Is it difficult? Special tools required? Sources for materials? Looks awesome!
Thanks! So after you remove what needs to be removed, putting it on isn't too bad once you get the hang of it. Start with smaller panels to get a feel for it and watch application videos, I like checking out Christian on CK Wrap's Youtube channel for tips. The only panel I had help with was the roof, but if you can get a helper, it is definitely easier. Probably the hardest part is keeping dirt out of it, absolutely any of the tiniest specs will show up, more so in this HD style of gloss I used. You can scratch it with the application tools so watch your technique there, I used a gloved hand a lot as well, then went over it again with the tool to make sure it was pressed down well with no air bubbles. My other car is not HD and still looks great but the dust bunnies don't show nearly as much as the Cuda which also has a really high gloss as you can tell from the picture. I definitely have some areas with dirt showing underneath but since I did it myself I can live with it.
I went with Teckwrap brand, CK Wraps' Youtube video channel has some videos on it which is where I found out about it. You can get it directly from China which surprisingly arrived quickly within about 7-10 days max, or the US website is teckwrapusa.com. I just checked and a full roll 5 x 60 feet is about $580 with the discount code welcome10 which automatically applied itself, plus free shipping. You cannot beat that! I think they are only selling full rolls but you can also get free sample pieces I believe, I got about three. A full roll is enough to do our cars and make a mistake or two. Maybe if you're doing the hood as well you wouldn't want to waste much. Speaking of which, being the cheap bastard I am, I tried to cut panel pieces with only about 3" or so of waste to conserve, but on some pieces that's really a mistake. For the front fenders in particular, you want to use a full 5-foot width and cut it long ways so you have plenty left over to help you stretch it, especially at the front. If you think you may be running out of material and want to conserve, one way would be to apply thin strips along the bottom first, like at about running board height, and then overlap it with the larger piece above. If you make straight cuts and use the tapeless knife you will never notice the overlap. One good thing about Techwrap, at least for the colors I've used so far is that they are non-directional so you can lay out the wrap any way you want and it will match from panel to panel. This is true even for the color-changing wrap, I did Madriera Red on the Kia.
You might want to keep track of how much material you cut off the roll each time by writing it on the box in order to know how much is left. Also, if you have leftovers to save for future repairs or whatever, you need to remove the plastic protective covering and then roll it back up. Same if you are not going to get to it for a while. If you leave it on, it will cause the wrap to buckle and apparently that does not go away.
Buy some primer which is a product called 3M primer 94. It is used on the edges so they will stay, especially areas like fender well openings, windows, and basically anywhere it might want to pull up. I used cotton flat pads to apply it to larger areas and a cotton swab for smaller areas, you can pick it up on Amazon. For the fenders and doors, I removed the back bolts near the door and was able to get sufficient room to work by holding it out with a block at the bottom. This allows you to to be able to get a primer in there and a good edge wrap between the door and the fender. You'd want to do this for the sake of applying it to the front of the door as well, which makes it much easier. I will have to take the fenders off regardless because I'm changing the springs to struts for the fiberglass hood.
The Carbon Fiber I got is from Tinybot and while it looks awesome, the jury is still out on it because there are already a few of what I'm guessing are water spots starting to show near edges where I couldn't get it tucked very much. I did not use the primer on it though which may have helped for that. There is also the possibility of brushing on a sealer of sorts to seal up the edges, but I haven't really researched that.
Some other lessons learned, clean the car very well and clay bar because any imperfections will show up. Clean all edges very well where the wrap will terminate. I used a hair dryer for heat which provides more than enough and I used it pretty sparingly but it can definitely be your friend when needed. Like the tops of the mirrors on my Kia I stretched the passenger mirror quite a bit and got one piece on with no wrinkles, unlike the driver's side which I need to redo. Another trick I learned was when bringing it down into the drip rail/ rain channel above the windows, wipe primer on the roof about 3/8" or so up from the channel as well as the flat part of the channel. You need to take your time here to avoid wrinkles, but it works. I haven't tested this, but I'm 99% sure you need to go over paint, I don't believe it will stick to primer, maybe primer/sealer though, I'm not sure. If my hood shows up without flaws I may try to put it on without painting it first although I'd have to paint the underside anyway so we'll see.
Do the quarter panels before the roof so the overlap comes from the top. I also had seams on the panel below the rear window (above the trunk), that piece went on last. Depending on how crazy you want to get, like the channel around the truck when you open it, you would want to do those areas first so the large panel pieces go over the inside pieces. For small flaws, like a chip, you can just apply a small round piece of wrap and it hides it pretty well, certainly better than nothing, and saves having to redo an entire panel. Press it on hard like with the back of a fingernail and apply heat and it almost disappears. Use heat on all edges to help finalize the set, and don't stretch at edges themselves or it will want to pull back later, watch the videos and you'll learn about it, not a huge deal. You can and should use heat as you are applying it at the edges, not to stretch, but to help it sort of roll over by itself and form to the edge.
This particular wrap does seem to scratch fairly easily but can actually be buffed back out if you go low speed and are careful. I tried it by hand on a few and it worked which is awesome. The non-HD doesn't show scratches quite as much. I got a starter tool kit from Amazon for cheap and can provide a link for that if you want, it comes with a very sharp little break-off knife which works quite well and you do need to keep the blades sharp. Also, you will need knifeless tape, I think I used 3M. If you have big bucks there is one brand that is a colored PPF that won't scratch like vinyl but it is only available to pros, not the public and it's quite pricy I guess. Hopefully, more companies will start to offer this. Alternately, you could apply a PPF over the wrap but that is essentially wrapping your car twice, obviously a LOT of work for something that isn't intended to be permanent. Teckwrap suggests taking the wrap off after 2 or 3 years max, so I plan to go at least 3, maybe more if it's still looking good. I guess if you wait longer it becomes super hard to get off and my guess is it may damage or even pull off the paint, but that's just a guess. At the least it could leave adhesive behind which would be a pain to remove. Good luck and I'd say go for it! Sorry for the ramble but I really enjoyed doing it and wanted to share!
