Recently, we have introduced how to remove window molding. And today we will talk a bit about removing the back door or trunk molding on a vehicle. Once again, we are not saying that you have to remove those parts, but by doing this, you will achieve a much more comfortable and smoother wrapping process and a high-quality finish.

   Taking the molding off obviously would help when it comes to wrapping the back areas. It usually takes within five minutes, which is really worth doing as you raise the overall wrap into another level. For some, it might be tricky to do the removal, but in this article, we will show you how to do this safely and effectively by using three different types of vehicles as a case study.

1.    VW Transporter – License Plate Molding

The first type of vehicle we have today is a VW transporter.

   To remove the license plate molding, first remove the plastic above the license plate here, and you have to remove the back panel, where it is held by a few clips around the area. It is relatively easy to deal with for this vehicle, as you just have to open the entire door and do it from above. But bear this in mind though: Clips are usually different from various vehicles. And for this one, it is plastic.

   Once you get them off, do not forget to use your hand there as a support so that the panel will not fall off the vehicle to the ground straight away. And make sure you then put it inside the car for safe keeping. As for those plastic clips, it is essential to put in one place so that you would not miss any one of them.

   Besides this, this type of molding is usually held on by screws or bolts. So remember to disconnect any electrical wires. There are generally two to four bolts that need to be removed in this case. Just get them loose and keep them safe.

   Once they are removed, just take a removal tool to pry the molding up (or sometimes you can even just slide the molding right out).

2.    Citroen Jumper – License Plate Molding

   For this vehicle, its back door works similarly to the first one we mentioned above. That is you have the molding above the license plate. However, this one is a bit easier, because you can just swing the door around, and you can do it particular wide for this specific car.
 
   And there you will come across a different kind of clips, where you can use a plastic removal tool like a crowbar. Put in a little pressure, and you can pop it open. But the trick for this method is to be careful not to break the cover on top. And do not forget to be patient and take your time always when removing those plastic clips.

   Once the panel is open, just loosen up the screws in it and slide them right out. In this case, there are lights in it as well, so apparently, you have to remove them as well. Remember that you have to disconnect the electrical wires, though.

3.    Ford Taurus – Trunk Molding

   Last but not least, for this session, we have a case study for trunk molding removal on a Ford Taurus. And this one can be a little tricky, where you will find a plastic molding right on the trunk. If you ask us, we will say that again that you do not have to take it off, but by doing it, it might save the world for your wrapping process.

   In this case, there is a third type of plastic clip. Make sure your plastic removal tool is in hand – and use the crowbar one for this. It makes everything much easier when you have the right tool. If you choose to take it off with a squeegee, it will be a nightmare for you.

   Once it is are off, you can reach to whatever it is holding the thing on. And in this case, it is a bolt – Ratchet 7/16. Do not forget to disconnect the electrical wires here, and just take off as many bolts as you would need.

   Now that the bolts and are off, you can come back with your plastic removal tool and gently pry the molding off the surface, just to release the plastic clips. But bear in mind that this one is sort of fragile so you have to be really careful when doing it because it is going to break if you pull too hard in one direction. Thus, try to pry it open every few inches.  

To conclude, removing these moldings on either back door or trunk would really help raise up the quality of your wrap. And it takes only less than five minutes! – Although there might be a time when you come across some installation which requires more than five minutes to do this removal. And if it takes too long, you can decide to leave those on.
 
   And there are two other tips for you to keep in mind when doing it: do not remove the molding after you clean up the car because there is dirt underneath it for sure, and it will go everywhere as you remove the molding.

Secondly, do not forget to check up the connections when you do the re-install. There might be a camera or lights connecting to whatever you have taken off. So just make sure you double check that everything works fine as you finish your job.

We hope these tricks will save you from a lot of frustrations during wrapping. For more coming up tips, just stay tuned and stick with us.

   After talking about removing the window, back door, and trunk molding, today we have roof molding and racks removing. Again, it makes it a lot easier for you to wrap cleaner and better if you can remove those parts – But of course safely. So here we will be looking at three case studies, just for your reference.

Double Sided Tape

   First of all, we have a case of a roof molding that is held by a double-sided tape – However, in most cases, they are usually held on with plastic clips. In this case here, the best way to deal with is actually not to remove it, because it is not promising that it will fit properly back on if you take it off and try to re-apply a double-sided tape on this long, stripped and soft molding, as it is going to stretch when you pull it. Thus, as long as you find out there is a double sided tape on the roof molding, just leave it on.

