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VEHICLE WRAPPING A new livery technique is to completely cover
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the truck, van or body in vinyl. This technique offers the benefits of an eye-catching livery but allows you to preserve the residual value of the vehicle, and gives protection against stone chips and minor scratches. For example, you cover a white van with fluorescent blue, orange or green vinyl. When the time comes to dispose of the van, the vinyl is removed, leaving a white van beneath with pristine paintwork.
VWS vinyl is made in the UK by KPME It is the only wrapping vinyl, says Philips, currently available that has undergone long-term testing on the road—it has been used on German and UK taxis since 1994. VWS has introduced a four-year warranty and a decommissioning scheme, whereby VWS will take responsibility for vinyl removal and return the vehicle paintwork to an acceptable condition.
The vinyl is 100 microns thick, compared with the more usual 50 to 60 microns, and is a hybrid of both cast and calendered vinyls. The result is a vinyl flexible enough to follow the body contours yet thick enough to protect the paint from scratching. It is available in 12 colours, including transparent.
Tamworth-based Grafftyp also sells a wrapping vinyl made by its Belgian parent. Grafuwrap is 90 microns thick and comprises two layers: a 50-micron cast vinyl top layer which protects inks from UV degradation, and a 40-micron thick calendered substrate that helps the vinyl mould to the vehicle contours.
Costs vary according to vehicle size, but Grafityp distributor Ad-Wraps quotes 21,150 for a one-off single-colour wrap for a Ford Transit Connect, rising to 21,904 for a full-colour wrap for a long wheelbase Transit. Joe Bartnicki, Grafityp's technical director, says this is not such an expensive add-on as it might appear. "You can recoup 2600 when you decommission the vehicle, either through enhanced residual values or because there is no need to respray the vehicle before disposal. The van is in service much quicker too, because application takes only eight hours." VWS says it takes about a day to apply the vinyl and three to four hours to remove it. Most vinyls can easily be removed before resale by using hot air to soften the adhesive and then peeling off the film. More often than not, there is an outline because the exposed paint will have faded, while that beneath the graphic will not have, but that can often be eliminated.