Carbon Wraps specializes in car wraps of all types, so the shop is knowledgeable on the latest trends.
And what are they seeing taking off in the market right now? For one, super-bright highlighter wraps. The shop recently installed a red highlighter wrap on a BMW and a green highlighter wrap on an Audi R8 using custom 3M™ Wrap Film Series 1080 vinyl sold by Feller’s.
“The installation is the same as other wraps, with the exception of being careful not to overstretch as the film will lose pigment and turn white,” explains Steve Carney, owner of Carbon Wraps. “A special care recommendation would be to laminate the product prior to installation; this will aid in elongating the vibrancy of the film over time.”
Since the neon colors in these wraps are fluorescent, the outdoor color lifespan is limited. But the colors are black light-sensitive, which creates even more of a unique effect.
Another trend has wrappers going a bit “old school.”
“We have noticed that we have gone retro with the printing elements,” says Carney. “We are seeing many more custom-printed wraps. For example, rust- and grunge-style wraps
, artwork and artist originals, textured wraps, and shade-shift wrap films are taking off.”
A recent example of these custom-printed wraps is a purple camo graphic Carbon Wraps installed on a Volkswagen Golf GTI. The shop printed the camo pattern onto ORACAL® 970RA Premium Wrapping Cast matte violet metallic vinyl using a Mutoh ValueJet 1624 printer.
To create the custom camo pattern, an in-house graphic designer created vector files while utilizing the customer’s vehicle in design programming.
“We were conscious when designing the pattern where the tiles are well blended so that installation is fluid and seamless,” says Carney. “Printing on a solid color has its challenges in depicting an accurate color profile that will match the initial design. We conduct test prints and adjust as needed to ensure the design comes out perfect.”
The purple camo wrap was printed with the same color in varying hues of purple, but on a wrap for another Volkswagen, the shop used red Arlon vinyl and printed varying hues of gray.
“We take into account the original color of the film when designing the prints,” says Carney. “Both contrasting and same shade methods are used.”
All of these graphics offer a singular look, but Carney views metallic and shade-shift wraps as on pace to be the next big trend.
By Ashley Bray
Photos: Lafayette Britto Photography.
