Very nice.

Wrapping tends to be a more luxurious car thing. Have you ever done a Subaru?
Anything different on the Outback from other cars?
How hard was the Outback to other cars?
How long does wrap last, I was told 2-5 years?

How strong is wrap from scratches and things?

I knew a guy that wrapped his Jeep because he was worried about branches scratching it... and I was like... it's a Jeep... It's supposed to be scratched... but was curious. I never saw him again, lol.

 

The material, depending on the manufacturer and product line, can vary from .2 mm to .5+ mm thick. definitely not meant for paint protection, altho it'll keep anything that would make a .2-.5mm scratch off your paint . It definitely does tend to be a luxury car thing as its a pretty vain expense if you're not doing it for commercial purposes. This was the only Subaru I've done, but usually I'm working on race cars at the track (where its more time efficient to wrap/rewrap than take it to a body shop after every race day) or commercial vehicles (or personal vehicles used for business use)

my personal car is also wrapped and being street parked, its gotten a few good rubs from other cars on the street. maybe a little more scratch-resistant, but not by much. not as smudge-resistant. gotta be more diligent with keeping it clean too... helps with the door dings in my parking structure tho! definitely won't justify a purchase if i had to buy a full wrap

nothing really different about the OB over other vehicles, maybe easier since the rubber surrounding trim along the bottom meant i didn't have to go down under the car too much. also no funky or compound curves (again because of the rubber surround), lots of relatively flat panels sped the job up.

correct, the guarantee on the material (for a clean removal on OEM paint) depending again on the product line/manufacturer can be 2-5 years on vertical surfaces. the more its kept out of the sun, the better. again, its intended more for commercial applications, as logos tend to be changed and/or in need of a refresh within that time frame.

Why not just buy a white one? Ever car I've ever seen that was wrapped ends up loosing paint when the wrap is removed. Why do people do this?

you'll lose paint if the paints in bad shape to begin with. if you go to a shop, they should tell you that that is the risk, esp. if its not OEM paint. again, primarily for commercial applications. we bought the OB used, better price on this black premium trim than the other colors we were looking for (wilderness green was at the top, then tungsten and white were second). knowing that i had a wrap available to me made me more flexible with the options. besides, black cars are the best candidates for a full wrap.

I do not understand this "wrapping".
I didn't even know about it until I read this thread and looked it up and watched some of a YouTube video of the process. Done with precision and care it's an enormous amount of work, so to pay to have it done must be hugely expensive.

It immediately reminded me of those folks who spend big money on beautiful carpet for their home, then spend a bunch more money on carefully custom-fitted plastic overlays, presumably to "protect" the carpet.

I just don't get it.

there are definitely pros and cons to wrapping vs painting. say your car is leased, you'd want something temporary. again, it makes a whole lot more sense to put a big sticker on a commercial car than to paint your logo on it, then do a full respray of the car when you change out your fleet. or, like many of the race cars, a crash or run-in with other cars are inevitable, and putting your car out of commission for a respray just isn't a viable option. or you want something crazy like the aforementioned flames, and printing on vinyl + application comes out to be cheaper than hiring a pinstripe/airbrush artist during your full respray. once you're open to the possibilities, there's a whole lot of reasons to get a wrap over paint. or say you want some extra shnazzy effect on the car, like a gloss pearl finish overlaid on a satin base two-tone. would cost a lot more to do that with paint + shop time than a relatively constant price with a wrap--and you can take it off once the 90s want the finish back!

but yes, for my wife's car, it was a "meh, not a fan of black, i'll use my extra roll from last year" vs. any of the above
i think it took about 18 hours IIRC? could've been less if I had more material, as I had to spend some time figuring out what best way to fit all the pieces onto the limited material i had!

 

Looks great! Needs flames!!

 

Looks good...... I've heard of the occasional full wrap of a car...... That's a lot of bilk film to buy and apply!

