[papasmurf]

I do this for a living...have been for about 7+ years now and there are still several wraps I did in the beginning that are still on the road. You can expect the wrap to fade the more it is exposed to the sun but that is true of anything. The "color" wraps that are all the rage now are almost always on a preprinted film that comes that way to the installer. In the past, the installer would likely have to print and laminate the film in house. The color films do not have a separate laminate protective film applied over them where printed wraps typically do. The warranty they provide is because that is what 3m warrants the material to ....why would you provide a warranty that is greater than what the manufacturer provides as that leaves you unprotected. I have never used rubber gloves or seen any one install with rubber gloves. It is possible to burnish the flat finish films but is done as much with heat as anything else. If the car is properly washed (all of it...door jams, trunk, rockers, etc.) the film should have no problem sticking provided the car is wax free and the paint is in good shape. It is near impossible to wrap a modern car seamlessly as there are just too many places (bumper, fog lights, intakes) that the film would have to be stretched to a point of failure to wrap in one piece. Once you get beyond the expectation that it is not 100% the same as a paint job you should be okay. Average cost is probably around 2-2500k for a small car I would guess. We just wrapped a ford raptor a few weeks ago with a CF film (which is more $$) and it was close to 3k I think.