Always Buy More Wrap Film Than You Need

We hate to say it, but when we tell people that they should always buy more wrap film than they think they're going to need we're often accused of being straight greedy. We get it though: why trust the people making a profit off of selling the vinyl to you, right? Well, even if you don't believe that we're good guys (we are, we promise) you can at least agree that it's only good business to keep your customers happy. And, recommending that you always buy more vinyl wrap film than you think you're going to need is a big part of that. Although the picture above should give you a big hint, let's look at the top three reasons why it's always a good idea to buy more wrap film than you think you'll need.

If you've ever painted your apartment or a room in your house and realized you didn't buy enough you probably already know what we're going to say. Just in case you don't though, you may be surprised that even two batches of the same paint from the same store will be slightly different in terms of their hues. And, since vinyl is more or less a paint in a matrix of stabilizers, the same is true when talking about wrapping film. And, whether you buy from 3M™, Avery™, ORACAL® or Rwraps™ films the case is the same: every roll will differ slightly from every other roll. That's why, when you're wrapping anything large you want to be sure you have enough film so you don't need to pull vinyl from two different rolls of film. In the case of complete vehicle wraps we often recommend that our customers purchase a 25 yard roll even if they're wrapping a smaller vehicle. But, what are some other reasons why you should buy more vinyl wrap than you think you'll need?

Wrapping Mistakes: They Don't Just Happen to the Other Guy

Regardless of how long you've been wrapping vehicles, mistakes can happen. And, when they do, they can be really costly. But imagine having bought just enough film to complete a job, wrapping the hood and then making an error on the fenders only to find out you don't have enough film to complete the job. Sounds like an easy fix, right? Well, we've had enough customers in our day who have turned a small profit it a big loss just because they didn't buy enough wrap film. The old saying that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure couldn't be more true.

Damaged Vehicle Wraps

Fixing damaged and scratched vinyl wraps is a big enough topic that we've even made a whole how-to guide on it. First, answer the following questions and then determine your next step:

How extensive is the damage?
How large of an area do you need to patch?
Is the damage in a central location?

If you're able to answer in the negative to these three questions, there's one last hurdle you need to jump: getting ahold of the same film used in your original wrap. Even if you're able to buy the same exact Avery Dennison™ SW900 Gloss Intense Blue film (for example) it's never certain that you'll get the same exact shade. In fact, it's almost a given that you won't which is why we recommend that installers always keep extra for their customers in a tube with the client's name so that it can be repaired if necessary. Naturally, however, most shops have neither the room nor inclination to do this so it's not a bad idea for you to do it regardless of whether you wrapped your ride yourself.

Good Advice: You Decide

Now that we've covered the top three reasons why you should always buy more you decide: have we given you good or bad advice? Simply put, we're always happy to sell you more film but we'd rather you not be unpleasantly surprised when the "same color" wrap looks slightly different than the original which is already on your ride.