Fading graphic's
 

Has any one else with the day-glo wrc graphic's suffered with fading? mine have been on the car only 7 month's and the sun has bleached them real bad on the bonnet and has started to bleach the large swoosh on the side's. Have been told the day-glo only last's a year top's but the standard yellow about 5-7 year's,the blue shadow is fine as is the red monte carlo one on the bonnet.
Mike..

It's natures way of telling you that you've grown out of the sticker stage and it's time to peel them off? :)
JohnD

:( Sorry to hear that Mike

Yeah,but if i do that how will i know which car's mine in the car park! cus every one seem's to own a soooby now :D

Most flourescent vinyls have a 6 month lifespan (less in the sunlight we've had recently)

Good ones may last 12 months

Really good ones may go for 24 months, but they can be very expensive and too thick to work with, so are not really practical for cars.

The first ones to go will be the bonnet, as this obviously gets the full whack from the sunlight. If one side is starting to fade before the other then that will probably be due to it getting more sunlight. Sounds daft, but try parking the car facing the other way on alternatye days, it'll give you a little more life.

Stuff I use is 12-24 months, depending on application variables, though I do offer to replace bonnet ones FOC as and when. TBH, I've only had to do this once.

Standard colours range from 3 years (don't touch these with a barge pole, the cheapest of all vinyls that will shrink like hell in no time) up to 10years+ for a good cast (all I'll use, and it's not that much more expensive) but it's a bugger to apply / remove as it's incredibly thin

It's probably too late in your case, but there's a spray-on product called Frog Juice that should help prolong the life, as it's used as a UV resistant coating for digital prints, airbrushing, etc. Never used it myself, but I've heard good things about it.

HTH

[QUOTE=Sticky Stuff]Most flourescent vinyls have a 6 month lifespan (less in the sunlight we've had recently)

Good ones may last 12 months

Really good ones may go for 24 months, but they can be very expensive and too thick to work with, so are not really practical for cars.

The first ones to go will be the bonnet, as this obviously gets the full whack from the sunlight. If one side is starting to fade before the other then that will probably be due to it getting more sunlight. Sounds daft, but try parking the car facing the other way on alternatye days, it'll give you a little more life.

Stuff I use is 12-24 months, depending on application variables, though I do offer to replace bonnet ones FOC as and when. TBH, I've only had to do this once.

Standard colours range from 3 years (don't touch these with a barge pole, the cheapest of all vinyls that will shrink like hell in no time) up to 10years+ for a good cast (all I'll use, and it's not that much more expensive) but it's a bugger to apply / remove as it's incredibly thin

It's probably too late in your case, but there's a spray-on product called Frog Juice that should help prolong the life, as it's used as a UV resistant coating for digital prints, airbrushing, etc. Never used it myself, but I've heard good things about it.

HTH[/QUOTE

Cheer's mate, look's like they will be coming off ,before they look to bad.not sure if there worth replacing now.

Every **** and his dog seem to sticker up their Subarus these days sadly.Yours should be easy to spot by the unfaded paintwork where said stickers once were

Be careful when removing them.

Some are a multiple laminate and the transparent yellow wil come off leaving a white base with the glue that's a real bitch to get off. Try without any heat to start with, if it's being a pain then get a hot air gun on the job, but don't get anything too hot. if all that's left behind is glue then try your local paint shop for some tar & glue remover, and get ready to use plenty of elbow grease. Panel wipe will also do the job, but it's nowhere near as aggressive as t&g. When it's all off bring the whole thing back to a beautiful shiny finish with Meguiars 3 stage clean/polish/wax. If you're lucky you'll get it done in a day.

A **** (and his dog ;))

Yeah on the other hand i could allway's cover the car in large sticker's saying Elmer fudpucker and peep's will think it's you!!!

mine have been on for about 3 years now, and not a sign of fade :)

they are standard 7 year vinyl :)

After this amount of time would you say they still look good or are they now looking tatty? just trying to decide if after all the hard work to get this lot off whether to re-do using standard vinyl.

Thank's for the sensible reply's guy's

If they're made from the right vinyl, fitted correctly, and looked after by the owner they should last until you're bored with them.

I regularly see stuff I did 3, 4 and 5 years ago and they are fine.

Yes they still look good, although that is my own personal opinion, and not that of those who think they look like dogs dinners :p

To be honest the subaru lettering on the sunstrip has started to lift slightly on the edges, but I am putting this down to the fact that it is stuck ontop on other vinyl ( idont have this problem on the rear as it is heavily tinted and didnt need the black strip :)

and the monte carlo rally sticker on the bonnet has a few scratches on it now from my cat, other than that and a bit of dirt on them, they still look pretty good

the door panels have a few marks on them, from the odd stone chip/idiots opening their doors on mine, but at least it hasnt scratched the paintwork

Im not 100% certain but the vinyl on mine is avery or macatac

I fitted them myself too

Have looked up Frog juice and come accross this company http://www.victorydesign.co.uk selling fluorescent+reflective vinyl 2year and 3 year use has any one used any of there product's?