Vinyl
Wraps in Burnaby, BC
Full colour changes, accent work, and fleet lettering. Below is exactly what the process looks like and what a properly installed wrap should — and shouldn't — look like when you pick it up.
Three Ways
To Go.
Every visible painted panel wrapped in cast vinyl. Gloss, satin, matte, or specialty finishes. The factory paint stays underneath, protected and unchanged.
- Gloss & satin
- Matte finishes
- Colour-shift & specialty
Targeted work when a full change isn't the goal. Roof, hood, mirrors, spoiler, badges, and trim — the fastest way to change how a car reads without touching the paint.
- Chrome delete
- Gloss black roof
- Hood & mirror caps
- Stripes & accents
Cut vinyl lettering, logos, and decals for work vehicles. We build the layout to your artwork, proof it before we cut, and keep the files on record so a second or fifth van matches the first.
- Cut vinyl lettering
- Logos & decals
- Contact info & branding
- Repeatable across vehicles
Taking off an existing wrap — ours or someone else's — and cleaning up the adhesive left behind. Older or cheap film that's been baked on can take significantly longer to remove.
- Full wrap removal
- Adhesive cleanup
- Failed-wrap correction
- Re-wrap after removal
The Process,
Start To Finish.
A wrap isn't a same-day service and it isn't a bodyshop repair. Here's the actual sequence, so there are no surprises once your vehicle is in the bay.
& Quote
We talk through finish, coverage, and exactly which panels and areas are included. Colour is confirmed from a physical sample, not a screen — every monitor lies. You get a written quote and a firm shop-time window before anything is ordered.
Assessment
We inspect the paint in person and photograph it. Chips, dents, peeling clear coat, and previous repaints all affect how the wrap sits and how it comes off later. If we find something that changes the job or the risk, you hear about it before we start — in writing.
& Decon
Clay or chemical decontamination, followed by a solvent wipe on every surface. Vinyl bonds to what's on the paint, not the paint itself, so this stage is the difference between a wrap that lasts years and one that lifts in months.
Handles, badges, lights, mirror caps, and trim come off where it's practical, so the film can be tucked rather than cut at the edge. Some fasteners are single-use and some trim is brittle with age — we flag anything that's likely to break beforehand.
Panel by panel, indoors, in a controlled bay. Complex areas — bumpers, mirrors, deep recesses — take the longest and are where skill actually shows. This is the stage that takes days, not hours, and rushing it is how wraps fail.
& Handover
Every stretched area and edge is post-heated to lock the film's memory so it doesn't pull back. We reassemble, do a final walkaround with you, and go through aftercare. You leave knowing what to do and what not to do.
Your vehicle stays with us for the duration — a wrap can't be done in stages around your schedule. We'll give you the exact window with your quote, and we'll tell you as soon as anything changes it. Weather, complexity, and unexpected paint issues are the usual reasons a timeline moves.
What's Normal.
What Isn't.
Vinyl is a physical material with real limits. A perfect wrap is not a wrap with zero imperfections — it's one where every imperfection is within accepted trade tolerance and placed where it belongs. Here's the honest line between the two, so you can judge our work fairly and anyone else's the same way.
Material.
- Seams on oversized panels. Vinyl rolls are about 60″ wide. Roofs, van sides, large bumpers and some hoods are wider than that, so they need a seam or overlap. We place seams in body lines or low-visibility areas — that's the standard, not a shortcut.
- Relief cuts in deep recesses. Sharp inside corners, vents, and complex bumper geometry require the film to be cut and re-laid. A tidy, tucked relief cut is correct installation.
- Visible edges where the film terminates. Film is trimmed at panel edges. Under-hood, trunk channels, and areas behind trim are not wrapped unless they're on your quote.
- Slight texture or tension lines in stretched areas. Around mirrors, deep concaves, and complex curves, the film is stretched and may show faint texture. Post-heating settles it.
- A few tiny specks under the film. No wrap bay is a clean room. Industry tolerance is a small number of specks per panel, not visible from about six feet in normal lighting.
- Fine marring on a brand-new wrap. Vinyl is significantly softer than automotive clear coat, and installation is a hands-on process. Because of this, very fine surface scratching or micro-marring can be present on gloss vinyl even immediately after installation. These subtle marks are a normal characteristic of gloss wrap film and are not, by themselves, an indication of a rushed or careless installation.
- Slight colour variation between production batches. We order from one batch where we can, but a panel re-wrapped a year later may not match perfectly. This is a film manufacturing reality.
- Existing paint defects showing through. Vinyl is thin and conforms to the surface. Dents, chips, sanding marks, and rough clear coat telegraph through. A wrap covers colour, not bodywork.
- Gradual edge lift in high-pressure zones. Over years, edges near door handles, wheel arches, and vents can begin to lift. This is maintenance, and it's usually a quick fix.
