Painting / Vinyl Wrapping a Van

[myway_1]

Seeing that clean vans are out of my price range, even 15 year old ones, I'm trying to figure out what condition compromises to make.

One may be poor paint condition.

However, getting an old van painted professionally may too expensive. I'm guessing $1,500 for an average quality job?

I am not confident in my ability to paint one myself that would yield a result that I would not be ashamed of.

Vinyl wrap. My son had some wide vinyl stripes applied to his car. Is this the same stuff that people are wrapping entire vehicles with?

Any of you done this? What are your thoughts? Is it hard and/or expensive to do yourself. Is the appearance the same as a paint job? If it doesn't look right can it be removed?

Thanks.

 

[John61CT]

Likely the body will be beat up, lots pricier to fix than just painting. Or rust, impossible.

The mass-market quick places are in that range, but don't do a good job.

With practice and the right weather, DIY is doable. Even seen tolerable brush jobs!

Keep working, saving your pennies and looking for that One deal, will fall in your lap.

Don't forget a few grand repair funds in an untouchable reserve, and keep adding 20-40¢ a mile to it as you travel.

If you're lucky you'll have most of the next one paid for bfore this one dies. . .

 

[Bud Smiley]

If you don't feel comfortable painting, don't try vinyl wrapping.

I'd recommend you try painting it if needed. It's a lot easier than you think. The key is proper prep and good masking. Even with buying some equipment, you'll save a lot of money.

 

[Bud Smiley]

Oh, and for your questions....

It is hard to do properly and expensive to pay someone else to do.

It can look as good as paint but you have to make sure everything is wrapped. Most wraps go over a base coat of paint (like the stripes on your son's car) and don't cover 100% of the vehicle.

It can be removed.

 

[Van-Tramp]

I repainted my own van with Monstaliner bed liner and detailed the methods and costs.

http://www.van-tramp.com/wp/painting-the-van-with-bed-liner/
and
https://vanlivingforum.com/Thread-Monstaliner-paint-job?highlight=monstaliner

I used a total of 3.5 gallons to paint the entire van (two coats). At $125 a gallon, it is good info to have. I am returning 3 gallons of paint and some other misc items. That should bring the total cost of the paint job to roughly $700-750 for an extended van with a topper. This can easily be done out in the desert or anywhere.

A normal sized van without a topper could be done on 2-3 gallons, and a single day of painting with a single day of sanding the day before (as long as your paint isn't flaking off like mine was)

 

[highdesertranger]

painting is not that hard but you need a real clean spot to do it. Van Tramp did his van in bed liner looks good in the pics. I believe it was under 1k, he did a thread on it.

as far as the vinyl wraps go they are expensive and if you ever go anywhere were you will get desert pin striping forget it you will ruin the vinyl wrap. highdesertranger

 

[Vanada]

I don't advocate selling out but aren't there some places that will vinyl wrap your vehicle with their brand and pay you for it? I received text messages once and shrugged them off instantly so I have no idea how legitimate any of it is.

 

[MrNoodly]

The expensive part of a paint job is the prep work. Scuffing, sanding, patching, etc. Vinyl needs to go down on a clean, smooth surface or it will bubble and peel. Getting an old vehicle smooth and clean enough for vinyl is just as much work as paint. Vinyl also has a short life compared to paint, then it begins to crack, curl and flake, especially on roofs, hoods and trunks.

 

[John61CT]

The branding shops want newish status vehicles, maybe a Sprinter, not old beater vans.

 

[Every Road Leads Home]

^What John61CT said about getting paid to wrap your vehicle. Most want the car to be 3 years or newer and most want the same type of car.....so if brand X decides they want to wrap vehicles for advertising they pick which kind, usually something that pops out to start with, and then will try to find x amount of those cars to advertise on. They also usually want the car to remain in a certain geographical area.....like someone that commutes to work everyday in a city. Certain advertising companies specialize in doing this for companies and that's probably who you got the text from. They'll text 100k people to build up a base of avail vehicles in different areas then contact companies to see if they want to advertise, saying they have 20 cargo vans available to wrap with their advertisement in San Diego or Boston, or whatever city the company is in that they are soliciting. .

Just having your vehicle wrapped a solid color to improve it's appearance is pricey, about the same as you could have it painted for.

 

[deadwood]

Unless you have found the perfect van except that the paint is bad. Otherwise I would keep looking. Amazing deals always pop up when you are looking for them. And the deal of the year can be found around once a week or so. You can find an older van that the body and paint are in decent shape. Especially if the previous owner had it in a garage.

 

[VanKitten]

VAn-tramp

I am thinking that I want to do what you did...Monstaliner. My real concern is the wind.
Here in the Grand Valley it is always windy....and a lot of the time REALLY windy.

There doesn't seem to be any indoor work spaces for rent in this area either (I cannot go far...I only get a few hours a day).

How fast does this dry? Is there any issue with complete drying of one section...then the next section having a visible line where the painting continued against the fully dry section? Did the edges become ***** making it difficult to continue until completely cured?

I also worry about dust in this high wind. Somedays it is quite clear that the dust has kicked up..I would avoid those days...but it could mean a week or more between opportunities to do more painting. (Sometimes the dust is so bad.....coming from the west. The locals call it Utah come to Colorado).

I am thinking I could get this whole beast sanded and prepped. Then tape off everything and begin with a brush doing detail work ... then pick up a day or two later? And so forth till done? Then start with the roller.
Then begin the second coat.... what do you think?

