Refinishing An RV.

[Ray D]

Our Damon motorhome is just a year old, so not an issue at this time. May not own it long enough for this to become an issue, but if I do, nice looks would be an issue, for me.

I read a couple of threads, where the posters were asking about - discussing options - refinishing the outside of older RV s to make them more presentable. Or, repairing and modernizing the faded or damaged striping.

As I recall, prices for just about any re-paint or re-decal were pretty well up there. Our Damon supposedly has a special paint job, new from the factory that was in the thousands on the detailed list of included options. That was just for some upgrade, not the whole job. I don?t actually know what they did. Ours looks pretty much like the next one that comes along.

Get to the point, Ray!!! - - - - - :

Here?s the deal. Driving around town, here, I have suddenly become more aware of the City Bus System, Boise Urban Stages - ?BUS!? Every one of them is painted in great detail with advertising. It?s the whole bus, not just a banner on the side, just one advertiser. Even the windows are painted. (You can still see out.) The paint jobs, at least from a few feet away, appear to be of excellent quality. Some have photographs - some look like airbrushed artwork  ???

Someone is paying for those paint jobs. Obviously, the advertisers are doing that. Are advertisers paying tens of thousands to paint an entire bus, with one ad, or has someone discovered a less expensive way to paint a bus? Is this an option, for an older RV? Some of those paint jobs look pretty nice. (Some of them, I wouldn?t want.)

I have a tough time imagining that the cost of that is justifiable in advertising benefit. Has to cost less than appearances would suggest!

I have also seen a few interstate truckers with very intricate artwork on their trucks. Paint job looks like it would be half of the cost of the truck, itself. Not factory Paint!

Anyone know anything about this? Anyone considered it? Or is my mind just blowing in the wind, as it occasionally does?  ;D

Ray D

 

[patsdad]

Hopefully someone who knows more about this than I will chime in, but . . .
I'm pretty sure that those city bus graphics packages aren't paint jobs.  I believe they are vinyl sheet, designed and cut by computer, and then applied to the bus side with some special mounting machinery, in one pass.  I don't know if they are one sheet, or one sheet per color, but I'm almost certain those are actually stickers, not paint jobs. 

So, I'm sure the cost, while significant, would not be anywhere near the cost of an enormous, complex , custom paint job.  I also don't know if the durability would be an issue - they probably aren't designed for a service life in years - probably more like months.

 

[Just Lou]

They are full wraps.  I'm not sure if they are vinyl or some other new age material.

The process is used all the time by advertisers.

A one-time special design wrap would probably cost a few bucks.

 

[JIGGS]

I can tell you this. I was watching a nascar show and they said the race cars are no longer painted. They use one said stickers and one said vinyl. They used the reference on the city buses are done the same way

 

[Kenneth]

Its called vehicle wrap, its the new way of advertising. see   

http://www.vehiclewraps.ca/bus-wrap-advertizing.htm

 

[gamerbus]

I've just recently been looking into this as I use my RV for a business. I was qouted a price of $3500 to do a combination of lettering and graphics. That's not to wrap the entire RV, just a few large graphic pictures of the inside of the RV pasted on the outside.
The lifespan of the graphics is supposed to be about seven years.

 

[tyefighter]

Here is what there are doing.  There are of couple of different processes but all are basically the same, very large digital color copiers (extreme ink jet technology) to put it very simply.  They are printed off a roll in sections on pressure sensitive vinyl. They are laminated onto the vehicle and applied like a very large decal which they really are in essence.  The window part is a perforated film with small holes to see out of and printed on the outside with the image.  Inside it looks like the windows are tinted.  The process can be very expensive the digital printers cost between $50,000 and $500,000 depending the scale of what you want to do.  The shop where I work has been looking at getting one for the last 5 years or more.  Right now we are sticking with screen printing, not textiles, so no t-shirts.

 

[Headquarters]

Have a request in now for a quote on wrapping my 98 Damon Intruder. Will re-post when I get the quote. Some articles I have read indicate a cost of $10 to $20 per sq.ft.. Figure the 2 sides of the Intruder would be around 800 sq.ft.  $8000 bucks  :'( installed is too much for my wallet. That would represent 20% of the vehicle value.

