Signage Education: Prepping Your Vehicle for a Wrap

An essential first step to applying any graphics to your vehicle is to clean your substrate (the surface area of the car). This ensures that the graphics adhere properly and limits the risk of failure. It is very important that the vehicle is thoroughly clean and is a critical step in the application process. It is always a good idea to check with the material manufacturer to make sure you are following their recommendations for cleaning the substrate.

The first step is to remove all of the dirt and grime with a commercial detergent and water. A trip to the car wash helps to get as much dirt, salt and road grime off of the car as possible. Note: If you take the vehicle to the car wash, it is important to make sure the vehicle is completely dry before applying the graphics. This may mean allowing the vehicle to dry indoors overnight before applying the graphics.

If grease, oil, wax or other contaminants are present, wipe the substrate with a solvent such as Prep-Sol or Xylol. At SignWorks we will do a final cleaning with isopropyl alcohol (IPA) to make sure that any oily residue from the other solvents is not left behind. CAUTION: If you are using a solvent on your vehicle be sure to test in an inconspicuous area to ensure the solvent won’t damage the vehicle’s paint.

When cleaning the vehicle with IPA, we recommend using two lint free towels. One towel soaked with IPA which is used to loosen and clean off the contaminants (dust, dirt, wax, etc.). The second towel should be dry and is used to wipe away the excess IPA before it has a chance to evaporate. It is also important to pay special attention to cleaning the cracks and crevices of the vehicle where contaminants generally build up. For these areas, we recommend wrapping an IPA soaked towel around a squeegee to get down into the crevasses. After cleaning, preparation is the next most important step prior to applying vehicle wraps.
At SignWorks we will plan your install before we start by analyzing which piece goes where and which one we plan to start with. Today’s material does gives our installer some degree of repositionability, however, this is generally intended so the installer can “snap up” a small area for repositioning, not remove an entire panel to start over.

Before applying the first piece our installer will lay out the graphics and position them on the vehicle with tape. This enables him to check that all the graphics have been printed and allows him to check the positioning of the graphic and make necessary adjustments (or plan on adjustments) before actually applying the vinyl.

Once the graphics are positioned and there is a plan on where to start, it is time to begin applying the graphics.