 

[John61CT]

Maybe do all the sanding maybe taping prep yourself, then get the cheapest mass-market paint shop to just apply two coats of the liner paint, likely you supply.

 

[Every Road Leads Home]

My friend has had cars painted at the cheap national paint places for years with good results. The only catch was he did all the body and prep work and masked everything off himself. Then let them do their quick and dirty two coats and out the door it went. They don't mask anything during those cheapo advertised jobs and that's why cars come out looking like crap. All your rubber moldings, emblems, etc get covered. So by masking all that himself and doing the prep he ends up with a decent paint job for the money.

 

[closeanuf]

There is no such thing as a "good" "cheap"paint job.  Cheap is gonna look cheap when you're done and good Is gonna cost you some money.  It is something a person can do themselves, but it is much more difficult than it first appears.  Try painting your car or van sometime and you will be amazed at how much work it is.  And you will be amazed at how much money you will have in sandpaper, tape, cleaning products, paint, thinner just to start.  The surface preparation is the most important and most time consuming.  Do it once and you will have a better understanding why it cost so much to have someone else do it for you.  Don't ask me how I know.

Vinyl wrap open another can of worms for someone who thinks anyone can do it.

 

[Bud Smiley]

I disagree.

I did it. I painted a car with boat paint and Harbor Freight tools. I saved lots of money and had a good result. I was actually surprised at how easy it was compared to my expectations. Even the sanding was a lot easier and quicker than I expected.

Use a good single stage paint that you don't have to clear coat over. That makes for easy touchup. I used Interlux's Brightside paint which I got at a substantial discount.

Spraying is easy and gives a better result than rolling it on. The cost of the equipment is low -- my Harbor Freight HVLP spray gun was less than $20 and worked great.

I think you could get a good paint job for less than $300 in supplies, including a compressor and spray gun.

 

[VanKitten]

I've got my heart set on a bed liner type product. I want that durability. I picked a vehicle that has high clearance. All that was for the same reason..,heading into the bush.

 

[Van-Tramp]

VAn-tramp

I am thinking that I want to do what you did...Monstaliner.   My real concern is the wind.
Here in the Grand Valley it is always windy....and a lot of the time REALLY windy.

There doesn't seem to be any indoor work spaces for rent in this area either (I cannot go far...I only get a few hours a day).    

How fast does this dry?  Is there any issue with complete drying of one section...then the next section having a visible line where the painting continued against the fully dry section?   Did the edges become ***** making it difficult to continue until completely cured?  

I also worry about dust in this high wind.   Somedays it is quite clear that the dust has kicked up..I would avoid those days...but it could mean a week or more between opportunities to do more painting.   (Sometimes the dust is so bad.....coming from the west. The locals call it Utah come to Colorado).  

I am thinking I could get this whole beast sanded and prepped.   Then tape off everything and begin with a brush doing detail work  ...  then pick up a day or two later?   And so forth till done?   Then start with the roller.    
Then begin the second coat....   what do you think?

Wind is not really a problem, minus that you do not want foreign objects in the bed liner. I actually painted mine under numerous pine trees, so pine needles were dropping into it constantly. I just went around and picked them out. Within an hour or two the liner dries to the point that the needles do not stick in it anymore.

Fast drying means you need to paint it fast too. Start with the brush in all the hard to reach places (door jams and such) and then do the rolling stuff after. Do all the rolling at once... it goes very fast. I did all the edge work, the topper, and all doors and hood in a single gallon and in about 3 hours. I then knocked out the main surface area, a second coast on the prior days work, in another two hours the next day. Finally, a few hours later I put another coat on the main surface area which completed the job. 

Monstaliner recommends putting the second coat on within 12 hours (before fully dried). If you have to wait to do it the following day, you need to do a light sanding on the first coat. Not a huge issue, but if you have the time to do it all in one day, it is work it.

Obviously, spend the time and prep the van all the way before you start painting. Remove everything you can, tape around anything that still remains, and then you can just whack out the paint in no time at all. I spent 4 days of prep, but I had to sand a lot more because of the failed paint on mine.

It takes about 7-10 days to get all the supplies delivered, so plan well ahead.

Here is a cool fact about bed liner. Rain, speeds the curing process. It is k for it to be rained on almost immediately after application. Hot weather will mean it takes longer to cure/harden, so you do not need to rush as much while applying. I started noticing the paint hardening in my container within about an hour. Not enough to stop the painting, but it was there. In the end, nearly a week later (for my) the bed liner was still not 100% hardened on my van. I could still press a finger nail into it. Anther week later, and it was rock hard. Literally, I could take a large rock off the ground and throw it at the paint and it would not phase it. Nearly bullet proof stuff once hardened.

 

[VanKitten]

This may not be the answer for me then. First...my beast is a lot bigger than the van.
But...the wind almost never stops...and no way to predict what amount of dust and sand will kick up 3 hours from now...never mind tomorrow. I can see where there would be times I could not continue because of driving dust.

No guarantee second coat could even begin in a week...or 12 hours.

I get about 6 hours a day, after that I must b back to help with Mom. She has no one from about 2 pm till 9am...except me.

Well...I guess I need another answer. I looked at getting linex done...but..with a price of $11,000 that isn't in my budget!

Wish I could rent an indoor place. I could hire a bunch of people...but I cannot pay the wind to stop blowing and picking up sand.

 

[John61CT]

Is there a liner product you can get a custom color?

Want to know myself, but thinking maybe match that dust color, then maybe doesn't really matter?