I just finished applying the front end kits on my new '16 OB Ltd and my wife's new '16 Legacy Ltd...... I added extra film on her rocker panels up into the thresholds, top of rear bumper protectin, and rear bumper corners..... Doing a complete wrap must take a lot of patience!

 

id love to wrap my car to keep damage from offroading to a minimum

but its so **** expensive

 

Probably cheaper then body/paint work!

Or, get an older, beat up OB for off road.

 

Why not just buy a white one? Ever car I've ever seen that was wrapped ends up loosing paint when the wrap is removed. Why do people do this?

 

because people change their mind or want to change it up just for fun, but don't forget the biggest reason is to protect the original factory paint. I'm a professional vinyl wrapper and I'll tell you the ones you saw where paint were damaged when the wrap is removed are ONLY due to poor choice of unknown brand and cheap materials. When using the big known brands like Avery, Hexis, Arlon, 3m…etc, a wrap job can last 5-10 years depending on the environment and usage. Most of the racing stripes, chrome black out, blacked out roof on cars that you see are typically vinyl wrapped. Huge market and growing market as well. interior are also commonly wrapped in black or carbon fiber wraps

 

I do not understand this "wrapping".
I didn't even know about it until I read this thread and looked it up and watched some of a YouTube video of the process. Done with precision and care it's an enormous amount of work, so to pay to have it done must be hugely expensive.

It immediately reminded me of those folks who spend big money on beautiful carpet for their home, then spend a bunch more money on carefully custom-fitted plastic overlays, presumably to "protect" the carpet.

I just don't get it.

 

@gunnison Like you I didn't know what wrapping was. I have, of course, seen lots of vehicles with logos and artwork and so on, but I don't know that I have ever heard of, let alone seen, an individual wrapping a vehicle for the sake of wrapping it. I can't think of a single reason anyone would do this except to be able to say, "I've wrapped my car."


In fact, when I first opened the thread, I thought I was going to see pictures of some yoyo having wrapped his Outback around a telephone pole or road divider or some other spectacular event. Instead, it's all about somebody putting Saran Wrap all over his OB.


What a let down. And I still don't get it.

 

Like it or not !!

@gunnison Like you I didn't know what wrapping was. I have, of course, seen lots of vehicles with logos and artwork and so on, but I don't know that I have ever heard of, let alone seen, an individual wrapping a vehicle for the sake of wrapping it. I can't think of a single reason anyone would do this except to be able to say, "I've wrapped my car."
In fact, when I first opened the thread, I thought I was going to see pictures of some yoyo having wrapped his Outback around a telephone pole or road divider or some other spectacular event. Instead, it's all about somebody putting Saran Wrap all over his OB.
What a let down. And I still don't get it.

I must give credit to Gunnison for the talent it takes to do the wrap. If he and wife like it that's all that matters. Could I, would I.. no.
But then again I wouldn't even know where to begin like most on this site. Kudos to him.....

 

I'm sure pictures don't do Satin Pearl justice. I think it looks good and wrapping has been around for years. I saw a Chrome wrapped Bentley Continental at the shopping mall recently.

 

Absolutely SupieGy. Everyone makes missteaks. No worries, we're all good.

 

Yeah.....it's not DIY project for everyone......I've been doing this for myself and family since 2009..... Mostly the front end and leading edges to reduce abrasion and small pitting and chips...... Subaru paint is very good compared to toyota.....which is very very thin......and susceptible to abrasion and pitting. I drove my 2006 Avalon to FL and back and when I got home, it looked like the front end was sand blasted down to the primer....since then all our cars have clear bras paint protection.

Average clear bras has cost me $300 or so to do a DIY install.

As for pulling up paint during a removal that is typically from the paint job as OP indicated...... A lot of vehicles are repainted spot painted at a depot or dealership and not clear coated and/or film is installed too soon.....

I have taken film off a cars and never had a problem....... Also. How ya remove the film is important......a just don't rip it off.

