The Starting Point
Arnold Electric Service is a residential and commercial electrical contractor working the Chicago metro area. They came to Chicago Fleet Wraps to put their brand on every vehicle in their service fleet.
Arnold Electric had a brand. Clean green-and-white identity. Logo, phone, licensed-electrician credentials. All ready to deploy. What they didn't have was visibility on the road.
Their service vans were rolling through Chicago neighborhoods every day — Norwood Park, Edison Park, Jefferson Park, Portage Park, Avondale, Lincoln Square, Lakeview — completely anonymous. White panel vans. No identification. Every job they drove to was a missed impression.
The math is simple. A service van in Chicago averages 40,000 to 60,000 visual impressions per day per OAAA data. An unwrapped van generates zero of those for your business. Arnold Electric was leaving roughly 15 million impressions per vehicle per year on the table.
What CFW Did
Production and installation of a full-coverage commercial wrap on Arnold Electric's Ford Transit service van.
Arnold's team handled the design. They had it ready. We don't redo work that's already done. Our job was getting that design from a file onto the van, correctly, with materials that survive Chicago weather.
Technical Brief
- Substrate: Ford Transit cargo van, medium roof. Compound curves on fenders and wheel arches.
- Material: Avery Dennison MPI 1105 cast vinyl with DOL 1460 overlaminate. 7-year outdoor durability.
- Print: HP Latex 700W press at our Portage Park facility. Color-matched via custom ICC profile.
- Coverage: Full body — hood, fenders, doors, side panels, rear cargo doors.
- Timeline: 3 working days, drop-off to keys back.
The Install
Pre-install prep is where most wrap shops cut corners and where wraps fail 18 months later.
We washed the vehicle, decontaminated panels with isopropyl alcohol, and removed every removable trim piece — door handles, badging, mirrors, emblems. Vinyl installed around hardware instead of under it always lifts at the seams first.
The Transit's compound curves on the front fenders required heat conformity. Cast vinyl handles this. Calendared vinyl (the cheaper alternative many Chicago shops use) doesn't. We post-heated the wrap to 200°F to lock the film into the body lines. This step separates a wrap that lasts 7 years from a wrap that looks bad in 2.
Edge sealing on every panel seam. Squeegee work to eliminate air pockets. Final inspection under shop lighting before the vehicle left the bay.
The Outcome
Arnold Electric drove out with a van that does three things their unwrapped van couldn't:
1. Generates passive impressions on every job. Every drive to a customer's house is a branded touchpoint. Every parked van at an active job site is signage for the neighbor who's been meaning to call an electrician.
2. Builds neighborhood recognition over time. The same van seen by the same neighbors creates familiarity. Familiarity converts to calls when something fails.
3. Signals legitimacy on arrival. A wrapped service van tells a homeowner the company is established and licensed. Closing rates on first-call estimates go up when the truck looks the part.
These outcomes aren't unique to Arnold Electric. We've documented the same patterns with HVAC clients (Precision Today, SBC Heating), plumbing (A1 Haney), movers (Windy City Movers), and contractors across Cook County (Roza Contractors, Koch Construction, SNS Roofing).
Why This Project Matters
Most fleet wrap projects in Chicago are sold on price per vehicle. The conversation rarely covers materials, install methodology, or 7-year cost-per-impression. That's how shops win on the front end and lose the client when wraps fail at month 18.
Arnold Electric chose Chicago Fleet Wraps for the opposite reason. They knew the design. They wanted production and install done right the first time. They got a wrap on Avery 1105 cast vinyl, installed by a certified team, post-heated to spec, with 7-year material warranty backing it.
That's the work CFW does. It's why we've wrapped 9,400+ vehicles since 2001 and hold 2,800+ active fleet accounts across Chicago, the suburbs, and Northwest Indiana.
