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Car Care

Why You Should Wrap Your BMW

We all love our BMW’s, but if you’re using yours as your daily driver, it can be difficult or even impossible to protect your paint job from the dings and scratches that come with driving down nearly every road in the world. One rock getting whipped up by the tire of a passing car can leave you with scratches and chips in your paint, no matter how careful you are behind the wheel.

One way to protect your paint job is to wrap your BMW. Why should you consider wrapping your BMW, and what will it do for your car in the long run?

What Are Car Wraps?

First, what does wrapping your car even mean?

Car wraps put a cover of formable ‘cast’ vinyl on top of your car’s paint job. A full wrap completely covers your car’s clear coat, protecting it from the elements. These wraps can last for up to 10 years — longer if your car isn’t parked in the sun — and are designed to fit over and around the curves and edges of the vehicle.

They’re frequently used for vehicle advertising — it turns the entire car into a billboard for the business that it’s representing — but solid-color ones can be a great option for protecting your BMW or any other vehicle you own.

Benefits of Car Wraps

What are the benefits of wrapping your car?

First, it can give your BMW a one-of-a-kind look. You’re not limited by the paints available for your particular model, or even the paints available on the market. You can create a look that’s completely you — whether that means you want a solid color, something flashy or to design your car to look like a Ninja Turtle…the possibilities are endless!

These wraps can also help to improve the resale value of your car. The cover creates a barrier between your paint job and the elements and can be removed without damaging the paint when you’re ready to sell the car. If you’re leasing your car, you can still use the wrap to change its color because it doesn’t violate your lease like painting does.

The benefits don’t stop there. Wraps can also let you enjoy the sleek look of a matte paint job without worrying about the paint chipping or getting damaged — matte paint jobs tend to chip because they don’t have a clear coat to protect them. And if you have minor damage or scratches on your car, a wrap can also be a great tool to hide those little nicks and prevent them from becoming a larger problem.

Whether you’re driving a BMW or an old beater, a wrap can be a great way to protect your investment while making it look awesome at the same time. Vinyl wraps are for more than just advertisements now — they can be a cost-effective way to protect your BMW’s paint job that can be removed at any time. If you’re the kind of person who would enjoy switching cars as often as you buy new shoes, you can do just that — keep the car and just change the wrap!

DIY

How to Wrap Your BMW To Get a New Look

Until recently, changing your BMW’s exterior color meant repainting, but the development of several new techniques has made the prospect of a color change viable for a much larger crowd. The most widely used of these new techniques is the wrap. Wrapping, a process that places a thin layer of colored vinyl over your car’s paint to achieve just about any look you want.

Wraps aren’t permanent, so you can even apply one for a matter of months and then switch to a different look. The possibilities are very nearly endless.

Reasons to Wrap

What if you don’t have plans to change colors anytime soon, is it still a good idea to use a wrap over a paint job? The biggest factor in answering this question is cost. While a quality paint job for your BMW could cost upwards of $5,000, a wrap can be applied for a little more than half that amount.

These are rough figures, but the wrap delivers a better-looking car for a lower up-front cost. The drawback is that the wrap isn’t permanent, but it will provide protection for the car’s body, and, when professionally applied, manufacturers claim wraps can last as long as three years.

Wraps can be applied more quickly than paint. Typically, a skilled shop can apply a simple wrap inside a day or at a maximum over the course of a few days.

Get Your Wrap on

Check out other examples of wrapped BMWs to decide if the look is for you. Decide what colors or designs you want in the wrap, and locate a trustworthy shop that has good reviews to apply it.

DIY Wrapping

If you have some artistic talent and a place to work, you might decide to wrap your car yourself. Begin by measuring the lengths of vinyl you’ll need to cover all the bodywork on the car. For the job to look professional, you’ll need to go beneath many body panels and extend the vinyl to the car’s interior or under-hood.

Wraps are sold in standardized squares, so calculate your costs based on the sizing your manufacturer of choice uses. Order more than you’ll need because, if you need to order more material, it might not color-match well.

Applying Your Wrap

Remove items that can’t be covered by the wrap, such as side markers. Clean your car’s exterior thoroughly with standard car wash and then with alcohol to prepare to apply your wrap.

Remove any backing and carefully lay the wrap down, take care not to allow air beneath the wrap as you go. Make sure not to overstretch the vinyl. If you do, you’ll ruin its appearance and potentially tear the wrap. When you’ve completed the application, use a knife to cut away excess material.

The final step is post-heating the wrap. For this, we recommend using a sun-gun. This step is crucial for long-term adhesion, so don’t skip it.

Enjoy Your New Look!

Wrapping has become popular with exotic collectors who wrap their new cars upon purchase, only to remove the wrap before selling the car. The pristine factory paint, preserved beneath the wrap, makes sure they get top price.

You don’t need a brand-new exotic to enjoy a wrap, just express yourself and be happy about how awesome your bimmer looks!