I have a decal guy with the 98 Intruder decal designs, and a new set of decals installed was quoted at $2000.

Going to a paint shop tomorrow for quote on new paint job. Was quoted $1000, 6 months ago to paint just the storage area around the bottom of the coach.

I hate driving around in a coach that looks ugly,  :-[ but at what expense?

More when I get prices.

Tom

 

[Ray D]

Re: your request for a quote on the wrap. Will that be for a copy of the original design, or are you contemplating graphics - photos - etc?

Ray D

 

[Karl]

Race cars use extremely thin vinyl decals over the base paint job. They're sticky-backed, but you spray the area with "409" or Windex or Mr. Clean, and that allows you to slide them around into position. You then take a squeegee to remove the liquid and, Viola! perfect decal job.

 

[Headquarters]

Ray,

Was going to get a quote on a wrap with yet to be designed graphics......No ads.  They have failed to contact me yet, but expect it will be too much, but will wait and see.

I did get a quote from Macco today for $4,000 out the door. They have a RV or Truck painting bay, It includes 2 colors, a lot of prep work and I saw one they were doing and it sure looked nice. For an extra $500 they would do a 6" stripe all the way around. The paint job is for a 98 Intruder 35' and 11'7" high. The paint selections are very nice and are Hi GLO acrylic enamel.  I think that's what I am going to do..... subject to changing my mind 10 more times in next 2 days.

We shall see

 

[Ray D]

In part, you said, "subject to changing my mind 10 more times in next 2 days."

Tell me all about "mind changing!" I don't have a clue, as to how many cars I looked at, looking for a toad. My mind changed faster than the temperature! Now, I'm in the same boat, looking for ramps, to load the scooters into the toad. I don't think anybody makes a ramp that I haven't seen, and none of them will do what I want to do!

The process never ends! When you are admiring your new paint job, and being careful because it's fresh, you will discover one more thing that needs done, and here we go again! I'll be interested in how this turns out.

Ray D

 

[Headquarters]

Ray,

Will deliver the RV to Maaco Painting Monday morning. I'm really excited to get it done. Perhaps I'll post a before and after picture when all complete. I will be adding some vinyl striping and graphics 30 days after the paint job. I not following the original Damon paint design at all... nor will I when its time to come up with additional stripes and graphics.  Wallet feeling empty but heart and mind almost feeling better.  Have been hashing out a Toad as well. I just can't see spending as much to tow the car as I am on painting the RV.  By the time they do stuff to the car, and rig the brake thing and the tow bar... yuck.  I can rent a lot of cars for that money.  But am now thinking about buying a used dolly from U Haul,  or it renting one for my next trip or 2 to see how much of a pain it is. My car is a front wheel drive automatic 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe.

I got the quote from the wrapping company today... it is shown below.  My guess of $8000 was right on.  Plus some extras for design and such...


Hi Tom, The cost to completely wrap your 35' RV excluding the roof and includingwindows with full color digital graphics would run approx. $8000 whichincludes printing and installation. Final pricing would depend on actual sqft of coverage, should be really close though. We have certified installers located all over the country. If we cannotlocate an installer within an 1 hr from your location an additional tripcharge may apply. Design is offered for a separate charge of $600 with client suppliedelements and 2 complete revisions. We can provide templates and fileSpecifications, free of charge, if you would like to provide us artwork. We use only premium materials: 3M Controltac 180c w/8519 laminatepre-masked, 3M Window Film with optically clear laminate and 3M certified installers. Turnaround is typically 10 days from receipt or sign off of print ready artwork. Please feel free to call if you have any other questions or would like to move forward with a wrap. Thank you for the inquiry,Curt 

--------------------Curt BiegelMonster Media Inc.** New Address **1515 MarlboroughRiverside, CA 92507
951.684.3111 office
951.684.3112 fax

 

[Ray D]

Wow!

Actually, the price seems about right to me. A whole vehicle air-brush job would be a whole lot more than that. Others may have a different idea.

At least, I have learned how it is done. I don't see a wrap in the future, for my Damon Challenger. Think I will do my best to take care of the paint it has, now.

Would likie to see the before and after pics.

Ray D.