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You see some guys that have mad knife skills. That can take a knife in hand, swish it faster than the eye can follow and make a perfect cut. They do amazing things with window tint. I am not one of those guys. I mention it because laying down vinyl dry with out bubbles is a like mad skill. I still get bubbles sometimes, but not nearly as many as when I first started. I've seen others that are near flawless. It is hard to define as one thing. You just become aware of when a bubble is going to hit. Some of it is your squeegee technique. Many of those bubbles in your picture I suspect will air out and flatten given a day or two. If you have a huge bubble, poke it with a needle and press it down to get the air out. But yes, wet install can reduce bubbles, or allow you to chase them out with a squeegee easier. But I hate wet installs. You will get better with each one you do.

This is a sign I created for a friends Small Engine Repair business.

Anything big I do wet i just find i can mostly avoid getting wrinkles or bubbles if i do it wet gives me time to work with it but im still new at doing them.

This article is a good read for new installers. Agree with dcbevins that it takes a while to gain the skills. I look back to when I was green and am surprised those early jobs turned out as good as they did. flat installs now are a snap and I never do them wet. I see bubbles if I had to layer my app tape due to not having a wide enough piece (or maybe running off an edge when taping it off and having to add a strip ) or sometimes when doing a center hinge on a large design that middle point where you go from one direction back the other way you can easily get some air. Also see bubbles when doing stacked layers that were pre-built and applied as one. The lowest layer often gets some bubbles right along the edges of the next layer up due to the app tape holding it up a little. (still worth doing in one shot) I, like dc, see most of those bubbles find their way out. I pop the ones that I can easily get to but the little mass bubbles that you sometimes see will disappear over a few weeks time. Always use a pointed object like a pin (I have USCutter's wood handled bubble and burnish tool) rather than something like a knife that will slice it. Vinyl will "cure out" with some time in the sun as it expands and contracts with the changes in temp and a lot of things go away. When I first did our suburban with my business logo I managed to get literally 400+ tiny bubbles in one part of the design. I figured I would be pulling it back off but didn't have time to mess with it for a few days. When I remembered to take a look again they were gone.

Not just because it hold the moisture in but also with wet installs you lose some of the tack the vinyl ordinarily gets when it hits the substrate so it helps to wet the top of the app tape when you get ready to remove it thus helping the install to stay in place. If you do a wet install plan on it taking considerably longer. I have always had to let it sit there a while and get a good grip before trying to get the app tape off. Small details are going to fight you. I avoid wet whenever I can just because I don't like the time loss.

Yes, it is true. use paper tape for wet application.

Well, you working with all the Graphtecs is nice, but a stepper motor will never cut as sharp and clean as a Graphtec. A Titan servo will get you closer. Some can get some nice cuts, with a lot of fine tuning, but still night and day stepper vs servo. And you would know the great fine details that a Graphtec can cut over even a Roland. But on another note, buy the best that you can afford.

Had a friend leave a 24"x 50 yd roll in her vehicle for 8 hours, in the summer. it cooked it. You could feel the difference, it made it much softer, and the adhesive sticky. You could feel the heat in it. I use it for testing new designs, and see if the design looks good, not to sell.