ROLLS-ROYCE VEHICLE WRAPS

This is the first conversation we have, and on most cars we argue against the color change. Goodwood paint is built up in many layers and then hand sanded and hand polished, and the result is flatter than any vinyl film manufactured. There is essentially no orange peel in it. Lay gloss vinyl over a Phantom flank and a trained eye reads it as a step down in surface quality, not a step up, because film carries its own faint texture and the paint underneath carries none. So on a car in original bespoke paint our default recommendation is gloss paint protection film, which protects without changing what you are looking at. Color change makes sense when you genuinely want a different car for a while and you want it reversible, and it makes the most sense on Black Badge cars and on two-tone work where the contrast is the point.

The coachline is applied freehand by one specialist with a long squirrel-hair brush and no masking tape at all. Nobody in a body shop can reproduce it and no vinyl pinstripe is the same thing. So it drives the plan. Under gloss paint protection film the coachline stays exactly where it is and stays visible, which is the outcome we push for. Under a full color change it disappears, and getting it back means having it painted again by a coachline specialist, not by us. We never cut a film seam along a coachline, because a seam that follows a freehand line will drift off it somewhere along the car and that is the one flaw you would notice every day. If you want a coachline look on a wrapped car we can lay one in film and we will tell you plainly that it reads as a stripe, not as a coachline.

Curves hide things. Flat panels do not. A Phantom rear door and quarter is close to a flat plane, three feet tall and most of the length of a normal car, and across that plane every dust nib, every stretch mark, every faint bit of adhesive haze reads instantly. There is also nowhere to put a seam. On a Ferrari a seam disappears into a body line every couple of feet, while on a Phantom flank there is no line to hide it in, so the panel has to go on as a single piece of film and go on right the first time. That means a clean room, more hands on the material, and slower work. Anyone quoting a Rolls the way they quote a large sedan has not wrapped one.

Full color change generally runs $6,000 to $9,500 on Ghost, Wraith and Dawn, $6,500 to $10,500 on Cullinan, and $7,500 to $12,500 on Phantom and Phantom Extended Wheelbase. Front end paint protection film runs roughly $2,800 to $4,800 and full body film roughly $8,000 to $15,000. A two-tone upper in film sits around $2,500 to $5,500 and a darkened trim package around $1,200 to $3,200. Those are ranges to plan against, not quotes. Bespoke paint condition, coachline handling, how much brightwork comes off the car, and the finish you choose all move the number, so we price the car in front of us.

Yes, and it is the most requested Rolls-Royce job we see on cars that are not Black Badge from the factory. Window surrounds, the grille surround, badges and lower brightwork go to gloss or satin black in film. Wherever possible the trim comes off the vehicle so the film wraps around the edge instead of being cut at it, which is what keeps the corners from lifting later. Some of the brightwork on these cars is hand-polished stainless rather than plated chrome, and it takes film beautifully, but it needs a proper solvent wipe and a full cure before the car goes back out.

No. The Spirit of Ecstasy retracts into the nose and its mechanism has close tolerances, so nothing goes on the figurine or the surround it drops into. The grille vanes are a functional assembly and we leave them alone. The grille surround itself can be darkened in film if that is the look you want, and it is done with the surround off the car. This is one of the places where the honest answer is that a piece of the car is better left as Goodwood built it.

The rear doors on Ghost, Cullinan, Phantom and Spectre are rear hinged, so the leading edge of the rear door is at the back of the opening rather than the front. That reverses which edge sees airflow first. Film edges have to be tucked and sealed accordingly, and a leading edge finished the way you would finish a conventional door will eventually catch air and start to lift. The door shut faces on these cars are also visible and finished, so the wrap has to be carried into the jamb properly rather than stopped at the visible edge. On a car where opening the door is part of the theater, a raw cut edge in the jamb is not acceptable.