Cheaply made decals - profession experience

[pinfarmer]

I think people need to know a bit of info regarding these CRAP decals.
I had a person ask me to replace the decals on his RV- a copper ridge.
The decals are the "arlon" brand of wrap vinyls. This is a Cheap cheap brand.
Second the decals are not laminated! This should never be done. Every print, wrap vinyl or not has to be laminated to protect it from UV and make it last longer. It's never an option to NOT but they do to save money I guess.
I tried applying the replacement decal to the front hump, over a compound curve. Since its near impossible to apply the thin unlaminated decals they placed what is called " pre-mask" over it to stiffen it and make it easier to install.
Well with pre-mask you lose all the conformability properties wrap vinyl has. Therefor it was impossible for me to install it. Remember i do vehicle wraps professionally. The original was made of two pieces butted together.
So it ended up looking terrible and had to be removed. You need proper materials to install over a shape like this. The flat stuff and smaller stuff was fine to install. But it will again fail in short order.
When ordering replacements tell them to stop being cheap and laminate thier ****.
Instead of doing a favour for a guy I now am on the hook to redraw the art and make a proper decal that CAN be installed.
When I do a vehicle wrap I use 3m materials and they last.
His whole newer trailer's vinyl was brittle and peeling. We'd be out of business if we cut corners like this.

[raytronx]

What would you recommend as a good method to remove these decals without hurting the filon? Just curious, I'm not a big fan of decals, actually would have preferred the trailer blank, then if I want decals I'd get them.

Often think of getting rid of mine but afraid of opening up a can of worms.

Ray

[pinfarmer]

I'm not a trailer owner. I did not remove the old decals, the guy did.
Buy I've removed a lot of them in my day on other vehicles.
A hair dryer or careful use of a heat gun will warm up the vinyl, make it soft and easier to peel off.
Afterwards get your hands on a product called Rapid Remover to get all the glue residue off.
You'll have to buy it through a sign shop. ( $50/gallon)
Beleive me if you try to use goo gone you'll spend the rest of your life trying to remove the glue. Its really watered down garbage. Buy the professional stuff.
The longer the vinyl has been on the more brittle it will be and will thus come off in smaller pieces(take longer)
The other option is to goto NAPA and get an eraser wheel to install in a drill.
This will grip the decal and take it off. Only use this if the vinyl is not coming off any other way. Watch that you don't burn the paint.

[raytronx]

Thanks, I used the hair dryer method before on another vehicle, works well.
Rapid Remover hey, thanks, always good to get tips from pros

Cheers Ray

[Ozarkcamper]

I think my Keystone Montana 3400RL would look really really ugly without the decals. I think the manufacturer (Keystone) should step up to the plate and get their supplier to replace these.

[Rock7]

Originals were Burlington Graphics.com.
They seem to have invested into a Graphics PAINTING co. And I can't get them to answer an e-mail.
Replacement graphics business is suspended temporarily, Been at least 2 years.
I have made contact with Graphics Unlimited,and am trying to work w/them.
Trailer is 90 miles away and they need a front,side and rear picture to match the graphics. 2008 Cougar

Anybody do any business with GRAPHICS UNLIMITED .COM?