The art and science of colour on demand

For some drivers, owning a Bugatti or a Ferrari is just not special enough, so the readiest remedy is customisation.

As Londoners in the congestion-charge zone can attest, the latest trend in supercar customisation involves unusual colours and finishes. Whether metallic gold, brushed blue metal, multi-hued carbon fibre or a combination thereof, virtually anything seems possible.
The key to these stunning transformations is plastic wrap, or film, which is applied over the cars’ original paint and carefully stretched and stuck to conform perfectly to the contours. Done well, a custom wrap can be nearly indistinguishable from factory paint, and it opens up some remarkable possibilities.

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“The colour palette is unlimited,” says Paul Roba, a technical manager for US-based Avery Dennison Graphics Solutions. “It gives it a multidimensional look when you wrap the vehicle.”Wraps were introduced in the 1990s as a temporary means of changing a vehicle’s colour. Germany’s registered taxis must be beige, for example, but such a stipulation made those cars – most of which being prestigious Mercedes-Benz E-Class sedans – almost impossible to resell. Wraps imparted the desired colour but could be removed, while also protecting the paint underneath. The technique is used now for everything from making black and white police cars to covering panel vans in adverts. Finishes, meanwhile, might simulate the texture of snakeskin, ostrich, denim or felt.

“We’ve had people who’ve said ‘I don’t want a red Ferrari’,” Roba says. Custom paint jobs are of course available from the factory, and according to Ferrari, special order finishes went from 1% of output in the early 2000s to over 10% in 2010. But those custom shades are expensive, and – unless an owner is willing to bear the hassle and potential for depreciation from repainting – permanent.
Yet wraps offer a compromise. Where money is no object, no colour is out of the question, even if it’s a non-traditional choice. “If you don’t want a purple Ferrari any more, you take it off and change it to whatever colour you want,” says Beth Zanko, also of Avery Dennison.
Wrap manufacturers are always hunting the next big thing, convening “colour councils” to evaluate trends and, if possible, create new ones. “Inspiration could be, ‘I was at the Great Wall of China and I loved something there’,” says Roba, “or ‘I was at my child’s playschool and I saw a colour there’. It’s really pretty limitless.” Colourists work to reproduce those inspirational hues in film, in the same way paints are matched in home improvement stores for people’s living rooms. That does not mean custom colours are for everyone, though. A typical minimum order is enough film for 8 to 10 cars, but for individuals with bottomless bank accounts, exceptions can always be made.

“It is a challenge,” Roba says. “It is formulating a chemistry to do a lot of different things.” The colour must first be created – which could involve mixing and matching pigments in the formation of the film, or inventing ways to print and layer colours for the desired effect. Then the engineers work to ensure that the hue and material will have the required durability and longevity. “We have a huge bank of experience here, and a lot of highly educated PhDs who really know the chemistry,” Roba adds. “But we also reach out to people who are experts in their field, to tap their expertise to create products that people want, like the chrome finish.”
Indeed, mirrored, chrome-like wraps are something of a scourge, having been made illegal in some states given their potential to dazzle other drivers – and not in a good way. Some ideas are generated by wrap installers themselves who, just like in the fashion world, create their own collections.

Custom wraps are hardly the sole province of supercars. Even lowly kitchen appliances have gotten in the act. Refrigerators, microwaves and stoves are being modified with films produced in the same labs that supply custom skins for $2m Bugatti Veyrons. In the mid-20th Century, appliances took design cues from automobiles. Now a Chrysler and a coffee maker may share the same custom colour.