That’s a wrap -- or how to stand out in traffic
Covering up helps when showing off
CUSTOM rims. Check. A booming sound system. Check. DVD players in the headrests. Check. All that’s missing is the wrapping.
Car enthusiasts can take their pimped rides to new levels by wrapping their vehicles in vinyl.
It’s about having the flashiest car or completing the aesthetic.
“It completes me in terms of my swag,” said local dancehall artist Buffalo Souljah, who recently had his BMW 645 wrapped in matte black vinyl with red stripes.
“It’s based on the movie Tron. It’s called the Tron Design and it is the first of its kind in the country,” he said. “You should see it at night.”
Buffalo Souljah (real name Thabani Ndlovu) spent R40 000 on the customisation. His car will feature in his next video.
“I’m a rapper and I dress a certain way and this car completes the whole package. I try to be the first to do something, whether in music or modifications to my car,” he said.
Car wrapping started as advertising, but Aadil Saib, the owner of Luxury Automotive in Birnam, Johannesburg, said there had been an increase in car owners wanting it for decoration.
“I do all sorts of customisations to cars and wrapping is just one of them. It’s much easier to cover your car in vinyl wrapping and then change it a few years later, instead of repainting it. It also helps to protect your car.”
Saib, who has been “in the game” for six years, said some did it to stand out or draw attention while others wanted something unique.
He said wrapping a car was laborious. “It takes up to seven days to do a wrapping — three if we are pushed for time,” he said. In December he wrapped a Porsche in golden vinyl. It cost about R100 000.
Tumi Bareki, 36, a self-confessed “tenderpreneur” who made his money in construction, had his Mercedes-Benz AMG C63 wrapped in military green camouflage last week.
“I like how it looks. I don’t do it for girls,” he said.
Bareki said he and two friends were called “masters of the night” because of their flashy cars. “The cool thing about wrapping your car is that you can change it when you are tired of the look. I’ve driven this car in white, now I’ve changed it to the military look. When I get tired, we can do something else.”
He said he was planning on having his other car, a BMW M3, wrapped in a satin dark grey.
“These babies are my weekend cars. Throughout the week I drive a bakkie to get to work, but on the weekend I drive this when I meet up with my friends,” he said.
Pierre Martins, the owner of Amazing Glaze in Durban, said he had seen an increase in people bringing in their cars for customisations.
“We get a lot of high-end vehicles. We have three Ferraris in the shop right now,” he said. “Someone brought in a Ferrari 488 and he wants it to be unique.” The challenge was to personalise the car, but also make it “look like something the factory would’ve done”.
Martins said his shop had a graphic design department that worked with the customer to photoshop the design on the owner’s vehicle so they had an idea what the finished product would look like.
“From there we work with them to create something that looks right. You can’t have designs that would work on a Subaru on a Ferrari.”
Martins said that although the flashy customisations were popular, a lot of people did “clear wraps” to protect the car. “It is also a much cheaper way to change the colour of the car. It costs about a quarter of the price of a respray,” he said.