A Good Reason To Stay Below 140 MPH

[Kingham]

My front decals are rippling

Wasn’t so funny when I was informed that the warranty on them ran out at 2 years.... just 4 weeks ago

Dealer is asking AutoSleeper the question for me , but in the meantime, have any of you seen similar and know what caused it.

I’ve used Fenwicks cleaner on all my vans and never seen this amount of fading, or the rippling effect. You can see the dark area at the bottom, where the decal glue is still positioned. When the van is on my drive, the nearside faces south and gets the most sun and all the side decals seem fine, with regard to adhesion and fading, so I don’t think it’s all down to sun bleaching.

 

[Silver-Fox]

My guess would have been a heat issue with them.

 

[Kingham]

It certainly looks like that, except we’ve had none up here yet We have had some warm days this year, but nothing compared to last summer and it’s only come about this year.

 

[Silver-Fox]

There’s nothing on the inside causing it?

 

[tonyidle]

Stretched during installation would be my guess. Or are the letters part of the under-lying decal or applied later? It looks almost as though the weight of the letters is pulling the decal down.

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[Mikeco]

They do deteriorate especially from the sun, I’ve just changed mine again for the third time in 7 years.

 

[wiljoy]

Totally poor quality inking onto very bad quality vinyl.

 

[wiljoy]

I manufactured these graphics in 2008 and its still pretty good. Depends on the quality ordered. Most motorhome manufacturers specify cheap cheap cheap.We used to supply all the graphics for 3 major manufacturers but as time went on they asked for graphics that looked good for a while. That's when we stopped supplying them. It's not work using junk.

 

[Kingham]

It’s relatively minor, but I’m more and more curious. I’ve just gone back through a few photos and the last one I have of the front of the van was just last month, when I was collecting a demo kayak from a friend’s house.

The decal was still full colour then and from what I can tell, from the distance shot, it still looks intact.

I hope I would have noticed the shrinkage and rippling last time I washed it, which was only a couple of weeks ago, but I can’t say for certain that it hadn’t started earlier. It may have just come to the end of its usefulness and suddenly deteriorated.

Either way, it’s either going to cost me for a new set of decals, or AutoSleeper might decide that me parking up on site like that isn’t good for business

 

[chatteris]

3m vinyl comes in different life options 1 year 3 year 5 year etc so i would expect they are using a cheaper short life version

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[Kingham]

........ It looks almost as though the weight of the letters is pulling the decal down.

It’s actually the opposite, the bottom of the decal is moving up to meet the letters.

 

[Mikeco]

The ones that I have just bought from Signkits are 5 year ones and the small burgundy coloured ones on the front and back which I put on in 2012 are still okay. However the silver ones faded after about 4 years.
Now gone for Burgandy and Dark grey so should last awhile.

 

[Lazyboy]

Looks unusual if they were good quality vinyl decals. I would suggest using a commercial "signwriter" (someone like Wiljoy). Most trucks now have the livery applied using vinyl and if a good quality one is used it will stand the test of time and bear in mind that trucks regularly get cleaned using traffic film remover and a steam cleaner. The only time I have seen something like that is when poor quality vinyl is poorly applied and I have had 100's of trucks done over the years.

 

[Kingham]

I manufactured these graphics in 2008 and its still pretty good. Depends on the quality ordered. Most motorhome manufacturers specify cheap cheap cheap.We used to supply all the graphics for 3 major manufacturers but as time went on they asked for graphics that looked good for a while. That's when we stopped supplying them. It's not work using junk.

Looks unusual if they were good quality vinyl decals. I would suggest using a commercial "signwriter" (someone like Wiljoy). Most trucks now have the livery applied using vinyl and if a good quality one is used it will stand the test of time and bear in mind that trucks regularly get cleaned using traffic film remover and a steam cleaner. The only time I have seen something like that is when poor quality vinyl is poorly applied and I have had 100's of trucks done over the years.

