3m reflective misbehaving

[gabagoo]

I am putting these 8" stripes on this Ford expedition and I find if I fold back the vinyl to pull half the backing paper off without folding it back on itself but just bending it back on itself, afterwards I get this horrible non descript black line visible on the surface of the reflective. It almost looks like a dirt stain from rain water running over the vinyl. I hardly bent it back and it happened again on the fender. Not right I say, it should not be so delicate. I am using orange reflective and honestly I don't really recall this happening a couple years ago and this is now the second vehicle I have seen this happen on.

 

[geb]

I've had it happen using the center hinge method. Working alone on an 7- 9' strip sometimes there would be a slight bend where I cut the backing holding the vinyl back, your right its very delicate. I try not to stretch or bend the vinyl back over itself the best I can to prevent it from happening when working alone.

George

 

[Jester1167]

Hit it with a torch or heat gun. Should go away unless you tweeked it really bad.

 

[Mike Paul]

It's called bruising, it can also happen when trying to reposition some reflective films.

 

[WB]

Barry your Probaly using some lower grade of reflective vinly ..

We did a bunch of Police car a few years ago and found out the hard way..

There and engineering grade reflective and then there's and automotive or "outdoor grade"...

 

[SqueeGee]

We exclusively use 3M reflective 680 series and have it happen also if we're not careful. I haven't tried heating it as Jester mentions. What I try to do to minimize it happening to start with is when doing the first side of the hinge, I don't squeegee the first few inches. This seems to soften the stress on the second half of the hinge when you fold it back which reduces the chance of getting the black marks you're seeing.

 

[Mosh]

Engineering grade reflective does this real bad. Even the better stuff will do it. 1+ on the torch or heat gun, but no guarantees, Use some tape at the end instead on cutting off some of the backing this should help.

 

[gabagoo]

Barry your Probaly using some lower grade of reflective vinly ..

We did a bunch of Police car a few years ago and found out the hard way..

There and engineering grade reflective and then there's and automotive or "outdoor grade"...

low grade? It's 3m comply. Had to buy 5 yard minimum 48" $60.00 per yard....gulp. You just dont want to replace a piece,especially when you have very little left.

 

[Jillbeans]

You just have to be really careful.
I have had this happen too. And I only did not use 3M once. (and that was only after 5 minutes of trying to weed engineer grade Oracal, never did stick it)
Love....Jill