Wraps and Custom Paint

If you want a custom color, you can have your car painted, re-painted, or wrapped with a new custom color.

While Tesla has done a very limited number of custom paint jobs (maybe 20?) over the years, it is not something they will do on request and if you somehow talk them into custom paint, expect to pay more than $10,000 for the custom paint color.  I’m only aware of about 3 cars in the last 2 years that were custom painted by Tesla, and two of those were employee cars.

Repaints if done well are also expensive. This is the next best way to get a custom color. A good job, where they remove parts and mask others, is very labor-intensive.

Wraps may be a good way to go. This is a vinyl covering that is heat shrunk around each panel of the car. It’s very labor-intensive, and costs often run from $2000 to $6000 installed. Vinyl is available in flat or gloss, almost any color, and even some designs like carbon fiber or brushed metal.  The wrap will last 2-8 years depending on care and the environment. At the end of life, you can have it removed without affecting the original paint.

For the DIY, here is a very long blog with photos that details how a vinyl wrap is applied to a Corvette. It may make you think twice about doing this yourself!

There are many quality shops for wraps. Lucent Wraps in Costa Mesa, CA is representative of the shops out there. The Lucent Wraps site even has a special section just on chrome blackout for Tesla with quite a few photos.