Help me pick a wrap color?

[JD3]

My car is currently for sale but I'm not having much luck selling. I've had some offers but they're all slightly lower than I'm willing to take. I love this car and have decided if I keep it I'll wrap it again. I had the car wrapped in 3M satin silver for about 3 years and I loved it (E92 with black wheels is mine). The wrap looked amazing and had the added benefit of being easy to clean as you don't have to worry about swirls.
Anyway, if I do it, I may try it myself (anyone in central Ohio that wants to help I'll take it, haha). Removing bumpers, trim, etc on these cars is really quite easy and I think once that's off it won't be too bad. But now I'm thinking about the colors. I sort of prefer the satin dark gray, but it's close to what I had. Red would be easy because the car is already red so the inside of the trunk, doors, etc will match. Blue is just pretty, but sort of extreme for me. Dolphin gray is pretty killer and the wife digs it. Satin white is admittedly boring, but it looks so good. I like the satins because they don't really look like vinyl and I don't have any personal experience with glossy. Regardless, I'm not against gloss.
What do you think in terms of color?

[JD3]

Thanks voters. Little surprised by the results. I ordered a few gloss blue samples and didnt care for the gloss. Dark blue had spiderwebs and it just wasnt as physically flat looking as the satin i had. Now i am down to 3: satin battleship gray, satin dark blue, satin carmine red. Ive ordered samples of all 3 so ill see which one looks best.

[xcusem3]

If you're going to spend a few thousand on a wrap at least get a cool color man, don't waste your money on greys, whites and blacks.. from this list pacific blue all the way! Or try Santorini blue for something a little more reserved but still sexy

[Down_Shift]

Some food for thought. I went super crazy first wrap. My first color. Satin oil slick


But went back to a satin nardo(battleship) grey with double coat of ceramic. The ceramic makes it look kinda wet all the time.

I have to go gloss this winter. Nothing wrong with the wrap but the satin/flat is kind of getting old. Thing will look insane with a gloss wrap with two or three coats of ceramic

If your car is red Underneath It's a bit more work to wrap. My cars black so I can speed wrap it in about 1-2 days. I usually get sick of the wrap after the second season and want to get a new color lol

[Down_Shift]

Quick pic of the wife's e46 daily. Freshly wrapped last week in lava red w one coat of ceramic. Need to layer one or two more coats. But sheets like crazy already.

[1MOREMOD]

How about leave it alone looks good and save money

[JD3]

Originally Posted by 1MOREMOD

How about leave it alone looks good and save money

Thanks, but this hobby and "saving money" rarely go together, you know that. The car has some paint issues (see my for sale post if you want all the gory details, it is Halloween afterall) and the previous wrap was getting old so it's time to switch it up. Im doing it myself so cost should be approx $600-$700. Using the labor savings for some new BayOptiks and wheel refresh. Should be a different looking car by the spring.

[JD3]

Originally Posted by xcusem3

If you're going to spend a few thousand on a wrap at least get a cool color man, don't waste your money on greys, whites and blacks.. from this list pacific blue all the way! Or try Santorini blue for something a little more reserved but still sexy

I feel you, i was going to do a light blue or even a kelly green but at the end of the day the nardo gray speaks to me. It's sort of period correct for this car and i see some wild wraps and they just dont do it for me. I'm 40 and it's starting to show, lol.

[JD3]

Originally Posted by Down_Shift

Some food for thought. I went super crazy first wrap. My first color. Satin oil slick


But went back to a satin nardo(battleship) grey with double coat of ceramic. The ceramic makes it look kinda wet all the time.

I have to go gloss this winter. Nothing wrong with the wrap but the satin/flat is kind of getting old. Thing will look insane with a gloss wrap with two or three coats of ceramic

If your car is red Underneath It's a bit more work to wrap. My cars black so I can speed wrap it in about 1-2 days. I usually get sick of the wrap after the second season and want to get a new color lol

I ordered a few gloss samples and they all had too much orange peel and dark blue had spiderwebbing. Is this something you've noticed? My samples also looked scuffed where it was rolled up and rubbing its own backing paper. Is it correctable? One thing i like about satin is its pretty flat, for lack of a better word.
Satin battleship gray will probably be my choice. I agree the satin is getting a little played, but it still looks great on this body.

[JD3]

Originally Posted by Down_Shift

Quick pic of the wife's e46 daily. Freshly wrapped last week in lava red w one coat of ceramic. Need to layer one or two more coats. But sheets like crazy already.

That looks great, awesome color. Did you do it yourself? How is the orange peel/ spiderwebbing on the gloss? The samples i bought had a lot of both, sort of scared me from going gloss but yours looks amazing.

[1MOREMOD]

Originally Posted by JD3

Thanks, but this hobby and "saving money" rarely go together, you know that. The car has some paint issues (see my for sale post if you want all the gory details, it is Halloween afterall) and the previous wrap was getting old so it's time to switch it up. Im doing it myself so cost should be approx $600-$700. Using the labor savings for some new BayOptiks and wheel refresh. Should be a different looking car by the spring.

