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removing cut vinyl from a wrapped vehicle

gabagoo

gabagoo

New Member
I have a race car (they pay!!) and the entire car is wrapped. All the sponsors however are done in vinyl and depending on what it is, we either print it on the mimaki or the Edge and some we vinyl cut. The car is being used for a campaign between races and they have to take off all the race sponsors and put on the campaign sponsors and then afterwards put all the race sponsors back on for the race.

I think we are going to be doing this 6 times over the course of the season. I ran a bunch of stuff for the race 2 weeks ago and now he has to strip it and is having difficulties removing the vinyl from the wrap with heat guns as it is lifting the wrap and being quite tedious. I lent them my steamer and a bottle of rapid remover although I can't think it would be much better...we shall see.

I also searched around for removable adhesive vinyl for the next run, but wonder if that is going to be any easier as far as vinyl removal. I understand they may not leave glue but adhesive is still fairly strong. I also had bad experience with running removable on the Mimaki as the heated plates caused the vinyl to tunnel before it reached the print heads....

What other options are there?
 
D

Design it Graphics

New Member
gabagoo said:
I have a race car (they pay!!) and the entire car is wrapped. All the sponsors however are done in vinyl and depending on what it is, we either print it on the mimaki or the Edge and some we vinyl cut. The car is being used for a campaign between races and they have to take off all the race sponsors and put on the campaign sponsors and then afterwards put all the race sponsors back on for the race.

I think we are going to be doing this 6 times over the course of the season. I ran a bunch of stuff for the race 2 weeks ago and now he has to strip it and is having difficulties removing the vinyl from the wrap with heat guns as it is lifting the wrap and being quite tedious. I lent them my steamer and a bottle of rapid remover although I can't think it would be much better...we shall see.

I also searched around for removable adhesive vinyl for the next run, but wonder if that is going to be any easier as far as vinyl removal. I understand they may not leave glue but adhesive is still fairly strong. I also had bad experience with running removable on the Mimaki as the heated plates caused the vinyl to tunnel before it reached the print heads....

What other options are there?
Click to expand...


Is the bottom layer manufactured film or print media? As far as printed media goes, I've had mixture of results, we work a lot on higher end race cars and some swap out non profits etc. In almost every case, manufactured film was ok. The printed media gives a bit more of a struggle. However I never use heat. The way I look at it is, I do all my sponsor decals in the same wrap film as the printed base layer. Therefore they have equal adhesion rates. So I never heat up to remove the decals. I just slowly get an edge to lift and pull it up from there.


We print on 3m/avery wrap films.
 
A

AF

New Member
This is a bit unorthodox so experiment first to get it right. Use rain-x or other hydrophobic silicone repellant on the wrap film where the "temporary" vinyl decals will go. Clean the rain-x off with rapid-tac and/or alcohol. Some rain-x will remain in the microscopic pores of the wrap film. Apply the decals. They will stay on just fine but will remove without drama a few weeks later since the adhesive will not be embedded in the microscopic pores of the wrap film and thus will release much easier. Done correctly, a standard pressure washer won't lift the edge of the decals but they will snap off when removed.
 
gabagoo

gabagoo

New Member
AF said:
This is a bit unorthodox so experiment first to get it right. Use rain-x or other hydrophobic silicone repellant on the wrap film where the "temporary" vinyl decals will go. Clean the rain-x off with rapid-tac and/or alcohol. Some rain-x will remain in the microscopic pores of the wrap film. Apply the decals. They will stay on just fine but will remove without drama a few weeks later since the adhesive will not be embedded in the microscopic pores of the wrap film and thus will release much easier. Done correctly, a standard pressure washer won't lift the edge of the decals but they will snap off when removed.
Click to expand...

This might be worth suggesting to the team.

Thank you
 
D

DigiPrinter

New Member
Are the cars being raced between the races? Not knowing the campaign logos or existing layouts, how hokey would campaign magnets look? If not being raced, slap the magnets over the sponsors and walla, no peeling....
 
gabagoo

gabagoo

New Member
DigiPrinter said:
Are the cars being raced between the races? Not knowing the campaign logos or existing layouts, how hokey would campaign magnets look? If not being raced, slap the magnets over the sponsors and walla, no peeling....
Click to expand...


it's a Ferrari, I bet it is not made of steel
 
2B

2B

Active Member
SIGNTIME said:
phototex or static cling?
Click to expand...


+1

as long as the car is not being raced then a re-positionable material would be idea to cover up

if it is being raced, might look into removable vinyl something like 631.
we did a install and removal of this stuff and it was a dream with the removal, no heat was needed and left no residue. before the removal it was driven for several months and did ok, there was some lifting on the curves, these were not compound curves
 
gabagoo

gabagoo

New Member
I called this morning and I found out what the problem really was. Most of the decals came off OK, it was the rear bumper that was giving all the problems and that was because the bumper is carbon fiber which I guess wrap film does not adhere as well as paint.... They now applied a coating of wax on the the car before putting on the campaign decals which are only on for a week.

I also ordered clear and white removable adhesive vinyl for future work, although they may be just as troublesome less the adhesive.
 
Msrae

Msrae

Rae
Some great ideas. Carbon fiber it terrible as far as getting any adhesion. I had a car that I had to do that was almost all carbon fiber (hood, trunk, bumpers, doors). It was a nightmare.
 
Mosh

Mosh

New Member
I used to deal with 25-30 race teams a year. Not the brightest bunch, part of the reason I got away from doing cars, they always have unrealistic expectations. Not saying they are all that way, just 99.9% of them.
 
Msrae

Msrae

Rae
What? You mean like calling you the night before they have to leave for a race several hundred miles away and wanting you to redo all the sponsor decals? :ROFLMAO: Never happens.
 
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