want to bling up beloved m home - any views on wrapping bonnet ? (1 Viewer)

[Kirsten]

Greetings .. We have an oldish Hymer 514, used for us in Europe as often as possible- and 3 grandchildren who we take away for weekends/Legoland/Glastonbury [coming up soon Huzzah] and so can never sell herself until kids Too Old to come with us [which will be never.. waaaaa] as it has 6 belted seats and we all squish in it, other models of same length/spec NOT available.
Every year I toy with idea of a re-upholster/spruce up [van envy] and come to same conclusion - possibly next year ! But Van is jaded due to joyous trips.. recently, idly surfing net I have seen some very swish car -wrap -things- oooh..... so shiny/change colour in temperature changes/sparkly / some with pictures on... So was wondering if we could get the bonnet of the van wrapped as it is dull and stained. Rest of outside is OK; decals intact - but any views on the possible issues of a sparkly bonnet .. adverts say that you can peel it off - do we trust them? Hoping bonnet wrap will be cheap [live in hope] and not look weird. Thoughts welcome. Youngest wants Dinosaur but not likely.Middle one a frozen Fan but even more unlikely ! We are much more sedate; I fancy a pearlescent blue to purple.. Wat you think ? xx

 

[DuxDeluxe]

Wrapping is not an easy job. You need two people to do a bonnet. The stuff sticks like hell so you need a hairdryer or similar to soften as you go and smooth with the proper tool (cheap). Plenty of good advice on YouTube so worth researching carefully beforehand. As for the vinyl......you tend to get what you pay for. I wrapped the whole of the Merc E430 for Rust2Rome for about £50 but had to do it in small sections and had a few failures which needed re-doing. Then again, it is a £500 car so supposed to look tatty anyway..... Hope that helps.

 

[Feltwell]

The aesthetics are up to you! But they do come off just fine.

Boss at previous firm got himself a gold BMW, decided he didn't like it, had it vinyl wrapped in white. Asides from him having more money than sense, the job looked great and you'd never have known that it wasn't that colour from the factory.

When it was peeled off after 3 years - car going back to the lease company - the paintwork underneath was like new.

Vans are quite often wrapped in corporate liveries these days, again when they go back to the lease company the wrap comes off with no ill effects.

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[DuxDeluxe]

Yes, use a hairdryer and it all comes off very easily. All those beige taxis you see in Germany are in fact mostly black and wrapped. It can last ages and you simply cannot tell unless you look very closely

 

[Lenny HB]

It's a Hymer do what the Germans do - a leather wrapped bonnet.

 

[Wildbill]

leet the kids decide thay will love piking it
bill

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[Kirsten]

Dear Mr Dux de luxe- no intention of doing it self; disaster in the making I fear...unless I make a crazed fabric cover a la grand daughters party dresses[ sparkly- purple-Grandma capable of this as she is 8]
We have reached the age where first resort for anything a bit tricky is to Get A Man In.
Saying that, we are DIY and decorating fiends- and very tight fisted;I can wield a hair dyer so
..... Hmnn..
would we have to take the bonnet off? If so that is a possible Insurmountable Obstacle as
a]cant reach back of it [teeny tiny peoples] and
b] think we would need the bonnet back on to use the van...sigh . Many experiences of unforseen issues re DIY sadly.
c] advice re 'Not Easy' narrows the eyes.

Thank you all for thoughts xx

 

[magicsurfbus]

Funnily enough we had this technique applied to our car, which for some unexplained reason was losing paint off the front of the roof panel (well out of warranty of course). Friendly local garage suggested we have it wrapped by a vinyl sign writer he knew. Worked a treat for just over £100. A respray would have been hugely costly.

 

[DuxDeluxe]

Dear Mr Dux de luxe- no intention of doing it self; disaster in the making I fear...unless I make a crazed fabric cover a la grand daughters party dresses[ sparkly- purple-Grandma capable of this as she is 8]
We have reached the age where first resort for anything a bit tricky is to Get A Man In.
Saying that, we are DIY and decorating fiends- and very tight fisted;I can wield a hair dyer so
..... Hmnn..
would we have to take the bonnet off? If so that is a possible Insurmountable Obstacle as
a]cant reach back of it [teeny tiny peoples] and
b] think we would need the bonnet back on to use the van...sigh . Many experiences of unforseen issues re DIY sadly.
c] advice re 'Not Easy' narrows the eyes.

Thank you all for thoughts xx

Seriously, it is not that hard, you just need to be careful and methodical. It was quite rewarding to turn this......

Into this.........

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[Kirsten]

wow.. Looks great . maybe we could go all out then - kids choices as Wild Bill suggests.. tee hee...years in the discussion what to have on the logos would ensue. But Beloved would refuse to drive it afterwards I fear .. Tho we all love a tunnocks teacake would need an excuse to brandish one on the van

 

[DuxDeluxe]

wow.. Looks great . maybe we could go all out then - kids choices as Wild Bill suggests.. tee hee...years in the discussion what to have on the logos would ensue. But Beloved would refuse to drive it afterwards I fear .. Tho we all love a tunnocks teacake would need an excuse to brandish one on the van

You can see the wrinkles by the door handles - difficult to do - but a bonnet is pretty easy - not too many double curves

 

[StitchesnFluff]

Seriously, it is not that hard, you just need to be careful and methodical. It was quite rewarding to turn this......
View attachment 105293

Into this.........
View attachment 105294

Wow!

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[Flook]

Tho we all love a tunnocks teacake would need an excuse to brandish one on the van

Just say "just because we can", simples is it not. A decent idea is wrapping.

 

[Kirsten]

Convinced! Thank you all; we will Just Do It [when I say that I mean begin the long process of deciding what colour...style... ] but will post pics before and after . Just dont hold breath, it will be after impending trip to Amsterdam and then Glastonbury. Not a spare moment what with work and browsing M home fun.

 

[D&G]

Hi Kirsten, when we had our T5 lots of people were starting to get parts of their vans hydro dipped, may be an alternative, take a look here

https://www.wickedcoatings.co.uk/hydro-dipping

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[Gromett]

did my van in vinyl wrap. I had nothing to lose as it was about knackered.

Here is the bonnet stage.
https://www.fulltiming.info/self-build-motorhome/vinyl-wrapping-van-part-2

To be fair on the van the hardest bit was the large panels with the indents.

the wing took me 3 attempts, the second wing I got right first time.

Take a bit of figuring out but there are loads of tutorials on youtube which are a great help.

 

[bb wales]

I would say go for it, I have just had my 7 wrapped.

 

[StitchesnFluff]

Looks great!

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