[Derox]

Hello Everyone

I'm new to the land of BMW, just purchased our first one 2016 X1 228i, i'm enjoying the ride however this is mostly a car for my fiance. She will be doing a lot of highway driving and I was thinking of Vinyl wrapping the car to protect it from stone chips and basically to keep the paint show room finish until we're ready to upgrade. Have any of you had experience with this and does this void any warranties BMW has? I imagine it should't, but its better to as. Wi'll be calling BMW Canada to find out what their stand on this is...

Any info/experiences/stories are much appreciated Thanks!

[inTgr8r]

Is your only reason for wrapping the car to protect the paint?

Just clear bra the front and be done with it.
It will be much cheaper and provide better protection.

Vinyle wrap will not protect the front from stone chips very well.

[Derox]

Its a little of both....to protect and to change the colour, my fiance wants a metallic dark gray colour. The cost isn't an issue, I work in the print/advertising industry so I'll basically be paying less to wrap the whole car than to pay someone for the clear bra install. Its essentially the same as putting the clear bra on so I imagine that it shouldn't void any warranties.

[hz_diesel]

Originally Posted by inTgr8r

Is your only reason for wrapping the car to protect the paint?

Just clear bra the front and be done with it.
It will be much cheaper and provide better protection.

Vinyle wrap will not protect the front from stone chips very well.

Vinyl will protect from small chips. BIG chips however it will tank the damage the first time. Then just like paint you'll have chips in the vinyl expose the original paint.

I am talking from experience, my whole car is wrapped 3m metallic matte red. However I rarely get chips, I only got some recently from my trip to NYC and back. I've done other long trips with no issues. Might be due to highway paving and the extra debris. Other than that my wrap has been holding up well.

[shadow191]

Vinyl is thinner than a clear bra. My car has been wrapped for 3 years now and it's picked up a few chips on the front bumper. But on a previous car, I had a few chips go through the clear bra as well.

Don't know about Canada, but in the US it doesn't impact the warranty. A friend has an 8 month old GT3 that's wrapped and the dealer hasn't taken issue when servicing.

[hz_diesel]

Originally Posted by shadow191

Vinyl is thinner than a clear bra. My car has been wrapped for 3 years now and it's picked up a few chips on the front bumper. But on a previous car, I had a few chips go through the clear bra as well.

Don't know about Canada, but in the US it doesn't impact the warranty. A friend has an 8 month old GT3 that's wrapped and the dealer hasn't taken issue when servicing.

This is true and not true. If you have to take off a part to wrap it, you might void a warranty. Also speaking out of experience again too. My tail light was removed to wrap the corners of my rear bumper and rear fender. We were not aware that there is a rubber gasket that protects amp and battery in the trunk from leaks. If you remove the tail lights on a older model the gasket won't reform properly when put back on and you'll get a slow leak that will kill the amp or battery(suppose to replace the gasket). Luckily for me it was the amp and not the Battery but BMW would not cover it. The person who wrapped my car ended up covering the cost of the amp.

[Derox]

Originally Posted by hz_diesel

This is true and not true. If you have to take off a part to wrap it, you might void a warranty. Also speaking out of experience again too. My tail light was removed to wrap the corners of my rear bumper and rear fender. We were not aware that there is a rubber gasket that protects amp and battery in the trunk from leaks. If you remove the tail lights on a older model the gasket won't reform properly when put back on and you'll get a slow leak that will kill the amp or battery(suppose to replace the gasket). Luckily for me it was the amp and not the Battery but BMW would not cover it. The person who wrapped my car ended up covering the cost of the amp.

Thats a good point, removing parts will most likely void the warranty. Sucks you had a leak but luckily it was fixed.

[hz_diesel]

Originally Posted by Derox

Thats a good point, removing parts will most likely void the warranty. Sucks you had a leak but luckily it was fixed.

Yeah, the amp and install cost 2k. Smh. However some places are bmw certified. But that just means more $$$.