Straight Forward Kind

   Following, here we are coming to a straight-forward kind of roof molding that is exactly being held on by plastic clips. And again, the best way to do your removing is to have your plastic removal tool in hand. Bear in mind that it is essential to pry the molding as close to the clips as possible when you do it to avoid breaking it because as we frequently mention, those plastic clips are extremely fragile. So make sure you take your time when prying it off. The other important thing is to put your right inside the car once it is off – do not leave it on the roof so that it will not scratch the surface.

Different Style

   The third case is something with the same concept as the second one, where the molding is also held on by clips. But instead of the plastic one, this one is painted. And in this case, do not forget to start with your plastic removal tool as well. One more trick here is that when you do the removing, slowly slide your fingers forward and gently pry it off. Remember not to be rushing during the process so that you will not break the molding or the clips. And make sure you put the molding in a safe spot as soon as you get it off, because usually there is metal under those and it can scratch the roof if you leave them on there.

Roof Rack – Get Torx Screwdrivers prepared

   Last but not least, we move on to roof rack removal. In most cases, roof racks have plastic covers that either sit on the front and the back or sometimes in the middle. As soon as you pry it off, you will be able to figure out what is holding it on. And mostly it is either torx or bolt. You have to loosen those before you want to remove anything.

   When doing it, it is good to make sure that your toolset has a wide range of different torx tips to choose from, because you never know what kind of torx you will come across. And if you do not have the right tool in hand, you will not be able to get it off.

   Once the rack is loose, be careful that it does not fall on the roof right away. Instead, gently pull it up straight in the air. And then put it either inside the car or a safe spot in your workspace so that it will not be damaged. You will probably see much more dirt than you can think of is underneath. This is why we have to remind that never do the cleaning before these removals. Otherwise, that dirt will go everywhere, and you have to re-do the cleaning all the way.

   There will be the time when you come across roof moldings or racks that are not able to come off. But do not panic. We also have articles about wrapping with those parts on our blog. Just check them out, and they will save your world. Happy wrapping

When it comes to wrapping, it is critical to get the surface energy of different films right, especially when you have to put material on top of each other.

It can be very tricky when installing if you did not know the extent of surface energy and try to work around something, as it can cost you when you grab the material, but then it tears, only because you did not get the energy right.

The fact is that just knowing which type of film has high or low surface energy is crucial already.

Generally speaking, for most types of films, gloss wrap film has very high surface energy. So if you want to put a stripe on top of this wrap, or you have two panels that have to be stick onto each other, panel overlaps panel will be right to go in this case.

For gloss film, you do not have to do much prep for them, only put one and another panel on. You might want to use soap water or alcohol to wipe it before putting it on though. However, even if you don’t, the panels will stick to each other well enough already.

Going down from gloss, the surface energy of other types of films comes lower and lower: Satin film, matte film and then there is a textured film like brushed metallic, carbon or something like that. When you think of these films that have very low surface energy, it is better to remember that you have to prep them when installing.

These kinds of films are different from gloss film because of the prep. For a matte film, you can prep them very easy and straightforward. When doing inlayer or overlayer, you can take just a little bit of alcohol and put on a paper towel, then clean the edge of the film which is going to be overlapped. This trick will help raise the surface energy, and meanwhile, protect the film,

What some people might do is that if the film has deficient surface energy, they might gloss the film on the edge that is getting overlapped. However, still, using alcohol would still be considered the safest.

There are lots of things to think about with lower surface energy material. However, we also want to consider the surface energy of the subject when wrapping. For example, windows have very high surface energy. If your material touches it, especially on a cold day, it might just crack.

So sometimes it might be easier to lower down the surface energy of what you are wrapping. Mask tape is one of the great solutions for doing that.

To conclude, if you get the surface energy right while installing, your stripes or overlaps will stick and stay. It will be saving you from lots of troubles!

Climate control is one of the crucial things to think about when installing the vinyl film.

For owners of workshops or studios, they might generously hire lots of employees to do the job, yet feel distressed to spend even just one more penny on the electric bill. So they might not care to invest more to maintain the right temperature for wrapping.

And for customers, they probably would not overthink other than seek for a perfect finish. Thus, they would not know climate control can affect the quality of the production.

So here we are going to tell you why it is so essential to maintain climate control at a workspace.

