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When you take your car out on the road or show it off to your family and friends, you make a statement about your sense of style and what you value in the look of a vehicle. Vibrant colors and distinctive patterns tell onlookers that you’re a driver with taste who knows how to make an impression. There’s no more striking way to accomplish this than with a restyle or vinyl wrap that elevates your car’s appearance above that of the factory models.
Restyling is an exciting and refreshing way to make your vehicle uniquely yours. It’s also a complex process that requires professionalism and careful attention to detail, so it’s not a task you should take on yourself. Instead, let an experienced detailing business handle the job for you.
What Does Restyling Mean?
Restyling a vehicle means altering its appearance without changing any of its mechanical inner workings. Because your vehicle has many external features, and many of them can be customized to your aesthetic tastes without affecting the vehicle’s performance, there are many different types of restyles encompassing a variety of projects.
Color changes are the most common restyling projects, and for good reason. The color is the first thing people notice when they set eyes on your vehicle, and some drivers are particularly selective about it when it comes time to choose a new car. If you’re the sort of driver who places high importance on color when you’re car shopping, color changes will be an attractive restyling option if your car’s paint starts to fade or you grow tired of it and want to try something new.
What Should I Do Before a Restyle?
When you decide you want to give your car a new look, you’ve already taken the first step in an exciting process. Before you get started, however, there are preparations to make. Before going any further, you must decide on a color. Many vehicle owners who opt for a restyle choose a new color because they want to change things up, while some want to keep the same basic color scheme that their vehicle came with, but with a subtler or more vivid appearance than what the OEM offers on the market.
A professional restyling shop will use a wrap configurator to create an image of what your car will look like once the job is done. This can be the best way to get a feel for what you want in your vehicle’s new appearance. If you’ve already decided on a color scheme, a preview image will show you what it will look like before you move forward with it. This way, you can make a more informed decision or make any necessary tweaks before you fully commit.
Before the new wrap can be applied, a professional restyling shop will perform an external decontamination detail. This is a crucial step because the last thing you want is for foreign particles and contaminants to get trapped under your new vehicle wrap, ruining the smooth feel and distorting its appearance. The technicians will remove any iron particles, traces of street tar, and other messes from the road that might impede the wrap’s adhesive properties and prevent it from properly settling.
Vinyl Wrapping Versus Repainting
The mechanics of applying a vinyl wrap to a vehicle differ from repainting in ways that are obvious while looking at the process, but the mechanics are far from the full picture. Painting a vehicle is a permanent alteration to its exterior, whereas a wrap can be removed if you later decide to do something different with it. This flexibility is attractive to many vehicle owners with evolving tastes.
The permanence of paint can be a draw, however. A properly applied coat of fresh paint will last longer than a vehicle wrap under normal conditions, and it will stand up to traditional car washes. Vehicle wraps should be hand-washed instead, and washing them requires a gentler hand and non-abrasive cleaning materials. Choosing between a vinyl wrap or a new paint job will depend on your priorities as a vehicle owner and your ability to maintain your car’s appearance.
What to Do After a Restyling Project
Once a vehicle wrap has been applied, there must be procedures in place to ensure that it stays put. Restyling experts recommend not washing your car for at least a week after the installation of a new vinyl wrap. This will help to ensure that the vinyl adheres properly to the vehicle.
For your vehicle’s first wash after a new vinyl wrap, you should bring it to the same shop that performed the installation. This will allow the technicians to examine the results and verify that the vinyl is holding up after a week or two.
First Class Detailing performs restyling services for vehicle owners throughout Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco Counties. Get in touch with us at 727-403-7831 to get a free quote.