restless-rooster

A few questions about installing on vehicle paint

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Hey everyone 

I got a new truck the other day and I want to add some decals on the paint.  I want to add a vertical decal on the back of the bed, like in the image attached.   The other attached image is the same bed style as my truck (neither of these are my truck, just internet pictures).  Now when I add it, I may go over the wheel well fender area a little, which is what worries me.  I don't want to have the contour/body line of the fender pull the bottom of the decal to the side, ya know?  

 

I was thinking heating lightly with a heat gun would help.  I was thinking 751 would be the best for me to use.   Any suggestions?

fk087k.jpg

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Knifeless tape would be an option as well. Although I believe it is intended more for wrap vinyl, it should work with cast vinyl.

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1 hour ago, Dakotagrafx said:

Advice would be to use a cast vinyl and make extra ones :)

Oh I plan on making extras for sure :)

1 hour ago, darcshadow said:

Knifeless tape would be an option as well. Although I believe it is intended more for wrap vinyl, it should work with cast vinyl.

The black strip is going to have some design in it, so knifeless tape wouldnt work to well for me.     I've never worked with wrap vinyl, can I use it on my cutter just the same as cast?

 

Edit: knifeless may work.   It may work for one of my other projects as well, again something I haven't used.

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If you go 751, don’t just heat that bottom crease in... you have pop it up and work it in.  I do a lot of fleet work and quite a few stripes too... every time we get a truck in with a groove that deep that was just bridges and heated in, its popped up and cracked.  

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2 hours ago, MrJoel said:

If you go 751, don’t just heat that bottom crease in... you have pop it up and work it in.  I do a lot of fleet work and quite a few stripes too... every time we get a truck in with a groove that deep that was just bridges and heated in, its popped up and cracked.  

I won't heat the bottom crease.   I'm thinking, I may be able to cut the whole thing perfect so I don't have to mess with the fender much.   I was out looking at it and I think i can squeeze it between.    Do you have any tips on how to keep it straight? Just the basic hinge method?  

 

Also I've never used knifeless, does it fine with regular 751, or only wrap vinyl?

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1 hour ago, restless-rooster said:

I won't heat the bottom crease.   I'm thinking, I may be able to cut the whole thing perfect so I don't have to mess with the fender much.   I was out looking at it and I think i can squeeze it between.    Do you have any tips on how to keep it straight? Just the basic hinge method?  

 

Also I've never used knifeless, does it fine with regular 751, or only wrap vinyl?

:lol::lol:    2 things - one someone with experience doing it gave a tip but we all have to learn somehow - first time I tried this on my 2003 ram I found that there was a slight compound curve that I really hadn't noticed - the bed actually narrowed slightly behind the wheel besides the curves going up and down.  first one took 3 tries wet and with heat as part of the learning curve.  add that to I bought the 751 so it would contour and whimpered at each one thrown away.  getting that first one straight was easier than getting to to lay right - then try to match the other side.   it wasn't as easy as the video made it look.  maybe your truck won't have that much of a compound curve but I have seen lots of do it yourselfers that have exactly what Mr. Joel described.   but again we all have to learn by doing . . . and paying for our mistakes.    That and when I posted the pics that was the first cease letter I ever got :)
Turns out Chrysler owns the copyright/trademark to Hemi and the Rams head even though other manufacturers have made hemi's and the tribal rams head was never used by them . .. .  MIL was a state attorney at the time and said I might win but it would cost me more than my house x2 to find out.  I decided to find something new :)

 

P8180042.JPG

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1 hour ago, Dakotagrafx said:

:lol::lol:    2 things - one someone with experience doing it gave a tip but we all have to learn somehow - first time I tried this on my 2003 ram I found that there was a slight compound curve that I really hadn't noticed - the bed actually narrowed slightly behind the wheel besides the curves going up and down.  first one took 3 tries wet and with heat as part of the learning curve.  add that to I bought the 751 so it would contour and whimpered at each one thrown away.  getting that first one straight was easier than getting to to lay right - then try to match the other side.   it wasn't as easy as the video made it look.  maybe your truck won't have that much of a compound curve but I have seen lots of do it yourselfers that have exactly what Mr. Joel described.   but again we all have to learn by doing . . . and paying for our mistakes.    That and when I posted the pics that was the first cease letter I ever got :)
Turns out Chrysler owns the copyright/trademark to Hemi and the Rams head even though other manufacturers have made hemi's and the tribal rams head was never used by them . .. .  MIL was a state attorney at the time and said I might win but it would cost me more than my house x2 to find out.  I decided to find something new :)

 

P8180042.JPG

That turned out really good!      So did you end up taking it off and replacing it with something else?   Did you only post the picture here when you got the letter??    Luckily, the design I am doing is my own logo :), my truck is going to be " Rooster Edition.  I have lots of ideas that are not "over the top.

 

It's crazy to me that you got the letter. I see so many small decal websites with these "bed decals" selling the ram head ones. 

