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$200 Hauler Project Update: Our 2000 Suburban Gets Wrapped! 24 Hour Makeover

Tech Stories

July 18, 2012
 
BangShift $200 Hauler Suburban Wrap 023
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Vinyl wraps on vehicles are nothing new. Every plumber, Vegas taxi cab, and city bus has got something, or someone, in vinyl down their sides. And when we repaired the quarter panel on our $200 Hauler project we knew we would have to paint it or “something”. Well that something turned out to be a really cool vinyl wrap thanks to Ron and Tammy at the Shirt Shak in Chowchilla California. Now, not only does our $200 Hauler run like a champ, now it also looks bitchin. Soon we’ll be bolting on a bunch of non-bent stuff from LMC Truck and then it will look even better yet! Remember, our point is to show you how you can take a used, but good running truck, and with a few grand make it into something cooler, as competent, and cheaper, than a new truck payment.

When we first got the 2000 Chevrolet Suburban 2500, it was almost unimaginable that we paid only $200 for it. After driving the piss out of it for the past 8 weeks, and putting almost 4000 miles on the odometer, we still think it’s unimaginable that we only paid $200 for it. The thing runs mint. And thanks to the Shirt Shak team, it now looks good too! They let me hang out while they wrapped the holy hell out of this big beast, and even taught me a few things. We’re now what you call “experts” in vehicle wraps.

Okay, not quite, but we can help you out for sure. Here’s how this whole thing went down.

In typical BangShift fashion, Ron’s one-time drunken offer to wrap something of ours resulted in him receiving a call, saying we were coming his way, about four days before we left home. Now Ron isn’t even remotely surprised by this as he has been a BangShift savior more times than I can count, but we still love him for it. Ron and Tammy’s Shirt Shak, which is arguably the coolest t-shirt, embroidery, sign, decal, and wrap shop on earth, can do anything. Seriously, anything, and that’s where we choked. But we’ll get to that later.

So after driving from BangShift West headquarters up to Chowchilla, home of The Shirt Shak, we spent a day learning about how wraps are made, what the process is, and how to prep a car for wrapping. Let me tell you, it’s a ton more work than you would think! And did I mention the temps were right about 100? Check out the photos and captions to see how we transformed the $200 Hauler in just over a day, and how this whole process works.

As you can see in this “before” photo, the right rear quarter has some new primer, and the trim still runs down the doors.

Overall it's a pretty straight truck sans the primer spot on the right side. Our wrap won't take care of the scratch on the hood, but the rest is going to look pretty good. The idea was to create a two-tone paint scheme by wrapping the bottom half of the Sub with vinyl along with some BangShift signage.

Before heading inside to start designing stuff off our measurements, we decided to remove the side moldings and 2500 emblems on each side. Out back we got rid of the Suburban badging as well. While it's possible to wrap over these, we didn't see any reason to try, plus we want the thing to look smoother anyway. Keep in mind, you still need to be careful removing stuff even though it's being wrapped. The wrap is no thicker than paint and will show any dent or scratch underneath it.

The rest of the cleanup consists of washing the truck thoroughly, especially around the door edges and fender lip or anywhere else that is going to have vinyl wrapped around a corner, and making sure it is dry. Unlike window tint or decals, this vinyl goes on dry. It’s crazy how you can pull it back up when you screw up too. Ask me how I know.

The vinyl starts out white, and here we are printing some of our BangShift graphics. The grey was printed on the same machine and the same vinyl, although this was laminated with liquid rather than sheets.

Here the vinyl is being laminated for UV and scratch resistance. The top piece is going to be for the hood, and the bottom is the rear doors.

Proof that even I was working. Picking out all the little pieces that aren't supposed to be on your final die-cut graphic is a pain. Who chose this damn BangShift font anyway? Photo by Ron Thomas

Finally, the magic is happening. Note the little yellow/green dots. They are really strong rubber coated magnets. They rule. You will need something similar. It's 0 dark 20 about now and we've decided we just can't wait to get started. We'll quickly run out of steam and decide tomorrow is better.

"Tomorrow" also meant we had Jason Pulido, Production Manager and Lead Installer at The Shirt Shak, to help us wrap this big bastard. Note the chair being used to hold the vinyl out from the bottom so the top can be slowly smoothed out. Remember, this goes on dry but you can still pull it off and then put it back down. The torch will be coming out soon too!

One of the coolest things about this vinyl is that it has heat activated memory. This means that if you get it all stretched out or wrinkled all you have to do it apply a little heat and it will relax right back into it's original shape. Cool huh?

