Vinyl wrapping a motor home

[John Stephens]

I did a search on the forum for this subject and found very little information, most of which was over 10 years old.

I'm wondering how many people who are driving older coaches have any experience with vinyl wrapping when the paint begins to fail. My 2005 Adventurer has lost its clear coat, is beginning to turn color where the clear coat is gone, and cannot be waxed to a shine other than on the painted areas. The decals are shriveling up and coming off.  I have been quoted $12,000 to have it repainted properly, with all decals removed, the fiberglass sanded to remove any color that shouldn't be there, prepped, sectioned off and painted - all to simply reinstall the clear coat. The decals would then have to be purchased and installed, meaning another $4,000. The coach isn't worth enough to make this viable, so I'm looking for alternatives that will still allow me to protect the fiberglass from getting any worse.

I spoke to one man who just had his coach wrapped in 3M vinyl by a shop in Memphis, and is happy with the results. The wrap shops around here that do advertising for trucks don't seem interested in a job this large and won't quote me an estimate, so I'm beginning to wonder just how many of these places exist that will cover a motor home, and whether or not I will have to travel out of state to get this done.

I am curious as to how many people have had this done and what their opinions are of the product and process. I've been told to expect a life of around 7-10 years in the Florida sun if good 3M vinyl is used. Since I don't plan on keeping the coach for longer than another seven years, this fits into my plan.

If anyone has had this work done, please let me know what the total cost was. One shop in town told me that white sheets are $5/ft and colored graphics are $11. Since it will cost several thousand to install a decal kit, it probably will be worth spending the extra for the color graphics and forget the decals.

Thanks for any and all input. If anyone knows of another way to protect the coach short of repainting, please let me know.

 

[kdbgoat]

A member here, Dougie Brown did one a couple of years ago. That coach now belongs to Pancake Bill, another member here. Maybe he will give us an update and his opinion.

 

[blw2]

this strikes me as a potentially decent idea as a "poor man's" paint job.  I've thought I may look into it if we ever keep our unit that long.
but
based on quite a few years of participating in this forum, and occasionally on others, is that I only remember less than a handful of threads about folks doing it.
So my anecdotal guess is that it's not common

 

[sc4668]

I remember a few months ago on this Forum someone had this done price around $8000.

 

[HueyPilotVN]

It was several years ago but this decal on the back of my Stacker was about $1,000.

 

[hedhunter9]

The one on the side of our Outlaw was $35 bucks.  The one on the back a year later was $50 bucks..  both were
made with the good 3M stuff.  about a 4x4 foot...

Bob

 

[Spring Creek]

It was several years ago but this decal on the back of my Stacker was about $1,000.

Bill, that?s just plain cool!

Bob, I think I know where your rig is leaking. Those holes are huge!! 

 

[grashley]

While my graphics are still in reasonable condition, if I were to remove them, I would not replace them with factory graphics!!  There are two great examples of custom graphics above.  Both look MUCH better than the swoosh from the factory!  My choice would be something like Grand Canyon and Arches NP.  Maybe a bald eagle in flight on the front cap.

Have you considered removing the graphics, applying pictures to YOUR liking, then wax the whole thing.  The "low gloss" finish may accent the graphics.  Or at least that can be your story ;D

 

[HueyPilotVN]

I agree, You might want to make up your own unique graphics for your RV.

Any picture can be made into a vinyl graphic.  The only limit is your imagination.

 

[jymbee]

While my graphics are still in reasonable condition, if I were to remove them, I would not replace them with factory graphics!!  There are two great examples of custom graphics above.  Both look MUCH better than the swoosh from the factory!  My choice would be something like Grand Canyon and Arches NP.  Maybe a bald eagle in flight on the front cap.

Have you considered removing the graphics, applying pictures to YOUR liking, then wax the whole thing.  The "low gloss" finish may accent the graphics.  Or at least that can be your story ;D

Great idea! I've seen a number of discussions online where owners have gone the custom wrap route. Up to that point I had a pretty negative opinion of the quality one could expect. Partially due to a pretty poor wrap a local organization had applied to one of their large trucks from a digital aerial image we took. But having seen a number of really cool looking wraps since then I've come around to thinking it's definitely a viable option for some.

Wonder why you don't see many out there on the road? Can't say as I can recall ever seeing even one...

 

[PJ Stough]

I have seen several political candidates, and some advocate groups have motorhomes wrapped.

 

[Larry N.]

Can't say as I can recall ever seeing even one...

I think that's what's on many city buses around here.

 

[John Stephens]

While my graphics are still in reasonable condition, if I were to remove them, I would not replace them with factory graphics!!  There are two great examples of custom graphics above.  Both look MUCH better than the swoosh from the factory!  My choice would be something like Grand Canyon and Arches NP.  Maybe a bald eagle in flight on the front cap.

Have you considered removing the graphics, applying pictures to YOUR liking, then wax the whole thing.  The "low gloss" finish may accent the graphics.  Or at least that can be your story ;D

That's a really good idea, or would be if I could remove the decals and then put a picture of my own choosing on the entire area that needs protection plus where the decals were. But my biggest problem is the need to protect the fiberglass that has nothing on it at present because it has lost the clear coat entirely. That means nearly the entire sides of the coach as well as the front. Whoever owned the coach before me apparently didn't realize it needed to be waxed once in a while because the clear coat is destroyed.

It would seem to me to be considerably cheaper and actually, better to simply repaint the coach with a new clear coat and if I wanted to spend the money for a new design put on with a full body paint, that could be done at a much higher price. But two different mechanics who do body work have quoted me nearly the same price to simply put clear coat on at a price I would think would buy me a full body paint. They say the price is so high due to prep; having to sand the discoloring off the white before applying the clear coat to make it look right, as well as taping and blocking everything off that doesn't get painted, meaning all windows, vents, etc. Also, the only way to make the coach look right with a new clear coat applied would be to remove the decals and replace them. If I was going to do that, I would opt for the full body paint job and forget about just doing a clear coat over the white portions, but still can't afford to spend that much on a coach that has already cost me over $23,000 in repairs in the past four years.

 

[RVRAC1]

I have seen even new Ferraris on TV having a wrapping job done.  Although I personally don't like what they do to some of them, I assume it must be durable. I am going to ask my brother-in-law.  He does this at his job.