 

I'm thinking about trying to do it with some cheap vinyl, but what would suck is when I get it on good, I'll know in my mind I have an inferior product on my truck.

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with the trouble that it took conforming 751 I am sure I would never had gotten a decent application with anything less - it has to give in too many ways and calandared vinyl just wont do that being thicker and in the vary nature of how it is made will cause trouble not long down the road.  the c&d was from somewhere else.  

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29 minutes ago, Dakotagrafx said:

with the trouble that it took conforming 751 I am sure I would never had gotten a decent application with anything less - it has to give in too many ways and calandared vinyl just wont do that being thicker and in the vary nature of how it is made will cause trouble not long down the road.  the c&d was from somewhere else.  

We do things all the time that shouldn’t be able to be done... the trick is being able to see what the vinyl wants to do and being able to persuade it to do otherwise...then accepting the comprise (the guys I work with for installs have done this much longer than I and I just recently introduced them to wet applications...they didn’t know about it and rarely needed it.  It amazes me the things 20 years of experience does to people)

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So I guess I'm going to go ahead and order some 751 in the color I want.  I'll wait until tomorrow to order in case any of you have suggestions on something else to use.

 

Depending on how long it takes to get here, I may try to install next week, and I'll keep you guys updated.     

First I have to work on getting the original 4x4 sticker (I'm not calling it a decal) off.  

@Dakotagrafx when I was looking for an image to use as an example, I was searching Google and a thread came up with you in it from I believe 2014, and it had your truck, so I was hoping you would reply haha.

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52 minutes ago, restless-rooster said:

So I guess I'm going to go ahead and order some 751 in the color I want.  I'll wait until tomorrow to order in case any of you have suggestions on something else to use.

 

Depending on how long it takes to get here, I may try to install next week, and I'll keep you guys updated.     

First I have to work on getting the original 4x4 sticker (I'm not calling it a decal) off.  

@Dakotagrafx when I was looking for an image to use as an example, I was searching Google and a thread came up with you in it from I believe 2014, and it had your truck, so I was hoping you would reply haha.

that was when I was selling that older truck - new one is decal free so far.

 

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Here's what I would do. I would center the decal on the bottom of the bed like so, and adjust the size of the design accordingly. If it went to the right any more, it would be too close to the taillight, so you're limited in that direction. Any more to the left and not only will you get into the curvature of the wheel well, but it will be off center with the bottom of the bed. There's nothing that says you can't be off center down there, but it's the kind of thing I notice.

The Dodges in this thread are different. The bottom of their beds curve up under the truck and the rear of the bed bends away behind the bumper, both of which help break it up. But the bottom of the F-150 is basically a flat rectangle and the decal will fall somewhere inside that well defined box at the bottom of the bed. I'd center it, and centering would seem to keep you from having to worry about that wheel well.

center.jpg.a7ae4c932c186b9a9bc1c6f20749af8e.jpg
 

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Apply a piece of app tape to see how straight it stays and make an adjustment. You can probably draw a line on the tape after and then you will have a template, 

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17 hours ago, jmas said:

Here's what I would do. I would center the decal on the bottom of the bed like so, and adjust the size of the design accordingly. If it went to the right any more, it would be too close to the taillight, so you're limited in that direction. Any more to the left and not only will you get into the curvature of the wheel well, but it will be off center with the bottom of the bed. There's nothing that says you can't be off center down there, but it's the kind of thing I notice.

The Dodges in this thread are different. The bottom of their beds curve up under the truck and the rear of the bed bends away behind the bumper, both of which help break it up. But the bottom of the F-150 is basically a flat rectangle and the decal will fall somewhere inside that well defined box at the bottom of the bed. I'd center it, and centering would seem to keep you from having to worry about that wheel well.

center.jpg.a7ae4c932c186b9a9bc1c6f20749af8e.jpg
 

Nice idea.    I was thinking about going further towards the light and taking the light out and trimming it inside the hole and putting the light back, but like you said, it won't be centered in the bottom.     I was also thinking about making it stop at that bottom intention so I don't have to go too low, and it won't be as obvious if it's not centered. 

 

12 hours ago, Wildgoose said:

Apply a piece of app tape to see how straight it stays and make an adjustment. You can probably draw a line on the tape after and then you will have a template, 

That's true, maybe I'll try that when I have a day off, thanks for the idea!

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Old decal removal is pretty straight forward with heat... once you see the color slightly change sheen on solid color graphics you’re good to just peel off.  We mostly use propane torches around the shop but hearguns and hair dryers work too.  The perfect temperature is when you put your hand on it and it almost hurts (there’s a fine line there)

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2 hours ago, MrJoel said:

Old decal removal is pretty straight forward with heat... once you see the color slightly change sheen on solid color graphics you’re good to just peel off.  We mostly use propane torches around the shop but hearguns and hair dryers work too.  The perfect temperature is when you put your hand on it and it almost hurts (there’s a fine line there)

Yeah like when the paint starts to boil you've gone too far! :lol:

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