Advice on Respraying vs. Wrapping B7

[ny2flb7a4]

Has anyone had their B7 resprayed or wrapped? My B7 is almost 18 years old, and the clear coat is starting to fail on the roof and hood. I got a quote to wrap the car and picked out a few colors. However, after doing more research on wraps, I understand that there may be potential damage to the original paint.

The shop I contacted has great reviews, and the cars they were wrapping in the shop all looked good. Despite this, I am now leaning towards respraying my Ibis B7.

Has anyone resprayed their car or installed a wrap? If so, how is it holding up?

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53850536361_27fe3af284.jpg

[Jayz691]

If its just the clear failing, a shop should be able to prep and re-clear it, no?
Would be a lot cheaper and kess work than a full spray, if paint is good.

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[speedrcr]

Following this as my titanium unfortunately the clear coat on roof and hood has gone.
I'm in the same boat too. Considering wrapping for the time being to get more colorful (Imola satin perhaps?) till I can track down a DTM front and get a few mechanical issues sorted more. Then I'll respray.

Beautiful Ibis white though! If I were you I'd respray same color.

[Theiceman]

paint is toast ... so you are not going to really do more damage by wrapping.

So paint now, or paint later...

[oVeRdOsE]

im in the same dilemma for my BMW project car.

wrap pros :

- My Car is black, so best color for wraping. A white car you need to choose a color that will fit the inner panels.

- I wont use it a lot, probably 2000km/y, sleeping in a garage. Where you park? Vinyl dont like sun that much, people said around 3-5 years then need to be redone.

- I need to get paint M-stuff : hood, 2x bumpers and side skirts = 3000$+tx cad more or less (called 3 shops so far).

- Wrap like vinylFrog is about 700$ cad + tx + ship.

- I can change the color, looking for a dark green. [drool]

Cons :

- wrap is a 40+h work for a DIY
- wrap high risk of messing up for a DIYer
- paying someone is 3000$ for wraping, so better paint so I can use is as usual : polish, touch-up repairs, leave it in the sun, etc.
- Some body part already got repainted, will probably lift the paint when the wrap will be due to chage. like theiceman said : So paint now, or paint later.

[Spetznaaz]

I've got lot's of rust forming under the paint on my roof where those two channel things are either side. When i got the car the previous owner had resprayed it, on the cheap mind, but it looked in mint condition. I really want to get it resprayed but i think it's like £4000 ($5000).

[Nollywood]

If its just the clear failing, a shop should be able to prep and re-clear it, no?
Would be a lot cheaper and kess work than a full spray, if paint is good.

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Clear coat needs to be applied to new paint, as it turns tacky. Cured paint on an 18-year-old won’t hold clear coat for long, neither would the finish be as good as the original.

[Theiceman]

yup had my a6 resprayed by Audi as clear lifted. had to completely respray . a year later the transmission gave out . best looking car at the wreckers

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[Jayz691]

Clear coat needs to be applied to new paint, as it turns tacky. Cured paint on an 18-year-old won’t hold clear coat for long, neither would the finish be as good as the original.Ok, interesting. Have seen stuff "re-cleared", but can't say how long its lasted..
Why wouldn't it hold to a "prepped" surface?

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[Nollywood]

Ok, interesting. Have seen stuff "re-cleared", but can't say how long its lasted..
Why wouldn't it hold to a "prepped" surface?

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Because clear cost is applied to fresh paint, that hasn’t cured (still sticky). The applied clear coat actually “melts” into the tacky paint, bonds to the paint, and both paint and clear dry together.

Applying clear coat to cured paint after the paint has fully cured, despite giving the paint a light scuff means the clear coat attempts to bond to the keyed surface. It doesn’t work. The lacquer tends to peel, lift and chip.

[onedumslack]

When a body shop bondo's and fixes the paint on a fender do they repaint the entire fender and clear coat it or just the portion that is damaged?

[billie]

I wrapped a car of mine in 2012. I won't ever wrap another car again, the reasons being:

It won't last more than a decade even if you keep your car garaged. It will last 5 years at most if you park your car outside.
If you wait until the wrap is old and done to remove it, it is a long and laborious struggle that words cannot describe. You should look up videos of people removing wrap after 5 or 10 years as part of your research.
Which means you'll be budgeting to have the wrap replaced in 5 or 6 or 7 or so years.
My car, and early Miata, had weak single-stage paint which did have a lot of it get taken up with the wrap when I removed it. It's not that much of a concern on newer cars with modern paint, but certainly can happen.

With a decent paint job, it will last another 20+ years.

Vinyl wrap has its application, but in my opinion, it isn't on the paint of daily drivers.