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In December we did a vehicle wrap on an HHR. Turned out great...minus a few little warps in the vinyl due to stretching. Learned a lot and was happy with our first wrap. However, today I went to see the customer regarding another matter. The Sales guy came over and asked me to have a look at the car. Holy crap...all the vinyl on both sides above the wheel is lifting off at the crevice. It's almost like it has shrunk and is pulling back leaving a big air space all along the crevice. GRRRRRR....how could this happen. We cleaned and prepped very well..used controltac vinyl and laminate. All materials specifically for wrapping. WHAT COULD WE HAVE DONE WRONG???
-------------------- Ottawa Custom Signs Stittsville, Ontario Posts: 346 | From: Stittsville, ON | Registered: Dec 1998
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Sorry to hear that, it sounds like you overstretched the vinyl into the channels and it popped out. I know the large channel you are talking about. Someone from 3M will tell you that you can not stretch the material to make it fit - you have to work it in as you go and that may work sometimes but if you cant then you will certainly want to use a vinyl primer from 3M (fellers is a good source) - just wipe it on the surface and it dries in minutes. When you stick vinyl down on it - its there for good.
-------------------- Brian Stoddard Northwest Wholesale Signs
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This vinyl primer your speaking of....does it damage the paint? What if the graphics were to be taken off..say in two years. Will the primer have adhered too much to the paint?
-------------------- Ottawa Custom Signs Stittsville, Ontario Posts: 346 | From: Stittsville, ON | Registered: Dec 1998
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You just apply a thin coat, let dry and you're ready to apply the vinyl.
It was a little tough for me to remove vinyl where the primer was applied, but the new steamer I bought made pretty quick work of the situation. After the vinyl is removed, I used RapidRemover to clean off the adhesive residue. I've never found a situation where the paint was damaged.
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Hiya Brenda, As Roger was kid enough to point out, I always start prepping the vehicle with a good cleaning, wiping it down with Rapid Tac. If you want to go to the extreme, start with Rapid Prep and finish with Rapid Tac. On as side note, and I hate to say this to Roger, but I don't like Rapid Prep because it cleans too well and vinyl likes to really stick too well to the prepped surface. Anyway, there are few things you may have overlooked. First is heat, which is a must when you're stretching or conforming the graphic to an irregular surface. Once the graphic is down, you must super-heat the vinyl to release it's "memory". Off the top of my head I'll say you need to heat the vinyl to about 200° fahrenheit. Second, as the others pointed out, is the vinyl primer. Even with great prep and proper installation techniques, the vinyl will still pop off when pushed to its limits. The warps you mention may be a good indicator that you've gone too far. The vinyl primer offers that extra bit of adhesion to make sure the vinyl stays put. Sure, it's a PITA to get the vinyl back off later, but you don't have to worry about it damaging the paint or the vinyl popping up. Finally, I never wrapped a Hummer yet, so I may be off base on this. However, the last thing you have to concern yourself with is where ever individual body panels meet, you must slit the vinyl, just like on a trailer where two panels meet. The flex between those two panels can cause the vinyl to pull up and separate from the substrate. So, if you slit the vinyl where the 2 panels meet, the vinyl won't be stressed and it shouldn't pop up. I would recommend that if you really want to pursue this work, you should get yourself to a wrap class. I've been installing wide format graphics and wrapping vehicles for about 10 years and thought I knew a lot. However, when I recently attended a 3M sponsored wrap seminar, I learned how much I really didn't know.
Havin' fun,
-------------------- a.k.a. Brian Born www.CheckersCustom.com Harrisburg, Pa Work Smart, Play Hard Posts: 3775 | From: Harrisburg, Pa. U.S.A. | Registered: Nov 1998
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quote:Originally posted by Checkers: On as side note, and I hate to say this to Roger, but I don't like Rapid Prep because it cleans too well and vinyl likes to really stick too well to the prepped surface.
After you clean it with Rapid Prep you've got to clean it with Windex and expensive paper towels to balance things back out.
-------------------- Pat Whatley Montgomery, AL (334) 262-7446 office (334) 324-8465 cell Posts: 1306 | From: Wetumpka, AL USA | Registered: Mar 2001
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Brenda. its not a problem with how you prepped. It's a vinyl memory problem. You stretched it too far when applying. You will have to remove that area and re-apply without as much stretching. It wouldn't matter how many different things you cleaned it with first, you can only "stretch" the vinyl so far. Sorry.
-------------------- Deri Russell Wildwood Signs Hanover, Ontario
You're just jealous 'cause the little voices only talk to me. Posts: 1904 | From: Hanover, Ontario, Canada | Registered: Dec 1998
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