When it comes to vinyl wrapping here at Auto Wrap Centre Liverpool, there’s only one thing that's more important to us than making your motor look totally unique.
And that's making sure no damage happens to your car whilst it's under our roof.
We had a customer recently who needed a fresh car wrap after someone else had bodged the work. This time, not only were they looking for a better job, they confided that they’d also had to have a spray job previously because of all the scratches the last place had made.
Imagine, you’ve gone in somewhere expecting that your car will look the business after the vinyl wrap, and in fact you’re left with a bigger bill at the end because they’ve made a right mess and nicked all the edges as they trimmed the vinyl panels. Nightmare…
When he came to us to get it put right, we had to explain to him that we do things a little differently at Auto Wrap.
As we were explaining, we thought it would be worth putting this post together to make sure you all know there is a way to get your vinyl wrap done with no chance of surface scratches or any possible future problems. That’s right, none. Nada, no-way, not a chance.
We only use knifeless tape to cut through our vinyl. No blades, no scalpels, no Stanleys and no chance of ever making any nicks on your car’s bodywork.From the manufacturer 3M, knifeless tape is like a non-scratch cheese wire contained within a self adhesive tape carrier. Its applied underneath the wrap and when it’s pulled back through the vinyl film, it cuts cleanly with no possibility of marking your car’s paintwork.
How does knifeless tape work
We apply 3M’s knifeless tape to all the places we’ll need to trim away. It goes around mirrors, wheel arches and between body panels - anywhere the wrapping vinyl needs to be cut away to finish the job.The vinyl is then applied as normal. Check this post for the basics in how to car wrap.
Once we’re happy that we’ve got the contours and the shape and everything looks spot on, the knifeless tape comes into play.
As we peel the filament from the carrier tape it cuts through the vinyl and produces a perfect clean edge to the vinyl and all with no blade.
There’s a technique to using the knifeless tape - take it easy and don’t use too much tension when applying - and its something all our vinyl installers have taken the time to learn.
Like all tools or processes, there are right ways and wrong ways to doing this stuff!
Whenever we get the opportunity to go on wrapping courses to brush up our skills or learn new ones, our names are on the list. We know we get a lot of our business through word of mouth recommendations so it’s important to us to always be striving to be the best.
Why we use knifeless tape
Anytime a blade needs to come close to a car’s paintwork there is a potential for scratching.I don’t care whether you’ve been using the knife technique for years and never scratched a car yet - if that blade comes close to the paint and for a moment you’re distracted…..oops.
The only reason we can think of why someone wouldn’t use knifeless tape is down to the expense of it. But if the place you’ve chosen to get your pride and joy wrapped is cutting corners on their tools, maybe you should be having second thoughts too.
The vinyl always needs trimming as it’s applied as a rectangular sheet to a car that's all curves and contours.
Make sure, if you’re not coming to us at the Auto Wrap Centre Liverpool, you always ask whether your car graphics installer is using knifeless tape.
As we saw with the customer who came to us to put it right, knifeless tape can be the difference between a job that’s done properly and as you expect, or a car full of scratches!
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