Nice that you don't yourself, cant argue with that.

[Down_Shift]

Originally Posted by JD3

I ordered a few gloss samples and they all had too much orange peel and dark blue had spiderwebbing. Is this something you've noticed? My samples also looked scuffed where it was rolled up and rubbing its own backing paper. Is it correctable? One thing i like about satin is its pretty flat, for lack of a better word.
Satin battleship gray will probably be my choice. I agree the satin is getting a little played, but it still looks great on this body.

Many of the imperfections go away after you've installed and let it sit in the sun / post heat with heatgun. Most scratches go away from heat.

The orange peel is an issue I've noticed in some vinyl. Depending on production batch and quality, goes across the board not just cheap(er) brands.

Satin looks great, it really shows off the body lines. I'm sure I'll go back to it after a gloss wrap. Just sick of it after having it in two different satin wraps.

[Down_Shift]

Originally Posted by JD3

That looks great, awesome color. Did you do it yourself? How is the orange peel/ spiderwebbing on the gloss? The samples i bought had a lot of both, sort of scared me from going gloss but yours looks amazing.

There was 0 orange peel in the e46. It has a wet gloss look from the ceramic coating. It also has a little metallic in it. Glows orange under the street lights at night.

[MrGatsby]

https://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=769238

I have been looking into doing a satin finish techno violet wrap, the deep purple will compliment my bamboo interior well. Its a gorgeous color but subtle.

[JD3]

Originally Posted by Down_Shift

There was 0 orange peel in the e46. It has a wet gloss look from the ceramic coating. It also has a little metallic in it. Glows orange under the street lights at night.

Thanks for the input! If I get comfortable with wrapping I'll probably try gloss at some point. I could actually just do a panel, say hood, see how it looks after a few days then decide.

[JD3]

Originally Posted by MrGatsby

https://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=769238

I have been looking into doing a satin finish techno violet wrap, the deep purple will compliment my bamboo interior well. Its a gorgeous color but subtle.

That thought crossed my mind too. Probably hard to duplicate that color perfectly.

[Down_Shift]

Originally Posted by JD3

That thought crossed my mind too. Probably hard to duplicate that color perfectly.

There are a lot of similar satin techno violet colors to choose from!

[Down_Shift]

Originally Posted by JD3

Thanks for the input! If I get comfortable with wrapping I'll probably try gloss at some point. I could actually just do a panel, say hood, see how it looks after a few days then decide.

The issue is everything on the M has some sort of annoyance to wrap for a beginner.

Ex.
The hump can be tricky for a beginner and vents on the hood tend to break

Bumpers- self explanatory.

Doors, if you are comfortable taking the door handles out

Fenders, the deep recess of the M vent can be tricky for a beginner. Overstretch and you'll have lifting/pocketing

The trunk if you are comfortable with removing tails, trunk button, tricky to do in one piece, can do three pieces with seams.

Leaves the quarter panel to front pillar but that's about 12ft of vinyl to deal with.

That leaves the side skirt but that's such a waste to wrap with the length.


Not saying it can't be done. But if you feel like trying it out, worse situation you can just peel it.

[MrGatsby]

Originally Posted by JD3

That thought crossed my mind too. Probably hard to duplicate that color perfectly.

there are a ton of options that look very similar.

[JD3]

Originally Posted by MrGatsby

there are a ton of options that look very similar.

Cool, I'd love to see it if you do go through with it.

[JD3]

Originally Posted by Down_Shift

The issue is everything on the M has some sort of annoyance to wrap for a beginner.

Ex.
The hump can be tricky for a beginner and vents on the hood tend to break

Bumpers- self explanatory.

Doors, if you are comfortable taking the door handles out

Fenders, the deep recess of the M vent can be tricky for a beginner. Overstretch and you'll have lifting/pocketing

The trunk if you are comfortable with removing tails, trunk button, tricky to do in one piece, can do three pieces with seams.

Leaves the quarter panel to front pillar but that's about 12ft of vinyl to deal with.

That leaves the side skirt but that's such a waste to wrap with the length.


Not saying it can't be done. But if you feel like trying it out, worse situation you can just peel it.

I'm under no illusions that it will be easy. I'll probably do some inlays on the front bumper. Hood and everything else looks doable with some patience. Taking this car apart is actually quite easy from bumpers to trim, so that helps.

[JD3]

Originally Posted by Down_Shift

The issue is everything on the M has some sort of annoyance to wrap for a beginner.

Ex.
The hump can be tricky for a beginner and vents on the hood tend to break

Bumpers- self explanatory.

Doors, if you are comfortable taking the door handles out

Fenders, the deep recess of the M vent can be tricky for a beginner. Overstretch and you'll have lifting/pocketing

The trunk if you are comfortable with removing tails, trunk button, tricky to do in one piece, can do three pieces with seams.

Leaves the quarter panel to front pillar but that's about 12ft of vinyl to deal with.

That leaves the side skirt but that's such a waste to wrap with the length.


Not saying it can't be done. But if you feel like trying it out, worse situation you can just peel it.

What size do you buy? 5x60?