DIY to Lower Surface Energy for Vinyl Wrap Film
Due to the factors of properties, there are certain vinyl wrap films that are hard to remove after staying on a vehicle for one or two years, which would sometimes take you a whole day to do it.
But here is a simple way to save you from this frustration. That is to DIY your own spray that can help lower the surface energy so that the vinyl wrap film will not grip the main surface as it would have done.
This spray is actually very handy to make. All you need is to prepare a spray bottle, a syringe, some still water, baby shampoo, and 70% isopropyl alcohol. Certainly, the syringe is to help you pour the liquid into the spray bottle easily, but it is also for precise measurement.
The mix of the spray comes with 20 milliliter s still water (You can pour 10 for twice with the syringe), 10 milliliters isopropyl alcohol, and five milliliters baby shampoo. Once the liquids are all in, put the top of the spray bottle back and shake it through.
Now you are ready to spray! The trick is to spray evenly. And the proper way is to spray from up high so that you will have a light mix of the spray and be consistent on the main surface of the vehicle – but of course though, it is a bit difficult to get a light mix just by spraying, so once you spray over the surface, use your heat gun to go over it again thoroughly.
As soon as the spray is dry, you can use a microfiber towel to go through the outside edge of the section with a degreaser, which can be either isopropyl alcohol or car wrap cleaner. This is to neutralize the edge from the spray by about a half an inch so that the vinyl wrap film can hold the outside, yet the main surface area will not grip so tightly. Thus, it will help you remove it smoothly in the long term.
Once you finish all these preps and the spray is dry, you can start wrapping right away. The best about using this spray is that it will not affect the vinyl wrap film or the install process at all, even if you pick the film back up during install.
It is not like every type of film needs this kind of preparation as mentioned above, because vinyl wrap films have different properties. But if you know that your film has high surface energy, it is best to do it.
It might indeed take you a longer time to prep in this way, but if you know you are going to take this vinyl film off in years and you know it is going to be tricky to remove, it is worth spending this extra time – After all, you would certainly not want to waste a whole day dealing with the removal process years later.
