You drive down the road and you see a truck ahead of you decked out from front to back in cool graphics and logos. This is obviously not standard vinyl vehicle lettering or a simple magnetic advertising sign. This is something else. Has the truck been spray painted and detailed? Maybe.

Or it could be one of the hottest ways to decorate your truck. Vehicle wraps are a cost effective way to decorate your vehicle to promote a business or a personal taste, such as your support for a sports team. Because this promotional tool goes with you twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week, wraps are quickly becoming many businesses way of advertising in more than just the area you live in. These colorful wraps can be made of any graphic and text combination you want. Your imagination is your only limit. It is printed on vinyl that has a five to six warranty with a solvent ink that may last longer than the vinyl depending on your weather and driving conditions.

It is laminated to protect the wrap from dirt, grime and when you wash it, and it helps protect the scene and words from scratches and everyday use. Vehicle wraps not only advertise whatever you want, it also helps protect your vehicle's paint job from fading and damage, abrasions, and stone chips that could hurt the finish and cause rust spots. The wrap can be complete, from front to back, all doors, hood and roof to partial, like the back or side panels. When you decide to remove the wrap for whatever reason, the paint beneath is in as good a condition as the day the wrap was installed.

If you decide to have wrap done instead of plain vinyl letterings on your window, look for a special custom shop that has this capability or go online and research the many companies that offer this service. It is best to provide the graphics that you want on a computer medium that the company can use, such as a CD-ROM or USB chip. Use professional graphics software, such as Adobe Photoshop, and save it as grayscale, RGB, CMYK and at 300 dpi. These are standard options for any graphic work.

Check with the company you are using if they want your design in another format. Use every tool available to you ? especially ordering from a company online ? to design your graphic for the optimum display. Most companies can create the graphics using any text font, shadowing, shading, or shape if you provide them with the proper file formats. If you are not sure if a wrap is right for you and you are good at graphics, try taking a picture of your vehicle into a graphic program such as Photoshop and add the many different graphics, text, and other options you'd like to see, such as pin striping, to get a true idea of how it might look.

Keep in mind that you would not have any of the final fancy graphics in the background, but you can place your text in strategic spots and play with it until you get it the way you want. Prices will vary so it's best that you know how you want it look when you request a quote.

Jamie Quint is author of this article on Custom Vinyl Lettering. Find more information about Custom Vinyl Decalshere.