How to Do a Vinyl Grille Wrap

In this video, you're going to get great tips and tricks on how to black out the grill to create a great custom look with tools and material from Rvinyl.

After you watch this how-to, you can buy a grille wrap here: https://www.rvinyl.com/Grille-Wraps

The first and most important step is cleaning here, spray Rapid Prep directly on a highly absorbent microfiber towel and clean the main surface area. Once this is clean, take a tucking tool, place it inside the microfiber towel and focus on the edges. It's very critical to get these extra, extra clean.
Now, once the front grill is clean, you're ready to apply the material. So take the material out of the Rvinyl packet and separated into sections to make it easier for the install. And once the panels are prepped, it's time to wrap here. Make sure it fits left to right and you have enough material top to bottom, then put on application glove. Make sure there's a fresh buffer on the squeegee, then release the liner, pull the liner just about two inches away, lock it on one side. (this is what's called a hinge) release the liner, about a foot, make sure it's even left to right, then squeeze it onto the surface with a finger. Then release the liner again, make sure the material is nice and flat, squeegee it onto the surface and repeat the steps all the way to the end.

Now, using a trucking tool with the free hand, pull the material away from the edge and tuck the material nice and deep into the gap. This will ensure full coverage and on the bottom section, run a finger to make sure it's even in terms of tension left or right. And the last step before cutting is to come back with a heat gun. This will relax any tension on the edge, which helps ensure long term durability.

Now click the blade so it's extra sharp and on the top section because this is a tight gap, make sure the blade is that the right angle in this case, around 45 degrees. And if done right, the edge will hold the blade and keep it from jumping off. Apply light pressure for the vertical sides. Always use the tucking tool to make sure there's even tension and full coverage, then cut the material safely away. At the very bottom, make sure you cut away from the vehicle to avoid cutting the bottom section of the grille, then use the tucking tool to seal the top edge.

For the bottom section, which is open, use the free hand to pull the material away while cutting in the opposite direction, this will help ensure a straight cut. For any curved sections (such as above emblems) make sure you keep the blade low and flat, pull the excess film away, and before going to the opposite side, always make sure you seal the deal. Once that side is done again, pull away and cut in the opposite direction. Run a finger to seal the deal.

Then the final step is to go over the area of heat, this is to activate the adhesive and to double check that, make sure all edges are 100 percent sealed. Once this is done, you can continue the exact same steps on the other sections of the grill. And keep in mind, slight modifications might have to be made to the workflow here, the materials being formed to the main surface. But the vertical pillars are keeping the material from touching the main surface. So here relief cuts are being made this relaxed the film safely so the material can now be taken all the way to the edge without tension. This is very important to do as opposed to picking the material, adding heat and then jamming it to the surface.

Another modification that can be made is here on this side. The emblem is sticking out very far. This, again, keeps the material from getting all the way to the surface. So here, relief cut is made. But instead of doing it all in, one shot itis being cut, tucked to the edge, picked up away from the emblem, tucked in again, and then cut safely away to the edge of the emblem. By working in stages, you get full coverage with no tension on the main portion of the grille. And a good tip is to always do these raised areas first, then do the flat middle sections last. This will help create nice, good, solid workflow.

And now with the front grille fully blacked out, drop the hood go over the entire area with a heat gun, go from left to right on one section to check to make sure all the edges are sealed and do this for every section of the grille that was blacked out. The final step is simply to spray the microfiber towel in this case with a cleaner that prepped a surface and wipe the grill down to make sure that there's no handprints on the main surface.

And with that, here's a shot of the final result. So you can see with the great tips and tricks from this video, along with material and tools from Rvinyl that you can block out your front grille to create a great custom look that holds up for years and years.

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