Looking for opinions on blackout alternative

[tpj71mach]

Okay, I know some people are going to think I am speaking blasphemously, but hear me out. My Mustang is painted white and just needs the lower blackout and hood blackout done. My friend Mike manages the body shop it is at and the owner has no issue with me painting it on Saturdays when Mike is there to make sure I don't do anything stupid. Fair enough, I am not a professional and he doesn't want his shop burnt down, lol. The problem is, Mike has two nephews that are carpenters redoing his deck and will be working on that for the next five Saturdays. That means the soonest we can start working on the black-out is late July.
I have a buddy that does automotive wraps professionally for the last 25 years or so and is a master. He told me that he could wrap the lower body with the accent stripe and the hood blackout with the accent stripe in satin black for a crazy low price. He says it will come out better than paint, he can use the graphics express stencil for shape and dimensions of the hood black-out and it will be right, guaranteed. He also joked that he and his guys could install all of the other stripes and decals for me and "the stripes won't be crooked like they are on a lot of Mustangs he sees at shows" lol.
I have every confidence in him as he has done a lot of projects for me personally, besides all he has done for the car dealership that I managed for years. To mention a few projects that I have pics of, he printed a panoramic pic of Cinderella's castle for my basement window well, wrapped some Adirondack chairs that I built, and he hand-made all of the stripes on my 80 Z28 because I wanted stripes but kind of didn't want stripes. I definitely didn't want the tacky silver or gold stripes that were correct for the red car. He made the stripes out of three shades of red I picked that were close but different enough from the shade of red I painted the car, so I am confident he can do it, I am just not sure it should be done.
My question is what does everyone think of this idea? Do you think it would look okay? I am tempted, just to get it done, but not sure it will end up looking right, and then I think it's been 2 1/2 years what's six more weeks? Also, he offered to do it for me for less than I can buy the material to paint it, so that's another tempting aspect of it.

 

[Cleveland Crush]

OK tpj my opinion is... What is YOUR first choice in this matter, and go that route. In the long run most of us eventually regret not going with our first choice (if all choices are realistic). Sounds like you want real stripes and Black outs, go that route!

 

[71coop]

If you have the cash on hand and don't mind taking the chance, why not? At the very worst you try it and pull it off.

 

[jpaz]

No matter what you decide to do, just make sure that the hood blackout pattern isn’t put to far back. I think the wrap would be just fine.

 

[Ripper679]

Im on board with Jpaz, run the wrap, especially if your car is garaged and is a weekend warrior. If it's a daily or parked outside.... I'd paint it, for durability reasons. I've done both to cars and that's always how I make my decision. Never served me wrong.

 

[Hemikiller]

The wrap might be easier to take care of long term vs the low gloss black paint. I see lots of wrapped cars and they look great.

Definitely make sure the pattern is placed correctly, maybe 5% of painters get it right. It seems none of them can manage to follow the lines of the hood.

 

[Mark Jones]

If the car is a weekend worrier and resides in a garage, the wrap will be fine. If the car is a daily driver, sits out in the sun and gets dirty, the hood decal will not last. Paint is the better choice (for the hood). The great thing about wrap is you can always remove it and re-wrap it (much cheaper than re-painting). I Mach1 stripped my 2019 and did a roof blackout. The roof and the hood lasted about 2 years and then I had to pull them off. The 3m wrap just didnt like the heat of the hood and roof and the daily dirt. I guess I could have been better about keeping the car cleaner.

 

[TheDude]

If the car is a weekend worrier and resides in a garage, the wrap will be fine. If the car is a daily driver, sits out in the sun and gets dirty, the hood decal will not last. Paint is the better choice (for the hood). The great thing about wrap is you can always remove it and re-wrap it (much cheaper than re-painting). I Mach1 stripped my 2019 and did a roof blackout. The roof and the hood lasted about 2 years and then I had to pull them off. The 3m wrap just didn't like the heat of the hood and roof and the daily dirt. I guess I could have been better about keeping the car cleaner.

I was just writing a response that was almost word for word what Mark says here, then looked up and saw his comment, so I'll just say I agree with all that completely. I currently have my hood wrapped in matte black and will start working my way back on the car this summer. Hopefully it fares better with the heat as I hadn't thought about how hot that hood actually gets.

On the note about removing it it you change your mind or want to redo it. I have a friend that changes the stripes on his newer Mustang every year or two and tries out different colors and styles. So it'll be white with black stripes for a while, then he'll try red stripes the next time. Changed from single big stripe to smaller stripes etc. While I don't always think it's a home run, sort of cool the change up the look like that for not a lot of money.

 

[Sheriff41]

Wrap it up. If your bud's as good as you say then it will look great. And he's correct about so many stripes being installed crooked.

 

[AcesArneson]

Do it up and post pictures. If you don’t like it do it again a different way.

 

[69 Rustang]

Painting semi-gloss, low-gloss, and flat black on a flat surface (like the hood) where it looks right and does not have streaks or stripes is actually a bit challenging. The wrap would eliminate that issue, I am just not certain of the durability at the edges as I have more painting experience than wrap experience. The lower blackout on the 71-73’s was actually a textured black paint with a tape stripe applied or alternatively a molding—not sure if you care about that or if you have moldings it isn’t a concern. If the paint is fresh down on the lower blackout and not full of rock chips, the wrap may be OK there. It is a lot to do though—both front and rear valances as well as lower fenders, doors, rockers, and quarters.

If it is as cheap as it sounds—I would be tempted to go for it and see how it turns out. You can always pull it and paint it later.