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Matte wrap or not?

battincd

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I need everyone's opinion. I took delivery of my R1T at the factory on June 29 and drove back home to Denver. So far, every minute behind the wheel has been amazing! It's my favorite vehicle - ever. By a long shot.

I've always wrapped my cars with regular finish but in 2020, I decided to try matte on white. When I picked it up, my initial reaction was 'wow'. I loved the effect. It made the white look unique, as if it were a composite material. We liked it so much, we did our ID.4 in matte as well.

With the R1T I was hoping for the same stunning first impression. However, when I picked it up this afternoon, my initial reaction was "OMG, what did I do?!? How much is this going to cost me to change the matte to gloss?" It wasn't the first impression I was expecting.

Can ya'll chime in? What do you think? Does the matte look good. To me, it gives the impression of oxidized paint. I'm going to give it a week but I wish I felt better about it from the start.


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sickhews

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I think I'm already biased towards not having a matte look in general so, take this with a grain of salt, but I really like the look of that Forest Green without the matte.
 

Jamuso

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I would’ve went with the clear. i don’t want to mask the detail in the intended color. But it does look good, just not my style. I hope it grows on you. That feeling of making a pricy mistake is not fun.
 

CommodoreAmiga

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Ultimately, it's your vehicle, so do what makes you happy. Personally, I'm not really a fan of the "matte" look for vehicles. I think it's the current fad, but that's it. I think it makes most vehicles look cheaper.
 

AxelR

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I love the satin (matte if you prefer) on the white and some colors.
Not a fan on Forest Green. Might as well have picked LG.
 

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Gavinmcc

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I actually really like the matte, but it is a huge change in both color and “tone.”

unlike putting matte on Limestone or white or silver, putting it on a dark color makes a larger change.

I’ll likely go matte when I get my limestone, but if I was going a color color like blue, red, yellow, I’d probably go clear.
 

SASSquatch

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Like others have said, I think the matte has a different effect when the color is darker vs lighter. I personally prefer the matte look on a color like LS, GW, or LA Silver, but to each his own.

I would be very hesitant to change it out at this point, however. You paid an arm and a leg and ultimately, the matte is still serving its main purpose which is to protect your paint.

If it were me, I would live with it for a while and see if you adjust to it, maybe even grow fond of it. Worst case, you tear it off in a few months or a year, but at least you will have gotten some protection.

If you just tear it off now, it will be for nothing.
 

bd5400

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My opinion is basically meaningless because I'm red/green color blind and colors like Forest Green are too dark for me to really get much "green" out of them unless there is bright direct sunlight.

With that said, I prefer the satin/matte on Forest Green because for me at least it brightens the color and makes it look more green. If I had only seen the first picture I probably would have assumed that your car was Midnight. With the second picture, I know that is green.
 
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battincd

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I actually really like the matte, but it is a huge change in both color and “tone.”

unlike putting matte on Limestone or white or silver, putting it on a dark color makes a larger change.

I’ll likely go matte when I get my limestone, but if I was going a color color like blue, red, yellow, I’d probably go clear.
You make a great point, something I didn't consider. Matte on white only changes the finish. Matte on green changes the color too. The shop previewed a large slab of matte on the hood but I didn't tune into the color change. Arg.
 
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Lysdexic

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Wow. That is a huge difference…. and to me for the better. FG is the only Rivian color I do not care for but it looks great with the stealth PPF. Like previously suggested, keep it for awhile.
 

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battincd

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Like others have said, I think the matte has a different effect when the color is darker vs lighter. I personally prefer the matte look on a color like LS, GW, or LA Silver, but to each his own.

I would be very hesitant to change it out at this point, however. You paid an arm and a leg and ultimately, the matte is still serving its main purpose which is to protect your paint.

If it were me, I would live with it for a while and see if you adjust to it, maybe even grow fond of it. Worst case, you tear it off in a few months or a year, but at least you will have gotten some protection.

If you just tear it off now, it will be for nothing.
I. can be odd about some details and this is the type thing I'd notice every time I approach the truck. I hope I'll be ok with waiting for the next rewrap appt instead of taking it off myself beforehand.

*IF* I decide to re-wrap, does anyone know if it's ok to remove it yourself or leave that to a pro? And concern about paint damage?

Crossing my fingers this isn't a 2x costly mistake. The shop applies the wrap around the edges of the panels, not just to the edge like the gear tunnel sections applied at the factory. On lighter color paint, edge wrap is important. Otherwise road dirt collects on the edge and creates a fine line of dirt. A coworker had that issue with a cheap wrap.
 
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battincd

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I do have to say, matte doesn't show water spots. Unlike my other cars, I rarely dried after a quick car wash. In Colorado we often get 5 min rain showers in the afternoon so spotless was nice.
 

ads75

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My opinion, I liked the matte wraps at first. But now, the more I see pictures of them, the less I am impressed by them. I have only seen a couple pictures of matte Forest Green and Rivian Blue, and to be honest, I didn't like them that much. El Cap, LA Silver, in matte, I still like in pictures. Glacier White, I am not sure it makes enough of a difference. I don't think I would like Compass Yellow or Canyon Red in matte either.

But it's your truck. Drive what you want. If you don't like it now, wait a week or two and see if you feel the same way.
 

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I would definitely *NOT* try and remove it yourself. Especially if they have wrapped the panels. You could end up damaging the paint and or worse.
 
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battincd

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My opinion, I liked the matte wraps at first. But now, the more I see pictures of them, the less I am impressed by them. I have only seen a couple pictures of matte Forest Green and Rivian Blue, and to be honest, I didn't like them that much. El Cap, LA Silver, in matte, I still like in pictures. Glacier White, I am not sure it makes enough of a difference. I don't think I would like Compass Yellow or Canyon Red in matte either.

But it's your truck. Drive what you want. If you don't like it now, wait a week or two and see if you feel the same way.
I googled for weeks looking for pics of matte on green but only found El Cap and silver.
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