I'm looking at purchasing a T/A Challenger. It has the AAR Cuda style hood on it. It has hood damage from where the previous owner had the car detailed and the detailer ruined the satin finish. I pulled up the window sticker and it clearly states that the roof and trunk lid are wrapped while the hood is painted satin. The dealership keeps trying to tell me that the hood has a wrap on it and isn't painted. I've sent them a copy of the window sticker but they insist that it is a wrap. I thought that the salesman had finally agreed that it was painted when he said that they had a local body shop that was experienced in painting satin finishes, but today I received a text that said that they were taking the car to get the car's hood wrapped on Monday. The manager at the dealership said that they sold the car new and it had a wrap on it so that's what's going back on it. I find it hard to believe that the car's window sticker would be inaccurate. The car is 5 hours away or I would go look at it myself. So, can a window sticker be wrong?
Only the Challenger T/A's roof and trunk were wrapped from the factory. The hood was painted satin. The finish can be damaged, like in your case, by a detailer using the wrong product. I think that your dealer is trying to take the cheapest way out (i.e., vinyl wrap) to fix your damaged hood. Some Hellcat owners have wrapped their painted satin hoods with Expel film to protect them from rock chips, tree sap, gravel, salt, bug acids, oils and bird droppings. SRT also recommends Dr. Beasley's for black painted hoods. Personally, I don't like vinyl wrap. It only lasts from 5-7 years, depending on the exposure that it gets with the weather. It will last longer if the car is garaged.
I think the dealership is going the cheapest route too. From what I understand about a painted satin finish, it isn't smooth. If the hood isn't sanded smooth, I don't see how a wrap is going to adhere correctly. I don't like the idea of a wrapped hood. There's a reason why Dodge decided to paint the hood instead of wrapping it.
That's that I thought, but why doesn't the heat affect vinyl hood stripes? Is it just that the vinyl film on hood wraps is much thinner?
