I recently had a vinyl failure on the hood of a step van. The lettering was installed in the Summer of 2002. All of the lettering on the sides and rear of the step van are fine, just the hood has failed. I used FDC high performance vinyl. A layer of grey was first applied as and outline for the lettering and then black and in one place some white. Two layers in most places and three in a small area. All of the lettering curled and cracked at the edges. If it had only been the first layer I would have thought the surface was not properly cleaned, but all layers have failed. I suspect it must be the heat from the engine. Has anyone else experienced this?
Posted by Duncan Wilkie (Member # 132) on :
Gary, My first thought was, this sounds like a horizonal application, which is very different performance wise with vinyl. Vinyl is warrented and recommended for vertical applications only. My second thought was, as you said, excessive heat from the engine compartment. Cheers,
Posted by Brian Snyder (Member # 41) on :
I have put lettering on the hoods of some of my customer's vehicles (actually, on the roof too for some clients in Manhatten). It's all done with no warranty and the explanation that its probaly the worst possible area to apply lettering due to the heat from the engine and sun and the debris that scuffs it when driving 70mph down the highway. The same goes for bugshields too.
Posted by Jeff Ogden (Member # 3184) on :
I had some vinyl fail on a stainless steel catering truck. The sides were fine, but the rear shrunk and cracked....and the back is hot from the coffee urns and gas burner, so I figured it was from the heat. It took 2 years to fail though.
In another vein, a fellow asked me to put his name on his valve covers on his souped up pick-up truck. He wanted florentine swirl gold 'cause he saw it in my shop one day. So I told him it wouldn't last with the heat and all (this is Florida)....and he says he wants it anyhow. Well to make a long story short, those little gold letters are still on there, and look brand new, and this has been 4 years ago that I did them. Every time I see him I want to pop the hood to see if they're still there, and every time I do, I just scratch my head in amazement! Posted by VICTORGEORGIOU (Member # 474) on :
Gary, we did a fleet of identical trucks here in Northern California, and the logos on the hoods all cracked after about two summers. Like Brian, we had warned our customer that upward facing vinyl would not hold up long term, so they were not surprised. If you read through the manufacturer's technical stuff, they warn about upward facing installations.
Jeff, if you are talking about SignGold, it is real gold in a sandwich of Tedlar. The gold is inert and the Tedlar was developed as a heat shield material for the space program. The only thing left is the glue, and as we all know, it tends to bake on solid. It's not a surprise that heat does not bother it. Vic G
Posted by Gary Winebarger (Member # 154) on :
Thanks Everyone…One of the benefits of this site is learning new things. I somehow missed that vinyl was not to be applied on a horizontal surface. Fortunately for me the job on which the vinyl failed was for my next door neighbor, not a paying customer. I told him that I would simply hand letter that portion of the vehicle.
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