What is Matte Metallic Gunmetal, and who makes it?
It’s an Avery Dennison film, sold as Matte Metallic Gunmetal under the code SW900-840-M. Avery’s North American Supreme Wrapping Film overview places it in the matte metallic group, its low-sheen films with metallic flake.
Its neighbours in that group are close enough to confuse on a swatch card:
| Avery matte metallic | Code |
|---|---|
| Gunmetal | SW900-840-M |
| Charcoal | SW900-845-M |
| Anthracite | SW900-858-M |
| Silver | SW900-857-M |
“Matte” has a number behind it. Avery’s SW900 data sheet keeps its matte films under 15 gloss units at 60 degrees, where its gloss films sit above 85. A gunmetal panel gives back almost no mirror image; in the shop’s eyes, the flake is what stops it looking like primer.
What did gunmetal change on the shop’s GLS?
The colour and the sheen. The Mercedes GLS came in wearing gloss black paint and came out of the bay wearing Avery Matte Metallic Gunmetal, while its chrome grille and black roof rails stayed as they were.
The black paint is still under the film. The job is written up step by step on the GLS gunmetal project, and model notes for the SUV are on wrapping a Mercedes GLS.
How does gunmetal look in grey Fraser Valley light?
The shop’s view, based on the GLS: under cloud it reads as one even mid grey, and the flake only shows where a fender or door crease turns up toward the sky. That’s a fair preview of the local year, since Abbotsford averages 179.5 days with precipitation in Environment Canada’s climate normals.
Under the hexagon LEDs in the bay, the same panels look lighter and closer to silver. Judge a swatch outside on an ordinary overcast afternoon, the light the car lives in.
Is there a 3M version of matte metallic gunmetal?
No. 3M’s 2080 brochure has no gunmetal. The matte greys it marks with the asterisk its 2018 palette defines as metallic, chrome or pearl are Charcoal Metallic (2080-M211), Gray Aluminum (2080-M230) and Dark Gray (2080-M261), the last covered on matte dark grey.
None is 3M’s version of the Avery film, so if the GLS is the look you want, quote the Avery code. If a 3M swatch wins you over instead, the terms change too: 3M’s 2080 warranty card gives every colour 7 years on vertical panels and 2 on horizontal ones in Zone 2, which is where 3M’s zone map puts Canada.
Which cars suit a matte metallic grey?
Long, clean panels show it off, so the shop leans toward SUVs, wagons and big sedans with tall doors, the shape the GLS has. Sharp creases give the flake somewhere to catch light; bumpers full of vents break the colour up.
On a car that’s already grey, gunmetal changes the sheen more than the colour, and matte PPF versus a matte wrap covers the clear option that keeps your paint.
How do you care for a matte metallic wrap?
Gently, and never with wax or polish. On matte films, Avery’s data sheet says, cleaners, wax and polish risk “extreme color and gloss shift”, so anything new gets tried on a hidden spot before it touches a door.
Avery’s Instructional Bulletin 1.50 adds habits that suit a gunmetal car:
- Wash it about every two weeks, and spot-clean bugs, droppings, sap and tar the day they land.
- Lift fingerprints with two parts isopropyl alcohol to one part water on a lint-free towel.
- Keep cleaners between pH 5 and 9, and keep acetone, lacquer thinner and other aromatic solvents off it.
- Try Avery’s own Supreme Wrap Care on a hidden panel first, since Avery says matte films can streak slightly with it.
Skip the ceramic coating. Avery voids its warranty for products carrying solvents or petroleum distillates, protective coatings included, and 3M’s 2080 product bulletin states plainly that coated 2080 film isn’t warranted.
What warranty and removal terms apply to gunmetal?
Avery’s data sheet gives its metallic and pearlescent films 5 years on vertical panels and 2 on horizontal ones in Zone 1, and Avery’s Instructional Bulletin 1.30 lists Canada in Zone 1. Avery states that its warranty runs for the same term as that durability.
| Term | Vertical | Horizontal |
|---|---|---|
| Avery SW900 metallics, Zone 1 (data sheet) | 5 years | 2 years |
| 3M 2080, any colour, Zone 2 (warranty card) | 7 years | 2 years |
| Brookswood Tint’s published term | 5-year manufacturer warranty on the vinyl |
The figures don’t all line up, so ask the shop which written term goes on your invoice. Removal is heat, a slow peel and adhesive clean-up. Avery says SW900 can be taken off using heat and chemicals for as long as its durability period runs, though it won’t stand behind removal from automotive paint older than 5 years. The shop’s method is on wrap removal.
Booking a gunmetal wrap in Langley
Send the year, make and model with the code SW900-840-M through the vinyl wrap quote form; texts go to 604 534 6433. A full colour change keeps the car at the shop for 3 to 5 days, and one panel, a roof for instance, is usually same day to two days.
Bring it to Unit 312 (20560 Langley Bypass) on any weekday or Saturday, 9:00 to 17:00.
