Will the rivets show through the wrap?

Yes, and they should. Film is worked down around each rivet head rather than bridged over it, so the heads read as a texture beneath the graphic. A riveted body that looks perfectly flat under film has air spanning the heads, and that is precisely what starts lifting.

Can the roll-up door be wrapped?

Slat by slat, with a fine break line through the artwork at every hinge. What we will not do is print one continuous image across the door, because it cracks at each joint the first time the door rolls. Where the door matters to the design, we proof the break lines before anything goes to print.

Does the cab have to be wrapped as well?

No, and many operators leave it. The box carries the message. The cab is a small fraction of the visible area and several times the labor per square foot, and a plain cab against a fully covered box is a common commercial look rather than an unfinished one.

What happens to the USDOT numbers?

They are built into the layout so they stay legible and contrasting once the graphic is on. Confirming what the operating authority requires stays with the carrier; we design around it rather than applying markings over finished film.

Vehicles

Box truck wraps in Charlotte

A box truck carries the largest uninterrupted print area on the road: a twenty-four foot side with no glass, no handles and no body curve. Three things govern the job, and all three are worth settling before anything is designed, whether the box is smooth panel or riveted aluminum, what happens at the roll door, and the fact that the cab and the box are two separate pieces of work.

Turnaround: Confirmed at quote
From: Quote on request

Quote this vehicle

Smooth panel and riveted aluminum are not the same surface

Box bodies come two ways. A smooth fiberglass-reinforced panel takes film like a wall and is the best large surface in commercial work. A riveted aluminum body is not. Every rivet head is a raised point that has to be heated and worked down around with a rivet brush, individually, along the full length of a twenty-four foot side. Done properly the heads read as a texture beneath the graphic, which is the correct result on a riveted box. Done quickly they become air pockets that lift within a season. We schedule a riveted body with the extra day in it rather than quoting it as though the side were flat.

A roll door is a run of hinged slats

A roll-up door is a series of overlapping slats that hinge against each other every few inches, and nothing crosses that joint intact. A graphic printed across the whole door cracks along every hinge line the first time it goes up. Three approaches work: wrap slat by slat and accept fine break lines through the artwork, treat the door as a block of color and a mark rather than fine detail, or leave the door in its factory finish and put the coverage into the sides. Swing doors have none of this behavior and take a full graphic.

The cab and the box are quoted separately

A box truck is a cab chassis with a body bolted to it, and the two behave nothing alike. The cab has curves, glass, mirrors, handles and a grille, and it installs like an oversized pickup. The box is flat sheet. Many operators cover the box and leave the cab in factory white, which reads as deliberate and saves both cost and bay time. Where the two do have to match, color is proofed across both substrates before a full run goes to print, because the same file lands differently on painted steel and on fiberglass panel.

USDOT markings, working height and bay time

Marking requirements do not go away because the truck has been wrapped. The USDOT number, company name and any unit numbering have to stay legible at distance and contrast against whatever the graphic puts behind them, so they are designed into the layout rather than applied over the finished film afterward. Access sets the rest of the schedule. The top of a box side is thirteen feet up, so the work runs from platforms with two installers, indoors, with the truck held in the bay overnight.

On the vehicle

Film down, then heat

Every box truck wrap comes down to these two: film worked onto the panel by hand, and heat driven into every recess so it stays where it was put.

Films and finishes for box truck wraps

Box Trucks questions

Will the rivets show through the wrap?: Yes, and they should. Film is worked down around each rivet head rather than bridged over it, so the heads read as a texture beneath the graphic. A riveted body that looks perfectly flat under film has air spanning the heads, and that is precisely what starts lifting.
Can the roll-up door be wrapped?: Slat by slat, with a fine break line through the artwork at every hinge. What we will not do is print one continuous image across the door, because it cracks at each joint the first time the door rolls. Where the door matters to the design, we proof the break lines before anything goes to print.
Does the cab have to be wrapped as well?: No, and many operators leave it. The box carries the message. The cab is a small fraction of the visible area and several times the labor per square foot, and a plain cab against a fully covered box is a common commercial look rather than an unfinished one.
What happens to the USDOT numbers?: They are built into the layout so they stay legible and contrasting once the graphic is on. Confirming what the operating authority requires stays with the carrier; we design around it rather than applying markings over finished film.