off gassing

[tristanjbstevens]

I have a customer that applied some reflective material to a vehicle 4 days after it was painted. I have heard in the past about "off gassing" and it causing vinyl not to adhere properly. Can anybody give me some information I can pass on to this customer of mine, so he doesn't run into this in the future?

 

[Just Another Sign Guy]

out gassing.

information to pass on well if it is going to be a problem in this case it is too late as teh material is already applied.

there are differing opinions in regards to the amount of time we should wait after a vehicle is repainted before lettering ranging in time from a couple of hours to 6 months...the reason for this is that there is many variables as far as how the vehicle has been repainted...all vehicles are not repainted equally.

to be safe always ask the person who painted the vehicle. always have your client sign a waiver, i know NO-ONE who offers a warantee on a repainted vehicle. cya

 

[mark in tx]

I've always gone by the "wait 30 days" rule of thumb.

 

[Gino]

First of all.... welcome from Pennsylvania.

Second.... based on your profile, you didn't supply the materials, so do you know what reflective vinyl, brand, thickness, grade and if it was digitally printed or not was used ??

Those factors play a role in this also.

Did your customer use the wet method or dry ??

Did they use transfer tape or not ??

Was/were the graphic very small lines or strokes without much adhesive area exposed ??




Many things come into play and without enough information... one can't make a reasonable suggestion for you.

The surface of the substrate is half of the equation... the other is the media the end user put down.

 

[heyskull]

Ive had this problem before with big bad results.
Most of the time especially if the item has been painted with 2 pack paints is if they have not been properly mixed and baked in an oven.
Leave them at least a week maybe more in colder climates.
The results are terrible if this has not been followed.
I have had to have complete vehicle panels resprayed due to customers not telling me when they had been painted.
Best thing to do is smell the panel if it smells of chemicals it is still out gassing.
I know that sounds strange but it is the best way I have found.

SC

 

[tristanjbstevens]

First of all.... welcome from Pennsylvania.

Second.... based on your profile, you didn't supply the materials, so do you know what reflective vinyl, brand, thickness, grade and if it was digitally printed or not was used ??

Those factors play a role in this also.

Did your customer use the wet method or dry ??

Did they use transfer tape or not ??

Was/were the graphic very small lines or strokes without much adhesive area exposed ??




Many things come into play and without enough information... one can't make a reasonable suggestion for you.

The surface of the substrate is half of the equation... the other is the media the end user put down.

I actually did supply the material. It was a brand called Kiwalite out of Japan. It's actually really good stuff. I won't go into a sales pitch, as this is not what this forum is for, but believe me when I say that it is a widely used product (you may have even used it without knowing it). We sold the customer a partial roll (15" x 10 yards) and a 1.5" x 50 yard stripe (cut in house). And we have already tested the remainder of the 15" roll for adhesive problems (found none).

As far as the graphics that he laid down, one was a 1.5" stripe around the vehicle, the rest was lettering (I'm not sure how small).

I obviously can't say with 100% certainty that the stripe is perfect (as the customer still has it in his posession). However, based on the roll we did test, and past experiences with this product, the material was almost certainly in good condition.

 

[Flash Harry]

Yea, had this as we used to sticker up race car bodywork that were always being repainted.

We used to wait 48 hours (as it always had to be done yesterday) but you still get some with some wonderful bubbles popping up in your fine aplication job on that time.

Longer the better as its going to be hard to fix afterwards

 

[gabagoo]

So what is the problem your customer is actually having with the material? s t faling off or is the material bubbling up? I have never experienced it but I have seem silver mylar bubble up from what I would think is outgassing. I may also add that even if you see nothing happening I sure dont want to be the guy who has to remove it at a later date as I have experienced the vinyl just being a nightmare to get off as it adheres right into the paint. yikes!!!

 

[Gino]

Okay, then if you haven’t seen the problem…. you might not be describing it correctly. Out gassing is usually the evaporation time it takes for solvents and other chemicals to migrate to the surface of certain paints, plastics and other substrates. Usually it will cause tiny bubbles or slight peeling back of edges, but it usually doesn’t show up immediately in reflective vinyls.

I’ve never used Kiwalite and don’t know its statistics, but I would venture to say possibly your customer put these things down wet and never got all the wet out and the bubbles are telegraphing through and showing signs of fatigue prematurely.