Imagine being able to change the colour of a van
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or truck cab at will without invoking the wrath of local authorities or residents through paint fumes. We know a man that can, and at a reasonable price, too.
Fleet operators wanting to transform a van or truck cab for
a contract—but without resorting to a full paint job—will welcome the idea of being able to gift-wrap it in vinyl sheeting.
The self-adhesive covering medium has been engineered specifically as a durable paint replacement for about half the cost of a traditional re-spray. It has been developed by UK specialist manufacturer Kay Premium Marking Films in an extra-wide format so that an owner can change a vehicle's colour at will and change it back again at half the cost of a single re-spray.
Using the conformable VWS vinyl, a trained two-person application team can wrap a panel van, CDV or car in less than one working day. The same team can also strip down the van to its original colour at any time up to three years after its initial application.
The over-wrapping also protects the vehicle's bodywork against most stone chips, scuffs and scratches, leaving the paintwork looking tip-top when it is time to replace the van.
No fading
There is little or no fading of the original paint pigment and no tell-tale shadow of a contractor's livery or the previous owner's graphics—these are all applied over the VWS vinyl covering.
It sounds bizarre to wrap a van in self-adhesive, but the concept has been used in Germany for three years to convert cars used as taxis to the statutory beige colour.
More recently though, Taxi Media has added the campaign graphics of blue-chip advertisers to black London taxis, and what would normally be a two-day respray job takes less than a day to apply and half a day to strip clean for the next campaign.
Believing that what is good for London taxis should also work with vans or trucks carrying corporate or promotional liveries, Taxi Media has established Vehicle Wrapping Services under livery operations chief Mike Philips. "Wrapping a whole vehicle or truck cab is an odd idea to get your head around at first," says Philips, "but there are enough benefits to convince us it's a real winner."
The principal one is the freedom that it offers livery designers. There are 46 standard colours in the VWS catalogue and these can be tweaked to match corporate identity specifications.
The most fundamental requirement of a vinyl wrapping is that the "skin" must follow the contours of the original surface, with no wrinkles or joins, and continue to replicate paint throughout its life without shrinkage or lifting. When it is time to sell the van, the vinyl must be easily removable without damaging the original paintwork.
According to KPMF, VWS is the only vinyl material that can meet these criteria, and it points to its success with taxis here and in Germany.
VWS is a high quality, soft hybrid film, says Philips, and its super wrapping characteristics are all down to its Too-micron thickness, which is at least 40 microns thicker than other durable marking films. He adds: "It's highly conformable with excellent pigmentation chemistry"
Other key factors, says Philips, are the 1.52m (6oin) extra-wide panels offered and KPMF's adhesive, which can be cleanly removed for up to three years.
Extra thickness
Its extra thickness enables the applicators to mould the films to every contour and allows it to stretch or retract by using hot and cold air respectively to attain a skin-like fit. it also eliminates stretch discoloration without affecting the pigmentation.
The job costs about £45° for an average-sized panel van and, when it is time to trade it in, VWS will remove the skin and give the van a wash, polish and valet in less than one working day for £175.
The scheme has attracted the interest of companies including British Telecom and Tesco—the latter for its home-delivery vans— but, for the moment, Philips is busy establishing up to 30 VWS franchises around the UK.
• by Bryan Jarvis