What’s the best method if I go down the signwriting route. Do I need to get new decals from AutoSleeper then get the signwriters to copy them, but in better quality, or do they work from photos and measurements?

 

[wiljoy]

What’s the best method if I go down the signwriting route. Do I need to get new decals from AutoSleeper then get the signwriters to copy them, but in better quality, or do they work from photos and measurements?

A local sign company will be able to manufacture new graphics at a reasonable price. A copy is not always necessary. You must ask for a natural vinyl NOT screenprinted. If screenprinting is the only option it must be laminated to protect it from the elements. When we supplied graphics the company normally started off with hundreds but as they came back for singles the price shot up. You're graphic hasn't been laminated so the sun and uv have wrecked it.

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[Kingham]

A local sign company will be able to manufacture new graphics at a reasonable price. A copy is not always necessary. You must ask for a natural vinyl NOT screenprinted. If screenprinting is the only option it must be laminated to protect it from the elements. When we supplied graphics the company normally started off with hundreds but as they came back for singles the price shot up. You're graphic hasn't been laminated so the sun and uv have wrecked it.

Thanks for that, I’ll wait and see if AS replace them free of charge, but now know where to aim if not. Anywhere local you can recommend?

 

[Minxy]

We had to have all the decals replaced on our previous Globecar ... they looked shocking and had shrunk/become delaminated ... you can see the ones on the rear door in the photo below had started to shrink, by the time they got them and actually replaced them all 18 months later they were really awful!

 

[PhilG]

I manufactured these graphics in 2008 and its still pretty good. Depends on the quality ordered. Most motorhome manufacturers specify cheap cheap cheap.We used to supply all the graphics for 3 major manufacturers but as time went on they asked for graphics that looked good for a while. That's when we stopped supplying them. It's not work using junk.

We spend a fortune on Graphics for the MX bikes, probably done £750 this year so far , and the quality varies massively . I have bikes from 1999 that still look fine, with no lifting or peeling, one from 2003 in my lounge that would almost pass for new , and one in the garage that we redid last winter (with a kit we bought at a show) that actually fell off in the garage while in storage.

The Decals on my 2003 Euromobil are so good I refused to believe it wasn't redone in its entirety prior to purchase, but there are zero tell tales on it to say that it has been. I have a little shrinkage on the rear , but the rest is un real for a 16 year old MH .

Quality costs.. people don't want to pay .

 

[wiljoy]

We spend a fortune on Graphics for the MX bikes, probably done £750 this year so far , and the quality varies massively . I have bikes from 1999 that still look fine, with no lifting or peeling, one from 2003 in my lounge that would almost pass for new , and one in the garage that we redid last winter (with a kit we bought at a show) that actually fell off in the garage while in storage.

The Decals on my 2003 Euromobil are so good I refused to believe it wasn't redone in its entirety prior to purchase, but there are zero tell tales on it to say that it has been. I have a little shrinkage on the rear , but the rest is un real for a 16 year old MH .

Quality costs.. people don't want to pay .

Totally agree. Even now in our age of junk I get people wanting a cheap job. The choice is simple you get what you pay for.
In the early days brands like 3M and Fasson were considered top notch but now they to are not as good.

 

[wiljoy]

Thanks for that, I’ll wait and see if AS replace them free of charge, but now know where to aim if not. Anywhere local you can recommend?

If in Durham ring Kenny at Durham Graphics and tell him Wilf sent you.
He's on the Belmont industrial estate near Tesco. Ring him first as he's a one man business so may be out fitting. If he can't help nobody can

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[Kingham]

If in Durham ring Kenny at Durham Graphics and tell him Wilf sent you.
He's on the Belmont industrial estate near Tesco. Ring him first as he's a one man business so may be out fitting. If he can't help nobody can

Thank you, I’ll be in touch with him soon, as half expected AutoSleeper have just confirmed that I won’t be getting free replacement decals from them.

They must be on a self destruct timer, set for 4 weeks after the warranty runs out