Vinyl Skin prep

I am in the same boat after fixing up the mechanical things, now to improve the appearance. I am on the fence between painting and vinyl wrap. Paint matching is more work but could be less expensive doing it myself and only on the affected panels. Vinyl would require I do the whole car, and it isn't cheap, or maybe I could get away with doing the hood and roof in black, for 2-tone with the gray paint. I figure I could try paint and if I fail then resort to vinyl. Either way there is a good amount of prep work to feather the flaking clear coat and evenly smooth the surface.

There are some backyard guys on Offerup or similar marketplaces that will do a vinyl wrap for less than some shops. Still a bit pricey $1000-$2000. For DIY vinyl I think it is just a matter of smoothing the surface, giving it a tooth if shiny, wiping down all oils and dust, and then learning how to apply the vinyl which there are a lot of videos for. Materials probably cost about $600-$800 for the whole car.

Let us know what you end up doing and how it goes.

 

while feathering do your best to stay off the base coat and sand away only the top coat. You'll be surprised how sometimes the base color layer can be half the thickness of the top coat clear. Sanding into the primer can really be a bummer. Prep is the name of the game and sanding is the main event.

 

It still has to be sanded after removing the mess that the rustoleum remover leaves after eating away the 2 top layers of the cars finish. Than start over with primer to any of the bare metal spots you find. And that has to be sanded too.