Paint or Vinyl? Do You Really Know Your Car Wraps?

There are some major differences between vehicle wraps and paint jobs on cars. Vehicle wraps offer many major benefits over custom paint jobs. For fans of vehicle wraps, the biggest advantages of car wraps when compared to custom paint jobs include: cost savings, easier installation and removal, and faster production even when there are complex designs.

This is not to say that vehicle wrapping enthusiasts don’t or can’t appreciate an excellent paint job. In fact, for some people, it is sometimes very hard to distinguish between paint and vinyl. We have some cool images of cars below that are either wrapped or painted. We invite you to test your knowledge of vehicle wraps and custom car paint finishes to see what kind of an eye you have for car details.

Alan Aldridge Mini:

PAINT: 

The Daily Mirror’s online edition, featured a story on a Mini that was exhibited at London’s Design Museum. Painted by Alan Aldridge an English artist, graphic designer, and illustrator who is best known for designing album covers for The Beatles and Rolling Stones. The eccentric Mini is a one-off, and said to be a reproduction of Aldridge’s work on a 1965 Sunday Times cover. This work is certainly eye-popping and is a true treasure to both the art community and car enthusiasts everywhere.

Camouflage Ferrari 458:

CAR WRAP: 

Done by German car wrapping shop Cam Shaft, this camouflage vinyl wrap for a Ferrari 458 Italia was painstakingly designed with a unique matte-brown shade to match the interior of the client’s vehicle. This is definitely not a turned down wrap, it accentuates all of the lines on the car and adds a fast quality to it, despite it being parked.

Glow-in-the Dark Terminator MR2:

PAINT:

 This Terminator-inspired MR2 uses glow-in-the-dark paint. Now we just have to say for the record that we can’t help but be awed by this custom paint job. The idea of having a car painted with such detail is astounding in and of itself. The cherry on top was the fact that the paint is glow in the dark paint! We highly approve of this on artistic value alone, and it also looks really awesome when driving around as well!

BMW M3 GT2 Art Car:

CAR WRAP:

 Jeff Koons, a highly controversial American artist known for his polarizing body of work, (you either think his work is “pioneering and of major art-historical importance” or “kitsch: crass and based on cynical self-merchandising”) created the 17^th BMW Art Car. Koons used a 3D CAD program to simulate the application of the design to the car, which was then rendered in 2D so that it can be printed on vinyl and applied by hand. The result? A kaleidoscopic range of colors, finished in hard edge with hundreds of overlaying stripes that convey both energy and velocity!