 Zentx Media Group Inc. specializes in vehicle graphics - or vehicle wraps - one of the newest trends in vehicle customization. Vehicle wraps allow for the appearance of an entire vehicle to be changed, bumper to bumper, with a vinyl adhesive sheet, custom fitted for each vehicle.
We have all seen bumper stickers and window decals, but a Freeland-based graphic design company is taking vehicle customization to the next level.
Zentx president Mike Wenz said vehicle wraps are an easy way to be noticed. "Once you ride around in one you realize how noticeable it is, kids scream, people take pictures," Wenz said. "You talk about it every time you stop."
Wenz said that in the past 10 years vehicle wraps have started to become popular among individuals wishing to express themselves through their rides. At the same time, more and more companies are beginning to make use of vehicle wraps as an advertising tool.
 Zentx has wrapped vehicles for many area businesses including Labadie Toyota, Chemical Bank, 102.5 WIOG and Burt Watson Chevrolet Pontiac.
Wenz said with the amount of time people spend in their cars it seems only expected that advertising move along with the traffic and onto our motor vehicles. Another plus, Wenz said, is that you do not need a permit to advertise on your vehicle.
"Everyone already owns that advertising space, it's just blank and not being utilized," said Jeremy Gwizdala, head of the vehicle graphics division at Zentx. "In the next few years, every business is going to have to do it."
Zentx charges $13 per square foot for vehicle wraps, with no limits to the design possibilities. Gwizdala said they wrapped an entire GMC Envoy, a mid-size SUV, for around $3,800. "Compared to billboards it's cheap and it will last for years," Gwizdala said.
Some local companies already are seeing the benefits. Pete Sinke, service manager at Labadie Toyota, 909 N. Euclid Ave., said the Toyota Tundra they had wrapped has been a great sales tool.
"We've seen a lot of action on the trucks since we got it done," Sinke said. "We did this to try and remain a top seller and I think it's been pretty effective."
Although vehicle wraps are perhaps most noticeable when they are used for advertisement purposes, Wenz said just as many people get them for their personal vehicles, too. Wenz said they have applied vehicle wraps on everything from cars, trucks and motorcycles to boats and golf carts.
Gwizdala said one of the most creative wraps he has designed was for a boat belonging to Michael Allred of Bay City. The 28-foot Baja is now a floating tribute to singer and songwriter Jimmy Buffett, who, for those not familiar, has a taste for island life and drinks with salt on the rim.
Allred's boat wrap includes three brightly colored, lei-wearing parrots sitting on the beach not far from a cheeseburger and a sign showing the way to Margaritaville. "He told me 'go nuts' and I ran with it," Gwizdala said.
Allred said he got the idea to wrap his boat after he saw a wrapped boat at River Roar. He said his boat was an older model in need of a paint job. Rather than paint it, Allred had it wrapped. "I was going to sell it before," Allred said, but now, "I love it, I think it's great."
While Allred's boat was wrapped from bow to stern and vehicles can be wrapped completely, Gwizdala said vehicle wraps also can be done on a smaller scale, covering only half or an even smaller portion of a vehicle.
By using digital design technology and a large format printer, Gwizdala said, vehicle wrap designers are able to incorporate any design or image imaginable. Also, Gwizdala said, the wraps will not damage the paint on the vehicle and they can be changed or repaired with less time and money than can a custom paint or airbrushing job.
He said the materials are specially made to sustain the outdoor elements. The process of applying a wrap takes only a few days, depending on the size of the vehicle and the space being wrapped.
Vehicle wrap application specialists Mark Wenz and Joe Tolley of Zentx prep the vehicle by removing the side mirrors and then cleaning the vehicle with special solvents to ensure the wrap stays in place. After the prep work is complete, the two men apply the wrap in large sections, smoothing out every inch using a small propane torch that heats the vinyl, making it more flexible, and a hand-held squeegee.
The result, they said, is a seamless skin that appears to have come straight from the factory.
Source...
New trend in custom car accessories on display around Tri-Cities
Posted by Kathryn Lynch-Morin | Special to The Bay City Times September 27, 2008 07:10AM
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