:

Speaking of protection, a professional vehicle wrap is the best form of protection on your stock paint than pretty much anything else you can buy. Every inch of vinyl on your car is protecting your factory paint from all natural hazards and weathering, and not be affected by prolonged sun exposure. Vehicle wrap vinyl is very durable, ~4mill thick, and will act as a shield to anything that gets kicked up in front of you. Unless you love rock chips…

This is a photo shortly after wrapping a client’s Veloster. He was swiped by a car and the car lost it’s paint but the vinyl didn’t rip or tear, showing just how strong it is.

9. Wraps Are Easy Maintain:

Ok, we love waxing our car to some degree, It’s therapeutic. But we’ve all been there, the point of just being really sick of waxing. You never have to wax a wrap. Vehicle wraps are extremely easy to maintain and will look brand new after hand washing with soap and water. We also can recommend specialty quick detail sprays and ceramic coating packages to keep the film even easier to care for!

10. Safe Removal (A.K.A. Reversible):

Last on our list, not only will your wrap last longer without fading with less maintenance, but it will also come off easily. Perhaps you are a person who likes to change things up often, You can save quite a bit by wrapping once a year over painting. Any professional wrap job (I.E. installed here at SMW) may be removed safely between the 4-10 year period and will NOT affect your paint. The main point of using vinyl to change your car’s appearance is that it’s reversible. Meaning, if you change your mind, or need to return the car to stock to sell it (most people don’t have the same love for neon green that you have) you can always revert back to the original state.

Click the button below to give us a call and schedule your vehicle wrap!

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And let’s get started on your wrap today.

Is There A Time When I Wouldn’t Want to Wrap My Car And I Should Instead Get It Painted?

Though we love getting our vehicles wrapped, there is one condition where wrapping your car would be a pretty expensive mistake:

Wrapping To Fix Bad Paint.

At Salty Motor Works, 99% of the time we’ll encourage car owners to have their cars wrapped. It just makes more sense, except when it doesn’t. The person we encourage to get a paint job is the person who has bad paint to begin with. You need good paint for your base with wrapping. Any imperfections (Texture, orange peel, cracking, weak paint, failing clear coat, etc.) in your paint will show through the wrap. If the paint itself (not the color) looks bad to begin with, we recommend starting there. To be clear: you don’t need a show quality paint job for a wrap, it just needs to be healthy ( A.K.A. strong clear coat, no deep scratches, no corrosion, etc.).

Conclusion

Hopefully this post helped you understand car wraps vs paint and when it’s best to paint your car rather than wrap it. Ultimately, it’s up to the you. Look carefully at your needs and decide which on is worth it. As for the SMW crew, we will always love an awesome wrap!

Here at Salty Motor Works, we are experts at customizing cars and installing awesome vehicle wraps. If you have any questions, don’t be afraid to give us a call to have things cleared up further!