This side is really starting to take shape now. While Jason finishes up the front fender, Ron lays down on the job and cleans up the edges at the bottom of the doors. Notice that we pulled the door handles off so that we could wrap behind them. It's easy on one of these, and make a big difference in how nice the wrap looks.

Here is where the real skill come into play. Although this particular truck seems pretty slab sided, none of it is flat and so taking your time is the key. But when you get to areas like this with some serious compound curves, someone with skills like Jason's comes in handy. Slow and steady with a bit of heat makes this look easy, but it's not. Trust me. I did the panel on the hood, and it's mostly flat. I still screwed it up a little.

Since this quarter has a little "rash" thanks to a bent bumper we decided not to cover it and instead made a nice curve around it. The bumper is getting replaced, with parts from LMC Truck next, so we may do a little spot repair, but we'll have to see.

We placed our diecut BangShift logos next. Since we went with a solid color instead of a pattern, we didn't have to worry about making the entire sheet of vinyl line up in some specific way which save us time. If we had listened to Ron and Jason we would have had more graphics all over the truck. We'll talk about that later.

And here is the result. Cleaner, cooler, and definitely flying the BangShift colors, the $200 Hauler now looks like the official BangShift Tow Vehicle that it is. Once the stance is altered, and all the new parts go on it's really going to stand out. But it's doing its job because everywhere we go people ask what the hell BangShift is.

Remember how we said we choked earlier? Well here is why we say that. Given the fact that we wanted to do something to the truck to badge it as BangShift’s Tow Vehicle, while covering up the bodywork and paint issues, we had a couple choices. Paint vs. Vinyl was our first choice to make, and quite honestly if the only point was to make it two-tone, we probably could have done it for the same price in paint. It arguably would have taken longer unless  you have a booth, tools, and a crew at your disposal although Maaco or One Day may have done it quick. Laying down the vinyl isn’t easy. It takes some real skill, although I am pretty sure that after watching and helping I could do this job myself. BUT…where vinyl really shines is in the fact that the price and installation are exactly the same whether you get a plain solid color like we did or go wild with graphics. The design time will cost a little extra, but the printer is printing no matter what so you might as well go wild. Ron and Jason wanted to go crazy with it, and we were a little hesitant. We love how it turned out, and were a bit worried about going to crazy and getting to much attention from the cops, random folks, or whoever might want to mess with it on the street. In hindsight we should have done more stuff to it. I mean we are BangShift.com after all, right?

Different vinyls are available to print different kinds of finishes including pearls, and chrome, and you can even print on perforated vinyl that can go over your windows and still allow you to see out. The cool part is that whenever we get tired of it we can peel it all off in about 15 minutes and put something else on it. You can’t change your mind like that with paint. And since Ron had us put our BangShift graphics over the base vinyl, we’ll be able to change them out if we want and add more graphics down the road as well.

Check out the hundred dollar bills inside the letters. They look real up close and are just one example of the kind of stuff you can print on this vinyl.

One thing that we really learned in this whole process was that unlike all the other stuff you do to your projects where you should set a completion date or goal, this is one of those things where you should give yourself a minimum amount of time for the project. Rushing will only screw it up and make you mad. Taking your time will not ever hurt you when applying the vinyl since it goes on dry anyway.

 

Major thanks to Ron, Tammy and AJ Thomas for all their help, support, and laughs. We appreciate all they did to make this happen for us on this project. Also thanks to Jason Pulido for helping Ron do the install while I talked, asked questions, and generally got in the way. If you are looking for anything custom with regards to decals, vinyl, wraps, or apparel, call the gang at the Shirt Shak and tell them BangShift sent you. These folks are the real deal car guys and gals and live it every day. They will treat you right at a fair price and can provide options that nobody else has.

 

 

So what’s next for the $200 Hauler? Well, we have done our first towing with the Sub and have a quick tech story on getting it ready and how it performed which will be out next week. Plus we’ve got parts coming from LMC Truck to replace the bent rear bumper, front valance, broken grille, etc. Then it’s time for lights from ANZO Lighting, suspension, wheels and tires, cold air kit, exhaust and a Westech tune. Plus a bunch of other cool little custom tricks you are going to want to copy. So stay tuned because we are ready to start thrashing!

Stay tuned for more updates on the $200 Hauler, including new spark plug wires from MSD Performance, spark plugs from E3, and cold air kit from Spectre Performance, which we just put on this week. We also have some custom suspension, shocks from Ridetech, tires and wheels, new Floor Liners from Husky, a TCI Torque Converter and Shift Boss controller, along with exhaust, towing accessories, lubricants from Lucas Oil, and more!

For more information on LMC Truck, and their complete catalog of parts for your truck or SUV regardless of year, make or model, visit them at LMCTruck.com