Reflective Safety Stripes - Where can I get these?

[Kottwitz-Graphics]

I've been asked to letter a van, and they need rear safety stripes like the attached picture. It has to be blue / white.

Is there a company that makes these, or will I have to just cut a bunch of blue and white reflective and apply in strips?

Thanks in advance,
Mark

 

[laserman70]

We print them oh 3M 680.
In full and wrap the door.

 

[Billct2]

We buy 6" rolls of Reflexite

 

[ExecuPrintGS]

We print them in house.

 

[letterman7]

Individual strips. I keep the common stuff - red, white, blue and yellow in stock already cut to size in rolls.

 

[2B]

We print them oh 3M 680.
In full and wrap the door.

This is also what we do, saves a lot of time when installation happens since you are doing the entire door at once and not in strips

 

[equippaint]

I was wondering the same. They're called chevron panels I think? When you print these, do they lose some of the reflective properties? We've been asked about these before for road construction vehicles but my concern with printing is that they wont meet the reflective specs with ink over them. Then in an accident the fingers will be pointed at you. Same if you had to meet NFPA spec unless you made stripes out of rolls. Am I'm off base here? I believe the road company found them in prismatic but I never really asked where since it didn't matter at that point.

 

[T_K]

I was wondering the same. They're called chevron panels I think? When you print these, do they lose some of the reflective properties? We've been asked about these before for road construction vehicles but my concern with printing is that they wont meet the reflective specs with ink over them. Then in an accident the fingers will be pointed at you. Same if you had to meet NFPA spec unless you made stripes out of rolls. Am I'm off base here? I believe the road company found them in prismatic but I never really asked where since it didn't matter at that point.

At another company, I used to print reflective signs all the time for realtors who wanted that extra conspicuous sign. I never noticed an issue with it losing the reflective nature. At the same time, we weren't meeting any safety standards, so I can't say specifically there. But I would assume it depends on the reflective vinyl you print on more than the ink application.

 

[All Graphics Calgary]

Yes, there is definitely specs that must be met with road safety vinyls. I have been told that engineer grade meets these qualifications but I would be very wary with any kind of reflective, especially if you're printing. Your best bet may be to verify with your customer and local legislation..

 

[Billct2]

If you're meeting specs, you better know what they are. If they just want "reflective' engineer grade is fine, even printed.

 

[eahicks]

Even U-line sells this stuff.

 

[SellersSign&Design]

I also normally print on 3M 680, unless prismatic reflective is specified. I did some research, and although it isn't as clear as it should be.. printed 3M 680 should meet NFPA specs. If you need a special color in prismatic, I have seen people overlay translucent vinyl on top of white prismatic. This is also an acceptable practice according to the NFPA.

 

[myront]

We use 3M 5100 series with an overlaminate on a lot of police cars, fire trucks and ambulances.

 

[SightLine]

Yep..... pretty much all printable reflective meets the NFPA Type I Reflective requirements. However I doubt the van OP is considering needs to meet any sort of NFPA requirements. The only NFPA requirement for rear chevrons is only for fire apparatus (actual fire dept vehicles) and requires that the chevrons alternate between red and yellow, are 6 inch stripes, 45 degree downward angle from the centerline and must cover 50% of the rear of the apparatus. For that specific use, the Oracal (Reflexite V92) rolls are the "industry standard".

Rear chevrons on any other vehicle are unregulated and can be whatever size colors, reflective (or not) you or your customer wants. We do a lot of emergency vehicles (police, ambulances, fire, etc) and do chevrons on request on a lot of ambulances but on those they pick their own colors and coverage and we just print them as a large full sheet.