I have been reading a lot of reviews, and reports on Amazon Prime, and the webs, about Chinese body kits. For the most part, the average review being " smudged, scuffed, lightly scratched."

I'm not worried so much about the flaws of pretty paint with fingerprints, light imprints, etc. ( I'll be ordering a simple white, or black body kit.) The question is, are blemishes like this going to show through an aftermarket wrap? Is the vinyl reasonably thick to cover up minor blemishes? Or do the panels need to be highly prepped, because the vinyl is thin, and hides nothing underneath?

Or have you had stock body work marred/scratched and did a wrap? How was the end result?

Just like with paint, 95% of work in getting good-looking results is preparation. That means filling and sanding bodywork to get rid of any scratches & flaws. Heck, even peeling off factory decals on OEM bodywork will leave ridges that shows through wrap. So do all bodywork necessary and use de-silicone solutions to remove mould-release compounds on fresh bodywork just like painting. No grease, finger-prints or anything on pristine bodywork before wrap. Heck, even if you breath on it and leave smudge of fog, it'll show up in your wrap!

Not sure if I actually answered your question. It's no, there's no difference between OEM and Chinese bodywork. They both require same amount of prep-work in order to do vinyl-wrap.

And if you're considering vinyl-wrap as easier or cheaper alternative to painting, it's not. Takes exact same amount of sanding and prep-work. But takes way more time to apply cleanly and perfectly afterwards compared to just spritzing some paint on and walking away.

Good to know.

Hey Dano you forgot the sanding and buffing after you spritz a little paint.

Primer, wet sanding, tacking, primer, wet sanding tacking, paint, wet sanding, tacking, paint, wet sanding, tacking, paint, wet sanding, tacking, clear coat, wet sanding, tacking, clear coat, wet sanding and on and on until you get the proper finish. Over the course of several days you can get a paint job done. Wraps can be done a few hours.

Some things are easy to wrap and some things like tanks with lots of curves and recesses are harder to wrap.

Or you can rattle can it in flat Olive Drap and call it a day.:rotflmao:

Elbow grease ALL THE THINGS!

I have home experience vacuum forming stuff. Not an industrial level by any means. Mainly R/C truck, and helicopter bodies.I figured a wrap, was in some ways similar to vacuum forming, dealing with certain complex edges and curves. Mainly bubbles, creased lines, that can't form to the shapes and such.

As for any body work, there is going to be a ton of work, ( at minimal) of sanding, prepping, degreasing, etc. Also the amount repairing, if used, rather new parts. Kind of talking out loud here, so you all know, that I am realizing there is not going to be an easy, low cost, pretty way to do this.)

If I do it myself: time/money/ patience + - any mistakes redoing.

If I farm it out, then, it's hassle free patience, and lots more money.

Decisions, decisions.....decisions.

Thanks for all the input. I appreciate it!:thumbup:

Or you can rattle can it in flat Olive Drap and call it a day.:rotflmao:

Ahahhahha!!!! That's what I did on my 2nd set of bodywork on my race bike! Here's bike at beginning of season.

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=download&id=0B2u9SQWpJMCTUElZU2hqQTcySGM

Then after crash when I got impatient and whacked open throttle 100% in middle of turn-2 @ Thunderhill...

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=download&id=1lq8pHar-2JiuhoCF53cy0lEqTN-arnOV

I got fairing kit from eBay (https://www.ebay.com/itm/193036576206). Stitched it together to make 1-piece quick-release fairings and re-used repaired belly-pan from previous bodywork. Laying down 2-layers of Omni-AU was only 20-minutes, most of that was waiting between coats. Actually spraying part was maybe 2-3 minutes total.

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=download&id=1iR3WkievZkPZwChQXr51cCRWdIOazsvX

I had this elaborate 3-colour paint-scheme in mind, but didn't want to spend any more time than necessary. Would've rather spent time upgrading mechanicals to go FASTER!!!

That's the repair job? (3rd pic) That looks really good!

First pic, got my heart all pitter pat, for my silver and black 03 R1 :( and yours was technically, a "Red Tail". :bounce: Keep em flying! I'm an aviation buff, and had thought about an actual Red Tails design. Not saying that was your intention. Just coincidental. :D

That's the repair job? (3rd pic) That looks really good!
Thanks! Just belly-pan was repaired with 2-layers fibreglassl All stuff above new Chinese fleabay specials!

Heh, heh... I like red tails... Hopefully this drops price of my beloved T-38s...

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=download&id=1omO1VXStF6pza7pEjFPpQbT3WKTNzug2