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Reflective Vinyl Question

TMK Matt

New Member
Hey everyone I recently was asked to quote a job for our local police department. The car has a black reflective vinyl on the doors and at night it looks like it has gold flake in it. As I look through my suppliers I see no specification in any of the materials saying it has this or is it standard on the reflective materials? Thanks for any input as this is my first go round with reflective vinyls.
 

2B

Active Member
Hey everyone I recently was asked to quote a job for our local police department. The car has a black reflective vinyl on the doors and at night it looks like it has gold flake in it. As I look through my suppliers I see no specification in any of the materials saying it has this or is it standard on the reflective materials? Thanks for any input as this is my first go round with reflective vinyls.

Post a picture will help a lot. It is not standard in reflective, they have the base colors and then printed on to get the desired shading/coloring the gold you speak of may very well be black reflective that have been digitally printed on.
 

MikePro

New Member
its the nature of black reflective... you can't really make black "glow" but all the reflective blacks seem to reflect a golden duranodic/silver.
also true that it may have been printed. but be wary about printing black reflective, as you can easily wind up with a "black" that reflects green/magenta/cyan at night based on your color profiling.

use your color books to match the vinyl and go with it. and yes, there is a noticeable difference between brands. OR you can just quote them on the "best stuff" and use the brand you trust the most. (3M > Oracal > Avery, imho)
 

TMK Matt

New Member
its the nature of black reflective... you can't really make black "glow" but all the reflective blacks seem to reflect a golden duranodic/silver.
also true that it may have been printed. but be wary about printing black reflective, as you can easily wind up with a "black" that reflects green/magenta/cyan at night based on your color profiling.

use your color books to match the vinyl and go with it. and yes, there is a noticeable difference between brands. OR you can just quote them on the "best stuff" and use the brand you trust the most. (3M > Oracal > Avery, imho)

From the best of my knowledge it was not printed on as the car is actually 3 layers of vinyl. The black is the only reflective and is the middle layer. I appreciate the help. Also just a side note that the car was wrecked and the company that originally lettered the car is out of business.
 

2B

Active Member
From the best of my knowledge it was not printed on as the car is actually 3 layers of vinyl. The black is the only reflective and is the middle layer. I appreciate the help. Also just a side note that the car was wrecked and the company that originally lettered the car is out of business.

if layered then printing is ruled out,

Like MikePro said exact type of reflective is a different color, even if they are both the same color. so either get your sample book and go look to try and match or offer the best reflective you can and tell them that it probably will not match the other cars.
 
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