How to Ensure a Vehicle Is Clean Enough for Vehicle Film Wrapping
To ensure a perfect wrap job, thorough cleaning of the vehicle is a must. However, even though we keep emphasizing the importance of cleaning, installers can easily underestimate it. Or even if they know it, they did not clean it properly as they thought.
This is when the wrap shop has to play its role in quality control. It is more than necessary for a vehicle-to-be-wrapped to be 100% clean, because it will affect the performance of the vehicle wrap film in terms of its durability.
A regular cleaning process usually involves these steps: hardware removal and its adhesive residue removing, and usage of microfiber towel, sometimes as well as scratchless sponge to wipe over the wrapping surface, then change to paper towel to double-check if there is still dirt remaining on the surface before the final step, which is to degrease it.
It is a good idea for wrap shop to have someone doing quality control, which is best assigned to the leading installer or someone who is handling the customers directly – It can actually be anyone who is not so much involved in the vehicle film wrapping process.
And this person can take a pre-install check over and a final check-up. For pre-install check over, it is about making sure of 100% cleaning as we mentioned. To do this, he can use a very simple checking method with just a white paper towel to see if the cleaning of the vehicle is thorough enough.
As soon as the installer is done with cleaning, he can come over, take a white paper towel as well as a squeegee, put the squeegee in the white paper towel and start going through all the edges and going underneath the bottom of the bumper, doing a 360-degree check.
If the white paper towel turns out white after all these, it means the installer has done a great job. But if it turns up with dirt or things like black stripes, it is necessary to ask them to clean it again. This can also be a reminder that sometimes even though the wrapper thinks they have cleaned thorough, it might not turn out as what they think.
Just like in some cases, installers think they have done it right in terms of cleaning, but if you have someone experienced besides and watch how they prep the vehicle, you will see there are details they have missed or they simply did not do it right.
In order to let them know the importance of cleaning, it is good to remind them that the vehicle wrap film they are going to apply to this vehicle is going to last at least a few months to a few years. And cleaning plays a big part in terms of the effect of long term durability.
This is also why a wrap shop has to have someone who is out of the wrap job to take quality control. If they have the installer himself doing it, he might think everything is all right, because he thinks he has done it properly.
Do not let the actual wrapping start before the quality control person does this white paper towel check, because once again, it will affect how the vehicle wrap film goes on.
Of course though, you might not have to do this all the time. But it is good to have it when an installer is new to your shop, or he is a beginner. It can be a starting lesson to let them understand the importance of cleaning and know that sometimes they did not quite clean it as they think.
As you take this towel check several times, they would know clearly how to do it right. (When the wrapping is done, do not forget that this quality control person will also have to do another 360-degree check to make sure everything is done properly.)
After all, cleaning is the first step to successful vehicle film wrapping. Even the best installer would not overlook this process, because if the vehicle is not 100% clean, even if you have the best material, it will end up failing still.
