Vinyl Decal Replacement

[Vandelay]

Originally Posted by MadMaxWinny

I also just removed the graphics. They were in horrible condition and etched into the paint. I wound up having to palm sand as the final step. My final solution is a proper marine paint (Pettit EZpoxy). I'm going to skip the graphics entirely.

Yes I needed to buff and wax the gel coat throughly after removal. I have had several people tell me to go minimal with the decal look as the final results look pretty cool.

[Vandelay]

Originally Posted by DryCreek

Not decal related so much, but that rig does seem to be settled in the rear. By quite a bit.

Yes she has been sitting there for a few weeks. She does have the air bags that I obviously keep blown up when she moves down the road.

[Vandelay]

Originally Posted by 09 harley

Nice job on stripping the old decals. The reason they use decals are because they are cheap and you get a lot of bang for your buck. Unfortunately they fail. The real answer is to have a custom paint shop do the art work and paint your graphics and then put on a couple of clear costs. Sure it cost more but it will last. The big rigs with full paint cost more for a reason. To me it doesn’t make sense to put on decals because they minute you put them on they start to fail. Slowly but still failing

Great point for sure. I love this forum because it always provides great points to consider. It may make sense to bite the bullet and do a custom paint job that will stand the test of time. I am thinking 4K to 5k for some custom paint, (not the whole rig) do you think that is a reasonable assumption?

[Vandelay]

Originally Posted by moabdds

Or, you could park it down by the railroad tracks in East L.A. overnight and I'm sure someone would paint it for you for free. They seem to do a good job on all the railcars I see crossing the country! ;-) Sorry, couldn't resist.

Ha Ha, your are probably right and it would be custom and unique.

[Vandelay]

Originally Posted by lwkj59

Looks great, nice and clean. Did you use a heat gun?

Primarily used rubber wheel vinyl remover that connects to power drill. I used nail polish remover first and then went to town with the wheels. I ended up using about 6 wheels.

[Vandelay]

Originally Posted by LovelandMike

I'm interested in how you removed the old graphics.
Did you use heat? Or a solvent?

I used a rubber wheel vinyl remover that connects to an electric drill. I would recommend a power drill that plugs into electricity as the battery operated models get depleted very quickly.

[Vandelay]

Originally Posted by Rich01

I have a 2001 Adventurer.
I was in the SIGN/GRAPHICS business for 24 yrs.
After several mistakes , I determined that " OVERWRITING " old graphics was EASIER and LESS DESTRUCTIVE ( to gel coat ) .

Meaning ... I left the old graphics there... scraped off curled parts ... waxed with ZEP wax to fill in any indentations ... then applied new vinyl atop of old and trimmed about 1/4" larger than the outside edges of the old graphic(s).
Finished by adding 3/4" stripes to even up any wavy edges.

I have done this on (5) Class A's I owned , (2) 5th Wheels and a B+.

THIS is my latest .......I did add a few NEW elements
I top them off with ZEP FLOOR POLISH , which has always done a GREAT job of adding shine ..... EXCEPT fot THIS unit.
I do not know if they have changed their formula, or if there is another issue that has kept the shine down.

Rich

( see pictures )

It looks great and I may go with that approach if I face this job again. Once you scrape off the first decal...you are committed to do the whole thing (in my opinion). Curious how many hours in a job like that?

[DesertRatt]

I'm one of those who think RV graphic swirls are a hideous maintenance bombs planted on RVs. Cheap vinyl baking out in the hit sun? Why is that smart?

[MadMaxWinny]

Originally Posted by DesertRatt

I'm one of those who think RV graphic swirls are a hideous maintenance bombs planted on RVs. Cheap vinyl baking out in the hit sun? Why is that smart?

I'm with you. My graphics were in horrible condition for only 18 years (the 42 year old graphics on my boat were easier to remove). They were completely embedded into the paint. I had to use a four-step process: Long handled razor scraper, eraser wheels, solvent, and heavy palm sander (400 grit).

