What is car wrap advertising? Car or indeed any vehicle wrap advertising is the modern version of a custom paint job or billboard logo on a vehicle advertising a business. The design is printed on specialist vinyl and the wrap is applied to the car or truck. Graphics can be full-colour and allow the vehicle to act as a mobile billboard or indeed a work of art.

Although there is significant skill in designing what is in effect a 3 dimensional billboard, installing the vinyl is not that hard, though it takes some skill and patience to get a perfect result.

Vehicle wraps can be used on practically any type of vehicle. Vinyl wrap is easier to install them on large flat surfaces but curves aren't too much of a problem either. Vehicles often used for advertising include cars, trucks, trams, buses and trains.

Vehicle advertising has been around for pretty much as long as there has been vehicles. The old-style stage coaches had advertising billboards and were probably the world's first mobile advertising.

Modern printing methods has opening up a whole new world of truck graphics in the last few years. Vinyl wraps aren't just applied to trucks and cars but can also be used for shop windows and trade show booths.

Car wraps even open up the option for a few lucky people to get paid to literally drive their own car. There are schemes that allow owners to earn hundreds of dollars a month driving a vehicle with the advertisers vinyl wrap applied. I suspect though these are a little over-subscribed and that you will do better if you drive something unusual - like a hummer and drive a great deal, or park on a busy road.

Vinyl wrap can be installed either using water or onto a dry surface. As with any product application - the key here is a very, very clean vehicle. Clean the vehicle with alcohol and try to apply the wrap indoors to keep dust to a minimum.

Vinyl wrap comes in separate sections for each major part of the vehicle and installation needs to be done slowly so that you make sure all the air is removed to give a wrinkle free installation. After installation you use a sharp knife to trim the vinyl wrap from details such as door handles and the car's grill. If however this all make.

Once you have attached all the vinyl wrap to the car, you cut the wrap to fit and around details you may want to make sure will still work like: the door handles and mirrors There is a skill to it - and 2 people will find it much easier to install than just one - particularly if the pieces are large. Mind you if you struggle with vinyl wallpaper you may want to pay someone to install your vinyl wrap!

Truck graphics obviously have a much larger area to work with - but any size vehicle can be used. Side and back windows can also be covered using vinyl wrap which is transparent and allows the passengers to see out. Obviously you cannot install decals or graphics over the windscreen or front passenger windows.

Car Wrap Advertising Is unlikely to be getting anything but more and more popular as the price of printing and the quality of graphics continue to improve. Having a vehicle wrap on a car or truck even protects the original paint work from sctrachs, stone damage and fading. For a business it makes cost-effective sense to use their vehicle as a low-cost advertising billboard.

Vinyl wrap is even used to change the appearance of leased vehicles such as trains and trucks so they can fly the "corporate colours" without an expensive paint job at the beginning and end of the lease. Vehicle wraps also come in different qualities depending on whether the "paint job" is required for a long-term corporate brand or a short-term campaign.

Photo Credits: from flickr robwallace fleury