Covering vehicle decals with magnet

[gnubler]

I have a customer who wants to cover some truck decals with a black magnet so he can use the truck for a night job. The decals are lettering and a phone number measuring about 5 ft wide by 4 inches tall. I told him such a thin magnet would probably blow off the truck at high speeds, so he thought about tacking down the corners with velcro strips when in use. Seems like a PITA. Any other ideas for something removeable?

 

[Billct2]

Just put the magnets on while on the job site

 

[Stacey K]

I would think the velcro would work but it's probably easier for him to pull over a block from the jobsite and throw the magnets on like Billct2 said.

 

[gnubler]

I suppose so. Night security patrol, so driving around neighborhoods.

 

[unclebun]

Why do you think the magnetic material will blow off? People drive with magnetic signs on their vehicles all the time. And if he's patrolling a neighborhood, how fast is he going?

 

[gnubler]

Thin strip like that on the slight curvature of a truck bed, I see it just blowing off. I regularly have customers tell me their magnets just fly off, like regular size 24x18 magnets.

 

[Boudica]

make it taller so it's not so thin? you shouldn't have a problem if your using the 30 mil magnet sheeting.

 

[Dan360]

Throw some neodymium magnet coins on top

 

[iPrintStuff]

So we did some huge magnets (12’ by 4’) for a customer last week; they phoned up and said the magnets didn’t work. Didn’t work? They even asked if there was some sort of film they had to pull off before the magnets turned magnetic???

I went down, threw them at the van and they stuck. Worked fine.

Having a customer that not only manages to install them AND install correctly may be an issue. I didn’t think I’d ever need to explain how a magnet works (and I’d pay good money to see the video of wtf they were doing before I showed up) but here we are. In a world where people can’t work magnets.

My usual advice is to not use them when driving, even the vehicle grade ones. Have had customers that leave them on for months, and ones that can’t work magnets at all.

 

[unclebun]

If it was 12'x4' they were probably trying to put it on aluminum or fiberglass.

 

[gnubler]

I came up with a price for the magnets and my customer said he found someone else to do it. I'm okay with that. Thanks for all the replies!

A 12 foot magnet? Is it a tad heavy?