How to Fix Wrinkles on Vehicle Wrap Film When They Bunch Up Near Gas Tank
Whether you are a beginner installer or advanced installer, you would definitely come across with the time when you have to deal with really tricky situation. We have talked about how to pick the panel back up and deal with a poor wrap job where there are wrinkles around the vehicle wrap film on the body of vehicle.
Today we have another bad case – if not worse, where the vehicle wrap film is bunching up around the gas tank (which is a giant one piece that goes on the side), and there are sharp wrinkles around while it is on the body of vehicle. This kind of mistake actually happens quite often for beginner installer. Here we are going to show you how to pick the panel back up and make your fix, then squeegee it back down flat.
What you first need to do in this case is to shift the material around the gas tank away in order to trap it. Now you should have the material buckling there. And we save this problem for the end.
The next thing is to make sure your panel is straight enough. But instead of picking up the whole panel, you can just soften the tension on the left side by giving it a little bit of heat. Then you can create a small triangle there to help make sure the whole piece stays straight from top to bottom.
In order to do it, squeegee as far as you can towards the left side. Just shift enough material there to create your triangle. Do not try to feed the tension towards the bottom if you see a bunch, otherwise it will fail. Even out the bottom section, then focus on the triangle by working with your squeegee.
Do not forget to use just enough portion of your squeegee and squeegee at a 45-degree angle though.
And again, read the wrinkles and work accordingly. In this case, wrinkles are sharper at the bottom than those at the top of the triangle. That is because there is tension. As long as there is tension, material gets sharp. So you can shift the tension there towards the top. Give the vehicle wrap film a little bit of heat to relax it.
Use the hard part of your squeegee to deal with the sharp angle. Shift the tension out. And you will see a straight line there on the side with this triangle technique.
Next, you can create a hinge and separate the panel into a top section where the gas tank is and a bottom section where it is below the gas tank. Run over the hinge with the hard part of your squeegee at a 45-degree angle from the middle to the left side, and the middle to the right side, then from the right all the way to the left side – Again, just use enough portion of your squeegee, probably around a quarter inch at a time.
When you do it, use your free hand to pull the vehicle wrap film and give it the right amount of tension just before you squeegee it, which means your free hand should be ahead of your squeegee. Otherwise there will be wrinkles coming up.
As you work out the vehicle wrap film, continue reading the material. When you see tension and sharp wrinkles, you can give it a little bit of heat – Not too much, but just enough. Wait until the material cools down again, just let the film relax, and carrying on pulling as well as squeegeeing it.
Shift the tension away from the point there. Continue working in this way from the top to bottom until the vehicle wrap film is squeegeed back down flat and smooth.
Then come back to the area around the gas tank, where there are lifting on the left and the right side. Give those areas a little bit of heat and soften the material – Do not try to stretch it.
Shift the material from left to right where you form a triangle. Just squeegee the material down, and use the back of your fingernail to make it flat. Now everything turns back nice and smooth. Job done!