 

learn something new every day. I think it looks great. Black handles on a white car is awesome. Your going to get asked a lot of questions driving around

 

Nice, I like the black roof, may have to get a quote for mine.

 

Any guess on how much material you used? I've been eye balling a diy wrap. I have a few chips here and there so it won't be perfect, but I would like to limit future damage. Plus I can finally make my car a bright and obnoxious color. I always wanted an orange XV, maybe I can make an orange Outback!

 

IIRC, i squeaked by with about 44 ft? maybe 45? if i were to do it from scratch (ie. not from extra old material lying around) i'd get at least 20 yards

Edspec, about how long would it take and what would it cost to just do the roof? I thought about just doing the roof to see if it helped keep the inside of the car cooler during the summer. (I know, it's only slightly, but every little bit counts.)

like previously mentioned, the glut of the cost is in the labor. but a roof shouldn't take too long... don't want to lay out any quotes, but you can estimate ~$30 a yrd, plus another 1-2 hours @ shop rate for labor (could be like $100+/hr), depending on where you go? i think i remember the roof being less than 100 inches

If you've ever done a clear bra vinyl on the front of a car then this is just the same but more extreme. Most people do this on luxury cars primarily for keeping the original paint protected from rocks, nicks, and scratches. I would never pay to have it done on the Outback but he did it himself and probably fairly cheap and it will keep the original paint in good condition. The labor is expensive to have this done but it's not too difficult to learn how either and can be done for around $500 if you do it yourself. Some people think it's cheap insurance rather than having to respray the bumper or have scratches fixed out of the body over the years.

Great job OP!

thanks! yeah, like you said, the labor is where most of the expense is. but we had a slow week before the summer rush so i took advantage of the free shop space and voila, just a month later it suffers its first door ding...

How did you do the grill?

2 strips of 3m gloss black on each slat, cut out the emblem

 

How did you do the grill?

 

I use charcoal or propane. My grill can handle either one.


Lots of people here dip their grille, the louver-type thing in the front of the car.

 

added yellow lamin-x a few weeks ago. not sure if i'm a fan. either the black grill's gotta go, or the lamin-x. maybe i'll take off the black grill and see how that is...

 

added yellow lamin-x a few weeks ago. not sure if i'm a fan. either the black grill's gotta go, or the lamin-x. maybe i'll take off the black grill and see how that is...

I kinda like the look as shown in the photos. Nice, clean, purposeful, and can pass for the "Stormtrooper" version. Just my 2 cents.

 

What kind of care do you have to do for keeping it clean? Just a normal hand wash with car soap/wax? Can that wrap be waxed?

 

yup, hand wash. no reason to wax, although there is a vinyl-specific wax/polish available that works wonders.

 

Why didn't you just buy a white one?

 

Agree.

 

This brought to mind a wrapped WRX I saw in my neighborhood not too long ago.
http://www.subaruoutback.org/forums/85-all-other-subaru-models/380274-golden-subie.html

The wrapping certainly added an insane amount of flair to the car.

 

That looks very nice. Well done!

I've actually been pricing out wrapping for our OB when we buy one soon. My wife and I would really like an orange one, but hearing that we may only get 3-5 years out of it, I'm going to look at paint.

 

Huh?



Orange OB!!?? to each their own-- you would certainly have something unique:surprise:

 

not sure why I can't edit the first post with working pic links...

black = stock, satin white pearlescent wrap then wrap + lamin-x fog covers

new color might be going on soon, wife is bored of white (who wouldn't be! )

 

cannot see images?

 

yeah it wont let me edit the original post for some reason... the post above you has some tho

 

bump

 

I recently bought a 2018 black OB Touring and it has been extremely difficult to keep clean. I don't know if it is this particular paint but it appears dirtier than all of the other black cars on the road even with regular upkeep. My BIL law has vinyl wrap shop and I'm considering getting it wrapped in matte black (or possibly charcoal). Has anyone done a matte vinyl wrap on their OB? Where can I find some pics?