As I mentioned earlier, I painted with Pettit EZpoxy, a marine polyurethane. I've got four coats on now, and it looks great from ten feet away. If the imperfections bother me, I'll sand and do a finish coat next year (probably not).

[DesertRatt]

Originally Posted by MadMaxWinny

I'm with you. My graphics were in horrible condition for only 18 years (the 42 year old graphics on my boat were easier to remove). They were completely embedded into the paint. I had to use a four-step process: Long handled razor scraper, eraser wheels, solvent, and heavy palm sander (400 grit).

As I mentioned earlier, I painted with Pettit EZpoxy, a marine polyurethane. I've got four coats on now, and it looks great from ten feet away. If the imperfections bother me, I'll sand and do a finish coat next year (probably not).

I painted mine with high quality house paint. Looks great from 15 feet away! I’m happy with it.

[Vandelay]

Originally Posted by MadMaxWinny

I'm with you. My graphics were in horrible condition for only 18 years (the 42 year old graphics on my boat were easier to remove). They were completely embedded into the paint. I had to use a four-step process: Long handled razor scraper, eraser wheels, solvent, and heavy palm sander (400 grit).

As I mentioned earlier, I painted with Pettit EZpoxy, a marine polyurethane. I've got four coats on now, and it looks great from ten feet away. If the imperfections bother me, I'll sand and do a finish coat next year (probably not).

She came out Great! Looks sharp!

[bigb]

I don't particularly care for graphics myself and it seems they are way overdone especially on some of the lower end RVs, just plain tacky. How about just a nice modest stripe or two? Or even leave it as is?

[RocknRoll]

Originally Posted by bigb

I don't particularly care for graphics myself and it seems they are way overdone especially on some of the lower end RVs, just plain tacky. How about just a nice modest stripe or two? Or even leave it as is?

The one thing I never liked about my Micro Minnie is not only the name, but the choice of fonts. In addition, it looked like Winnebago has no sense of what "white space" is, locating it too high and too far right. The 2000 graphic is especially hideous.

I finally decided before it's too late, to "de-badge" it and remove the decal. It was somewhat easy using a plastic scraper and heat gun, however results were mixed. Where the decal existed was the original pristine white, whereas the area around the graphics had slightly yellowed. Not much, but was noticeable. To me, even with the slight discoloration, it looked better plain than with the stock lettering.

After a week or so, I decided to see what decal options were available and ordered a set from Amazon. The install took about 2 hours and am very pleased with the results. The contrast from the decal(s) now takes your eye away from the discoloration and helped to blend it in.

[bigb]

Looks good! Did you try buffing the yellow area, or maybe trying the Retr0bright process? Can't see nay yellow from here though!

[RocknRoll]

Thanks bigb. I tried a bleach solution, but was a no go. I didn't want to get too aggressive as the yellow area was not where the old decal was, but the panel itself. If it did work, I'd end up having to do the entire panel at a minimum!

The yellow was noticeable from ~5 feet away if you were looking. Fortunately, the new decal seems to visually detract from any sign of it.

I recommend to new owners, that if you do not care for the existing decals now, remove them and/or replace them with something you like before it's too late. I think I just got under the wire

[Vandelay]

“After a week or so, I decided to see what decal options were available and ordered a set from Amazon. The install took about 2 hours and am very pleased with the results. The contrast from the decal(s) now takes your eye away from the discoloration and helped to blend it in”.[/QUOTE]

Looks 1000% better. I really like the graphic you choose. Looks sharp!

[RocknRoll]

Originally Posted by Vandelay

Looks 1000% better. I really like the graphic you choose. Looks sharp!

Hi Vandelay, I just saw your response and it's very much appreciated, thank you!

I'm a week into a 2 month trip around almost the entire perimeter of Florida, so the beach theme was somewhat appropriate