Anyone know any signwriters?

[f0rtkn0x]

Hello,
Anyone know any good signwriters?
I need an exterior company sign and two vehicles with full advertising wraps. There are several companies around I've seen but i've heard horror stories with vehicle wraps so if anyone knows any it would be great to hear.

Thanks :)

[chalkie99]

Not in your area I'm afraid but I would love to hear the horror stories!:)

[f0rtkn0x]

:D In a nutshell, 'stickyness' being too strong, and when they place it and readjust it they pull up the car paint work with it! Bits falling off in the rain and hitting the car behind's windsreen on a motorway and just generally not great print quality or getting bubbles in it.
I'm sure they aren't very common problems, but I'm buying two brand news Nissan Navaras and if they get damaged, I'll cry...alot.
:)

[chalkie99]

I wonder if they could be becoming more common.

The industry has pretty much flooded the market with printers, before the easy credit dried up, and now they are pushing wrap training courses fairly hard.

A lot of people are doing one day or two day training courses and going away with a "certificate to say they are trained wrappers. Prices are getting driven down to unrealistic levels and I can see a lot of people are going to get sub-standard work while the newly "qualified" practice on paying jobs.

[f0rtkn0x]

See now i'm even more worried...thanks ;)

I think i'll look for an established company, and ask to see where they do the wraps rather than just leave the vehicles with them and ask for some references.
I don't want to have to try and explain why half the paint work is missing to an insurance company....

[gploosley]

Corby Graphix 01536 771772
Carlton Rd, Wilbarston, Market Harborough, Leicestershire LE16 8QD
They have both blue chip and independent trader customers.
Established 20 years.

[f0rtkn0x]

Will check them out, thanks :)

[maidofkent]

Try also Insigns, Stafford, 07811 279862.

I don't even know what wrapping is :| but they did signs for us on several vehicles, over a period of several years, plus other exterior signs, and we never had any complaints.

MoK

[chalkie99]

Try also Insigns, Stafford, 07811 279862.

I don't even know what wrapping is :| but they did signs for us on several vehicles, over a period of several years, plus other exterior signs, and we never had any complaints.

MoK

Supposedly the complete covering of all bodywork of a vehicle in the case of a full wrap or, for example, the complete covering of a section of a vehicle such as the rear doors of a van for a partial wrap, as opposed to the placing of individual graphics on body panels.

Lots of people seem to get confused with this though and really want or get the latter while still liking to call it a "rap" as they think it a cool thing to ask for.

We reckon about 90% of people asking us to wrap don't actually want that at all.

[maidofkent]

Oh, I see..............;)

I'm not sure what we had done:D, but it was a good job!

MoK

[f0rtkn0x]

Wrappedy Wrappety Rap :)
Thanks for the tips.

[bikerjohn]

Hello. I found this thread, and forum, when Googling my company name in an idle moment.

I run the Corby Graphix recommended earlier (thank you gploosley) and thought I would like to clear up some misapprehensions about wrapping.

Firstly, the stickiness cannot be too strong. The adhesive needs to be as strong as possible if it is going to stick in some of the deeper recesses on van body panels, and not start to shrink back after a few months in service. Some areas, notably the side panel recesses on old shape Mercedes Sprinters, are notoriously difficult, even with the best materials.

Vinyl pulling paint off? That's possible, but can only happen if the bond between the vinyl and paint is greater than that between the paint and the vehicle body. That will only happen if the vehicle has had a bad paint job. I've never known it to happen on a factory paint finish.

Bits falling off and hitting the car behind? I'd love to see that. Got any photos?

Print quality can vary, certainly, and there are as many cowboys in my business as there are in any other. I sympathise with the layman trying to pick the sheep from the goats, but you need to ask what printer and what inks the wrapper is using. Ideally you would want someone using a fairly modern printer using full solvent inks onto an appropriate material.

Another quality issue is the standard of image file that you give to the wrapper to print. You might be surprised at how often potential clients send us a 67k 72dpi image they have downloaded from the internet, and don't understand when we tell them that it will look rubbish when blown up to a couple of feet high. It isn't always the fault of the wrapper.

chalkie99 raises a good point about the market being flooded with printers, not all suited to vehicle graphics. As above, you can only enquire about the exact printer they intend to use, and ask a few pointed questions about the experience level of the fitters. Don't go by images on anybody's website because a lot of unscrupulous companies steal images of other peoples work, and pass it off as their own.

I could go on, but don't want to write a novel, but just one final point. Why do you think you want a wrap? It is expensive to do it properly and they don't always work because the images and background can obscure the message you want to get across. An equally effective livery can often be obtained with a part wrap, at a fraction of the price.

Regards

[Test It]

Hello,
Anyone know any good signwriters?
I need an exterior company sign and two vehicles with full advertising wraps. There are several companies around I've seen but i've heard horror stories with vehicle wraps so if anyone knows any it would be great to hear.

Thanks :)

Hi,

You could try Andrews Signwriters .... 0800 195 6822 I don't have enough posts at the moment to post a link but it is basically www andrewssignwriters co uk without the dots.

Never had wraps done, but speak to Andrew more about it and he could probably advise more....

Don't forget to mention that Test It Electrical Services told you about them ;)

[mixedrealitystudio]

I would highly recommend Stripemaster in Telford. There service is second to non.

The do a lot of wraps and will sit with you as you to define what you want designed on your car.

[Peppa-Lou]

Hi

Im guessing you probably have this all sorted by now, but Im new to this site and thought I would put in a post!

I have a small company and we deal with promotional merchandise. I have sorted out a few clients with details on their vehicles, I also have my own company details on my own car.

We also sponser a Ferrari Challenge car, and we did the livery for that. The car has been to many events, track days and has been on display in a few Ferrari dealerships. Feel free to have a look on our site - Alfa Concept under the Ferrari tab.

If I can help you with anything please do let me know.

Cheers

[Signs4vans]

As a professional signwriter, I'd just like to support bikerjohn's post. Vehicle wrap vinyl can only pull paint from a vehicle if the paint wasn't properly adhered to the vehicle in the first place.

I've seen many shoddy respray jobs in my time, some of the paint would just come off if you wiped your finger across it.

If the OP has heard horror stories they are stories about poorly painted, poorly maintained rustbuckets.

If you've got a bad vehicle don't expect a vehicle wrap to hold it together or to stay attached to the vehicle for very long.

If anyone is searching this post looking for signwriting you could have a look here for some rather cheaper alternatives to vehicle wrapping - www signs4vans co uk

Bill

[abigaladam20]

you have done the best.:)