Wrap advertising or a vehicle wrap describe the marketing practice of completely or partially covering (wrapping a vehicle in an advertisement or livery. The result of this process is essentially a mobile billboard. Wrap advertising can be achieved bypainting a vehicle’s outer surface, but an increasingly ubiquitous practice in the 21st century involves the use of large vinylsheets as “decals”. The vinyl sheets can later be removed with relative ease, drastically reducing the costs associated with changing advertisements. While vehicles with large, flat surfaces (such as buses and light-rail carriages) are often used,automobiles can also serve as hosts for wrap advertising, despite consisting of more curved surfaces.

What is car wrapping
Using what is known as a “conformable vinyl wrapping” material, a high-quality print or protective clear wrap can be molded to almost any and every part of a vehicle. Typically, conformable material is used because it is the easiest to work with, especially on contoured surfaces. Using the proper adhesives when applying the material to the surface of the car is essential, otherwise the wrap can lead to adhesive failure in a few months after the application.
Advancements in plastics have led to new types of vinyl designed specifically for wrap advertising, including vinyl sheets that feature bubble-preventing air channels. Microscopic glass beads are used to prevent an adhesive from functioning until the user is ready (the beads allow the material to be repeatedly lifted and reapplied during the wrapping process, without compromising the longevity of the wrap). The vinyl is heated with a heat gun or torch for the purpose of molding the material around objects.[1]
Decals can be made to cover side and rear windows on a vehicle, but for safety reasons, the front windows used by the driver are not covered. The decals on side windows are typically perforated, so that it is still possible for passengers to look outside. This See-through graphic technology originated in the 1980s, with the first dominant patent registered by a British company called Contra Vision.[2] Wrapped advertisements must often be divided into a number of smaller pieces to appropriately cover any movable panels on the vehicle, such as the fuel tank cover, trunk (boot) openings, and other doors.
Wrapping is also sometimes used instead of paint as a less-permanent way of applying its operator’s standard livery. This has become particularly common in the UK where, since the privatisation of British Rail, it has become quite frequent for trains to be transferred from one company to another, requiring many changes of livery. Wrapping can also be used for vehicle customisation, and race cars often get vehicle wraps as they are lighter than paint.

The tough properties of 3M Paint Protection Film means that it will protect the most vulnerable painted surfaces of your vehicle from damage caused by stone chips, environmental elements, bugs, scratches and minor abrasions. Car bonnets, wings, bumpers, car and motorbike headlights, motorbike tanks and even motorbike helmets will benefit from 3M Paint Protection Film.

Whether you want standard coverage to protect the most vulnerable areas from damage, extended coverage to fully wrap your bonnet for improved aesthetics, or even full vehicle coverage for ultimate protection, we have a protective film solution for you. Our dedicated template engineer produces bespoke designs for each make and model of vehicle as soon as they hit the road. This means that you have peace of mind knowing that the kit will be a perfect fit first time and no cutting of the film on the car will be needed. We have been designing templates and manufacturing for many years and have an understanding of vehicle contours that means we produce an ideal template with optimal coverage and protection.

The installer will clean and prepare the surfaces ready for the film to be applied, whilst the kits are cut on a plotter, using our bespoke vehicle templates. Each part is then carefully applied to the vehicle using water and a slip solution, to slide the material into place. The water is then squeegeed out from under the film, so there’s no chance of any air bubbles or creases. Finally, the edges are wrapped round the panels where possible to ensure an almost invisible finish. The film itself is virtually ‘orange peel’ free, so is almost indistinguishable from the original finish. It’s difficult to show the product off to anyone because it’s virtually invisible! Nevertheless, it’s a lot less visible than stone chips, scuffs and scratches.

Modified cars can be significantly different from their stock counterparts. A common factor among owners/modifiers is to emulate the visual and/or performance characteristics of established styles and design principles. Sometimes these similarities are unintentional. Some of the many different styles and visual influences to car modification are:

• Rat rod/Rat style: Style of hot rod and custom cars, imitating the “unfinished” appearance of some hot rods in the 40s, 50s and 60s. Rat style also defines a car that is kept on the road no matter what,and at a low cost
• Euro style: One off paint/small wheels and lowered or stance’d with shaved features to define car body lines.
• Lowrider: Hydraulic setups, flashy paint, custom interior, bling wheels. Others may look like straight restorations, aside from a low stance.
• Import scene/JDM: Japanese Scene that uses Japanese vehicles, aftermarket parts and Race details.
• DUB/DONK: Extremely large designer wheels, loud speaker set-ups and abnormally high ride height.
• SLAB: Originated in the Houston, TXarea since the mid-1980s, custom wire wheels (primarily the discontinued Cragar Star Wire originally optioned for the 1983 and 1984 Cadillac Eldorado now manufactured by Texan Wire Wheels) fitted with Vogue Tyres, loud speaker set-ups (same as the DUB/DONK), neon signage inside the trunk panel, hydraulic-actuated trunk panels (known as a pop trunk), flashy paint (several coats of clearcoat on a paint job known as candy paint (named after theJolly Rancher or Now & Later candy products), vertical stainless steel trim on the trunk panel (known as belt buckles) aftermarket grille (similar to a Rolls-Royce or Bentley as homage to the 1970s-era pimpmobiles), and the use of a Cadillac front end sheetmetal conversion (from the use of 1990-92 Brougham sheetmetal or if a large truck or SUV, the front sheetmetal from an Escalade). Vehicle interior usually clad in beige or tan (known as peanut butter interior), and a Grant GT steering wheel clad in woodgrain (known as a Wood Grain Wheel).
• Bōsōzoku/zokusha: This Japanese style features wide body kits, huge wings and exaggerated exhausts.
• VIP style: Japanese style that evolved from Bōsōzoku that emulates the Extreme style with a more modern vibe, e.g. ridiculously low ride heights, camber, body kits, lights.
• Stance: – This style is mostly associated with lowered sport cars, sedans, hatchbacks, vans and other body styles of passenger cars. Such cars are lowered with a help of sport springs, coilovers or air suspension components. Custom wheels with low profile tires (sometimes stretched) play a big role in this style and often feature aggressive sizes, offsets and camber.
• Cal Look: Classic beach look (bright colours and polished) and subtle features added to give a Cali sense.
• Military/service style: Cars designed to look like certain service vehicles (e.g. Military, Navy, Police).
• Hot rodstyle largely consists of period specific vehicles, components and finishes to reproduce characteristics of early Drag-rods from the 1930s and 1940s.
• Custom cars: Cars built for the showroom floor can be any manner of car
• Sleeper (car): This is where a car owner will put every effort into performance and try to keep the car looking stock, usually to avoid raising suspicion.
• Rallying: Cars built to be driven on dirt.
• Drifting (motorsport): Cars engineered to drift (skid in controlled manner).
• Drag racing: Cars engineered for straight line speed.