Basically, if you are based in an area which usually is very hot, it is better to invest in air conditioning for your workshop, while heater for those in a very cold location – if you are an owner (If you are a customer, look for a shop with either in the relevant case).

It might be pricy enough for you to think about getting air conditioning. But let’s think in this way:

If you work at a space with high heat, it will take you a long time to install. And there are high chances of overstretching the material, which will lead to a durability issue. And often you will end up re-doing the whole thing.

On the flip side, if you work at a space that is too cold, again, it means the work will take longer time. But also the panels become more fragile in this case, and there are high chances of breaking them.

These are why it is so essential to maintain climate control, invest in air conditioning or heater, and make sure your working space is at the right temperature.

If you divide the electric bill by 30 days in a month, it is not too much comparing to the cost of potential damages out of a no climate control environment.

So it pays off if you consider all these. If you have not made this investment, it is better to act out now. And for customers, we hope you have a better idea in terms of which shop to choose for wrapping in the future.

When it comes to car wrapping, cold pre-stretch is something that requires specific skills during the process. This article describes the process of achieving wrinkle-free corners with this technique.

For corner wrapping, there is one thing we need to remember, which is that corners do not like materials being worked towards it because they have tension there. Often the material tends to bunch up in this case, where you can see wrinkles on either side of the corner.

One can use the pre-stretch technique in the shift of the triangle, and working away from the corner. You can achieve wrinkle-free corner very quickly in this way.

When applying, you only pick the material up, which passes the corner by about 3 centimeters and pull the material to the corner cold and firm, then form it around the corner deep.

What comes next is that you pull it about an inch away and push it down. You can now see the shape of the corner in the film, where you are going to form in there.

For the experienced installer, you probably know that the film has its memory. So once you add heat to it, the material shrinks back flat, which is a pretty good point in this case.

When you see the material collapses back on itself when heated, squeegee away from the corner, then cut below it with a knife and cut the extra film away.

By using the cold pre-stretch technique and triggering the memory with heat to allow it to shrink, you can squeegee everything down nice and tight. Moreover, then you can merely seal everything down.

This technique is undoubtedly good for the long-term durability of the film. Plus, by doing this, you can achieve a perfect corner very easily.

   Among various kinds of wrap films, chrome is another favorite wrap film of many people. So what are the Dos and Don’ts when installing a chrome vinyl wrap?

   Today we will be looking at the property of chrome film and see what the crucial things to do during the installation are.

   Chrome wrap film is a multi-layered film that is between five and eight millimeters thick, which is also without any lamination layer.

   This type of wrap film is not directional. So when applying, there is no need to worry about the direction of panels and any color hue.

   When it comes to choosing squeegee for install, a soft one is a correct and best choice, as the finish is very sensitive to scratches. As for buffer, a wet buffer is the one you should use. A dry buffer should be avoided when installing chrome wrap film because they can cause micro scratches very easily and lead to bad quality of finish.

Apart from this, there is also another tip to avoid scratches, which is to apply an overlaminate before install. During the install, a soapy solution is needed to allow both the buffer and squeegee to slide easily across the surface of the film.

Not only this, when it comes to squeegeeing, bear in mind that you should avoid holding the squeegee at a high angle, which can cause the corner to scratch the surface.

Instead, make sure to squeegee low and flat so that you can get the best result.

When installing chrome wrap films, wrinkles may occur very possibly. And unlike standard wrap film that can self-heal easily, chrome films do not self-heal. So when it happens, we pick the film back up and adding heat to trigger the memory. Before you stretch the film though, do not forget first to heat it thoroughly, considering chrome wrap film is multi-layered and thick.

This also means that using an IR heater, steamer or heat gun will give you the best result. However, remember not to use propane torches as a heat source, as it can very possibly make the film hard to be stretched properly.

The heat-up to chrome wrap film can help it conform to curves or recessed areas. And when you do the heating, the right way to do is to heat it thoroughly and pull the film evenly.

Be careful not to overstretch the film though, because if the film is overstretched, it will get what it is called “the ghost effects.” This is due to the multi-layers get shifting and not connecting anymore.

For post heating, it is supposed to apply to more areas with chrome wrap films than other cases. Particularly, apply heat to edges, and anywhere the film gets stretched to close to 10%. Last but not least, when making relief cut, the correct way is to do enclosed relief cuts rather than standard ones, as a standard relief cut can easily split and run into the wrapping area.

So here are some essential tips about chrome film for you today. We hope this will somehow lead you to your perfect finish. Happy wrapping!