The Body Electric

Road Rage Designs (Spring Grove, IL) produced a wrap for a Navistar Estar electric-powered, cargo van for Chicago International Trucks, a commercial-vehicle dealership that wanted to promote the Estar. Kris Harris, Road Rage’s president, said “Initially, this job presented a challenge because all we had seen of the vehicle was a brochure drawing. Templates don’t exist, and this was the first electric truck or van we’ve ever wrapped. It has some strange body lines that had to be accounted for when laying out the graphics, but it’s a pretty flat surface.”

Using the furnished logos, Road Rage created the complementary graphics and lettering using Adobe® Illustrator® software. The vehicle arrived directly from the Navistar factory; scratches and dents weren’t a concern.

The shop printed the graphic on Avery MPI 1005 Supercast Easy Apply RS 2.1-mil, air-release, cast-vinyl on a Mimaki JV5-130 printer with full-solvent inks. Road Rage protected the wrap with Avery’s DOL 1360 overlaminate on a GBC Arctic Titan pressure laminator.

Road Rage’s installers prefer 3M Gold nylon squeegees with custom, felt tips, wrapping gloves and Milwaukee heat guns, although they use torches occasionally. Harris said, “My installers aren’t really ‘gadget guys.’ They have an effective process and tools and place, and don’t alter that just to introduce the vehicle-wrap product of the week.”