- Aged clips and trim breaking on removal. Plastic fasteners, clips, and trim get brittle with age, heat, and UV. On an older vehicle some of it will break during disassembly no matter how carefully it comes apart — that's the age of the material, not the installer. We tell you the moment it happens and photograph it, and we'll source the replacement. Replacement parts are the vehicle owner's cost.
No Argument.
- Bubbles or lifting on flat panels. Doors, quarters, and hoods should be flat and sealed. Trapped air on a flat panel is an installation fault.
- Wrinkles or creases in visible areas. Film that has folded on itself and been laid down anyway doesn't leave the shop.
- Knife marks in your paint. We cut on the bench and use knifeless tape on the vehicle. A blade scoring the clear coat is never acceptable and never "just how it's done."
- Contamination visible from six feet. Six feet back, in normal lighting, is our standard viewing distance. If dirt or debris under the film is obvious from there, that panel gets redone.
- Edges peeling within the warranty period. Early lift on properly prepped paint means the prep or the post-heat missed. That's ours to correct.
- Film cut short of the edge. Wrap should reach and wrap the edge it was quoted to reach. Paint peeking out along a panel edge is sloppy trimming.
- Misaligned or crooked lettering. On commercial work, logos and lettering match the approved proof — square, level, and consistent across every vehicle in the fleet.
- Broken trim you only find out about later. Aged clips and trim do break — that part is expected. Quietly reassembling around it, or handing the car back without saying so, is not. You get a photo and a conversation the day it happens.
How to inspect a finished wrap: stand about six feet back, in normal lighting, and walk the vehicle. That's the standard we judge by — not a phone flashlight held an inch off the panel. If something bothers you at normal viewing distance, tell us at handover and we'll deal with it.
A Wrap Is Only
As Good As
The Paint.
This is the conversation most shops avoid having. We'd rather have it before your deposit than after your wrap comes off.
Original, healthy OEM paint is the ideal surface. Vinyl bonds to it well and releases from it cleanly, even years later. This is the low-risk scenario.
Aftermarket and body-shop paint varies enormously in quality and cure. Poorly prepped respray can lift with the vinyl on removal. We'll wrap it — but we can't warranty the paint underneath, and you'll sign off on that.
Peeling, cracking, or oxidized clear coat will keep failing under the film, and removal will take more of it with it. We'll usually recommend paint work first rather than take your money for a wrap that's doomed.
Vinyl conforms, it doesn't fill. Every imperfection under the film shows through it, and some rock chips can perforate the wrap over time. Fix bodywork first — the wrap will look twice as good for it.
Living With
A Wrap.
How you treat it in the first week and every wash after is the single biggest factor in how long it lasts. None of this is difficult — but skipping it voids most film warranties.
No washing for the first several days while the adhesive fully cures. Keep it out of heavy rain and off the highway where you can. We'll give you the exact window at handover.
No automatic brush washes, ever — brushes catch edges and tear film. Two-bucket hand wash with a pH-neutral soap. If you must pressure wash, keep it low pressure, wide fan, well back, and never aimed at an edge or seam. Never wipe a dry panel — dragging a cloth over dust is the fastest way there is to scratch gloss.
Bird droppings, bug guts, fuel spills, and tree sap stain vinyl permanently and quickly — far faster than they'd damage paint. Carry a detail spray and a microfibre and deal with them the day they land.
No petroleum-based waxes, no abrasive polishes, no solvent cleaners. Matte and satin finishes need matte-specific products — a normal wax will gloss up patches and can't be undone.
UV is what kills wraps. Roofs and hoods take the most sun and are always the first to fade or fail. Covered parking meaningfully extends the life of the film.
Quality cast vinyl on a well-kept vehicle lasts years, not forever. Horizontal surfaces go first. When it's time, we remove it and you get the paint underneath back — which is the whole point.
Ask us about a ceramic coating designed for vinyl — it makes the wrap far easier to clean and adds a real layer of UV protection. It's the single best thing you can do for longevity after installation.
Two Separate
Promises.
Cast vinyl carries a manufacturer warranty against defects like premature fading, cracking, and adhesive failure. Terms vary by brand, colour, and finish — we'll tell you exactly what your film carries before you commit.
We stand behind our workmanship — lifting edges, bubbles, and seams that fail because of how they were installed. Bring it back and we'll sort it out.
Damage from automatic car washes, pressure washers at close range, road debris and rock chips, collisions, neglected contaminants, paint that lifts on removal from a previous respray, and brittle clips or trim that break during disassembly. All of it in writing, before you book.
Everything above is our standard. If you're comparing quotes, ask the other shop the same questions — what's their contamination tolerance, where do they place seams, do they post-heat, and what exactly does their warranty exclude. A good shop will answer without hesitating.