Any sugestions? Vinal

Any sugestions? Vinal

Ok I went to Sign Works in Hickory NC, and got a roll of Vinal that matched my car perfectly. 5 dollars for the roll So I figure I saved myself a couple bucks doing my eyelids and Reverse light myself. Boy didn't know what I got myself into. I did the eyelids first but I am going to have to redo them sometime, I just couldn't get the vinal to go on without streching horably or poping up with bubbles. Mainly where the headlight curves with the hood. So I had to cut it into 2 peices that meet in the middle of the curve. doesn't look bad, looks good to be honest but I notice all the little places I had to pop air bubbles and the little imperfections bug the hell out of me. But after the head lights I wasted half The roll trying to do the reverse light on the trunk. I took the reverse lights on the trunk off, brought them inside in the air conditioning and preped them Very well. Then I hit a wall, HOW THE HELL DO I CUT A CIRCLE OUT FOR THE REVERSE LIGHT? AND GET THEM BOTH EVEN. I tryed cutting the circle out with a cup and lining it up? Then I tryed putting the vinal on the light THEN cutting out the hole. Are there any people here that are good with vinal that might help me out with some pointers?

go slow, and squeegie out all the bubbles

Vinyl is my profession...

Hey man don't sweat it. If you don't have any experience with vinyl application it can be a bitch. Even pros have trouble with it sometimes.

For your headlights, you want to make sure they are VERY clean, use alchohol to clean them. You should probably take them out if you are wrapping around the sides. Use a grease pencil (get at craft store) and mark your perimeter, where you want the edge of the eyebrow. Make little dashed lines, not too much, *just* enough so you know where to lay the edge of your vinyl. (the edge being the bottom part of the eyebrow where it comes down in front of the light) Left, right, and bottom. This is where you will line up the vinyl, then you should have some excess sticking up off of the top of the light when you stick it on so you can wrap it up over the top.

...sticking it on, getting it to stay WITOUT bubbles or wrinkles...
Don't peel off the wole backing from the vinyl, take only what you need as you move across the light. This will keep dirt off the adhesive, and keep you
from sticking the vinyl together.

Well, start at the bottom left or right of your eyebrow, get the bottom corner lined up with your perimeter marks and tack down a small piece to anchor the vinyl in the direction you want it to go. Like a 1/2" spot... make sure there are no bubbles. then pull away some more backing, maybe 1 or 2 inches, then keeping the vinyl pulled away, taught, at an angle from the light surface slowly squeegee it onto the surface. Make sure you have a good squeegee, one of those soft rubber ones will NOT work. The vinyl shop should be able to give you one they're cheap. It has to be hard, but not so it will damage the glossy vinyl surface. Put good pressure on the squeegee, hold it at an angle as you go across.

As you make your way across the light, you will have a bunch of slack at the top, make sure it stays clean, and doesn't stick to anything or itself. Keep the slack there. When you are done putting it down over the front and sides of the light, it's time to take that slack and mold it overtop the light.

Get a hairdryer, put it on hot, medium air. Practice with some scrap first if you have it... See how the vinyl loosens up when heat is applied.

Get your hands clean as possible with soap, we want very little oil on the back of the vinyl adhesive.
Heat up the vinyl, blowing it from the back, so that you dont push it down with hot air and cause it to stick to the light prematurely. Then quickly while its still hot, grab it with both hands, using your fingers on the excess pull and slightly stretch the vinyl over the initial top edge of the light then run your finger across the newly adhered vinyl to get the adhesive working and bubbles out. You can pull the vinyl up a little if you mess up or get bubbles and start over. Repeat this, heat it up good, quickly make your move while its still hot. Once you get a good start on it you can use a squeegee or your thumb, make sure to work it down slowly with good pressure.

TAKE YOUR TIME. You have to mould the vinyl around, stretch it a bit, and just make sure its adhered good. It might take a little to get the hang of, just practice.

Cutting circles? Well, witht the backing still on, use something round and hard as a stecil. use an Xacto knife with a new blade to cut it. pull out the circle, off the backing, leaving the rest surrounding. You should have transfer tape, its just like wide masking tape with a weaker adhesive on the back. It's then applied to the top of the decal so it can pull it off the backing and then transfer it onto a surface. You could try it without, but would probably distort the circle by stretching the vinyl when peeling it off the backing. You could try, but be very careful, and slow. To apply to the light, get a spray bottle and put a few drops, maybe 1/2 tspoon of liquid dish soap, fill the rest with hot water, mix.... then spray the light, and the back of the decal. This will allow you to slide and position the decal without it immediatly sticking... Squeegee out bubbles, and soapy water. get ALL water out... let dry, maybe trim with xacto around edges... Pop bubbles with exacto knife. make a small hole, push out air/water with finger....

Thats that...
If all else fails, get the sign shop to help you cut out decals for the lights.
Practice first.
GOOD LUCK!

Statik