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Problems with decals on vehicle windows

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signmeup

New Member
On my "special van" it's been dry. I never apply wet....especially to glass. It was also applied at a decent temperature - mid seventies.
 
B-RAD Graphics

B-RAD Graphics

New Member
:banghead:.. a few yrs ago i did alot of dealership work..I would letter a 100qty winshields out in lot but when I went in there showroom..never failed i could never get decals to stick...drove me nuts!!! But I knew they were using glass cleaner with silicone of some sort.. Tried every chemical I owned and still would'nt stick. ..Great post hopefully we can get the answer to this issue.
 
ncpdfsb

ncpdfsb

New Member
careful with the bon-ami ... its a very mild cleaner but can damage painted surfaces... good old white tooth paste is a safer solution. also when glass is manufactured its heated to extreme temps.. could be but doubt its a built into the surface of the glass problem. may be the environment your applying the decals in. temperature? + humidity? + avery? = disaster!
 
F

Futura Signs

New Member
I've been in the business for 23 years and have had only a few poblems with vinyl that has gone bad. I know some shops don't like Avery vinyls but I have been using them for many years with no problems. When the decals fall off they still have all their adhesive qualities, like someone else said - the glass seems to create a moisture layer underneath the decals after they have been adhered.

My customer came back yesterday to have the repairs done from the original install on Friday of last week. I used a multitude of cleaners...Bon Ami, Re-Mov, Methol , checked all the other decals that had not fallen off (they seemed secure) and sent him on his way with my fingers crossed.
 
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ncpdfsb said:
careful with the bon-ami ... its a very mild cleaner but can damage painted surfaces... good old white tooth paste is a safer solution. also when glass is manufactured its heated to extreme temps.. could be but doubt its a built into the surface of the glass problem. may be the environment your applying the decals in. temperature? + humidity? + avery? = disaster!
Click to expand...

My problems aren't on paint. My "van from Hell" had the same vinyl applied on the paint at the same time, same temp, same humidity. It's fine. The glass has been re-decaled three times. Never with Avery. I've used KPMF and Oracal on this van. The vinyl was sourced from 2 different distributors and was manufactured in 2 different countries so I'm pretty sure it's not bad vinyl what with being 2 separate brands and all......especially since it's still stuck to the paint just fine.


It's definitely a glass problem and it's very selective. I have decaled lots of windows without incident. If it's a coating in/on the glass or a product applied after I don't know. I know glass can be coated with all sorts of things. Think about camera lenses. They have all sorts of weird coatings on them.

This is appears to be a bonafide mystery. I'm going to research how vehicle windows are made and see if that sheds any light on this.
 
S

signgirl

New Member
I've been doing this for 30 years and never ever had vinyl go bad before its time and now I have read about this problem on several sites. It's gotta be whatsinthe glass!
 
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