Anyone having trouble with Oracal 751 falling off in a few days?

[signmeup]

I lettered 7 trucks last week and they sat in the yard waiting for satellite installs so have yet to turn a wheel on the road. The 751 decals on the air dams are literally falling off from the top down. I have been installing these decals in 751 for the past 8 years... several hundred trucks. This is the first time I have had this problem. Same prep as always. Seemed to cut, weed and install the same.

Anyone have any ideas on what has happened. The trucks also had black 751 installed on the sides at the same time that looks pristine.

Adrian

 

[Baz]

Only time i have seen vinyl falling off like that is from using old stock.

 

[signmeup]

Kinda wondering about that Baz. I only order the stuff in 10 yard rolls so it was fresh from my perspective. No telling how long my supplier had it though. I get about 18 of these decals out of 10 yards so I'm also wondering why the previous 10 haven't done this.

Adrian

 

[Speedsterbeast]

I'd be very surprised if that's old stock if it's just 751 white from a supplier.
Any chance that someone used a pressure washer to clean those when you were done?
Because if you imagine sweeping with a wand from left to right then back again as you go down the surface it screams pressure washer to me

 

[jfiscus]

It might be a certain type of wax that was applied to only those panels? I know there is something that is as bad as armor-all on some new cars that our installers hate; they say they have to take the torch to it to remove it.

 

[signmeup]

I'd be very surprised if that's old stock if it's just 751 white from a supplier.
Any chance that someone used a pressure washer to clean those when you were done?
Because if you imagine sweeping with a wand from left to right then back again as you go down the surface it screams pressure washer to me

No chance at all. These guys are literally family.(I had supper at their house last night) and the decals are 12 feet off the ground.

Adrian

 

[Gino]

There's nothing wrong with the vinyl or your application techniques. More than likely, something has either dripped on it or some mist has dropped on it as you can see the bottoms and sides seem to be holding quite well. Therefore, something is coming down from the top and ruining the adhesive from the top..... down. I'd look to see what's above these units.

If this was old vinyl or a contaminated surface, it would be peeling all around and not just along the top edge.

 

[J Hill Designs]

No chance at all. These guys are literally family.(I had supper at their house last night) and the decals are 12 feet off the ground.

Adrian

is it only whats up on the 'above the cab' thing? is it a plastic?

 

[signmeup]

It might be a certain type of wax that was applied to only those panels? I know there is something that is as bad as armor-all on some new cars that our installers hate; they say they have to take the torch to it to remove it.

Who knows? Seems to me it's either bad vinyl, bad install or something wrong with the substrate. The trucks are base/clear paint. I know Easson's don't wax them. Who knows what they might have been exposed to on the way from the Freightliner factory to here?

What gets me is the 751 on the sides (DOT numbers and such) is fine.

I did snow on them. I had a Dodge Caravan years ago that would shed letters when it snowed. The letters would slide down the glass a ways and restick or sometimes fall off. Never solved that one either.

I sent pictures to the supplier. He says he's going to contact Oracal and get to the bottom of it.

Adrian

 

[signmeup]

is it only whats up on the 'above the cab' thing? is it a plastic?

I think the air dam is fiberglass(not sure) but it's got base/clear over it.

Adrian

 

[signmeup]

There's nothing wrong with the vinyl or your application techniques. More than likely, something has either dripped on it or some mist has dropped on it as you can see the bottoms and sides seem to be holding quite well. Therefore, something is coming down from the top and ruining the adhesive from the top..... down. I'd look to see what's above these units.

If this was old vinyl or a contaminated surface, it would be peeling all around and not just along the top edge.

Hi Gino! I missed your post.

Something might have got on them somehow/somewhere before I did them but I didn't see anything while I was doing them. They've been parked in the back yard of the truck shop for the past week. No trees, no tall buildings. They were aimed in random directions. It sure looks like someone poured vinyl glue remover on them from above though. The vinyl that was hanging off was still sticky on the back.

There are 7 in the batch that all look like this. I used the same vinyl on the 10 or so I did before these ones. I'm hoping they don't look like this.

The only other time I ever saw anything like this was the Dodge Van I mentioned... with the snow.

Adrian

 

[wes70]

Hey Adrian, is the fiberglass a gel coat? I've run into problems with gel coats on lobster boats. It may be some of the release agent from the mold still on the surface.

 

[skyhigh]

the air dams sometimes have a silicone coating. I'm guessing these are some of those

The problem isn't with the 751

 

[signmeup]

Hey Adrian, is the fiberglass a gel coat? I've run into problems with gel coats on lobster boats. It may be some of the release agent from the mold still on the surface.

Wes, I think it fiberglass... I can't swear to it. Either way it's painted whatever it is.

Lobster boats eh? Where you from b'y.

Adrian

 

[signmeup]

the air dams sometimes have a silicone coating. I'm guessing these are some of those

The problem isn't with the 751

OK Skyhigh. Where can I find out more about this?

Adrian

 

[Bly]

Some new vehicles have a coating that vinyl won't stick to.
In that case we use this.

AUTOGLYM POWERMAX III 5LT

Autoglym PowerMax 3 is a cleaner designed for copolymer coating (a coating applied to new vehicles to help keep clean but inhibit vinyls adhering to them) removal off new vehicles like the Mercedes Vito vans to ensure perfect surface preparation for vehicle wrapping. It comes in 5LT bottles.

 

[B Snyder]

If there was any sort of coating causing the vinyl to not adhere it wouldn't have adhered when it was applied. I'm thinking it's some sort of chemical leaching or it's outgassing. Either of those would happen more quickly in warmer weather.

 

[Andy D]

I would apply a different brand of vinyl as a test piece to see if it's the vinyl or substrate...
but my bet is on the substrate too.

I remember when I was just starting, applying vinyl to a windshield that kept failing,
after the 3rd redo we figured out it was the Rain-X that the customer had applied.

 

[B Snyder]

How'd you get it to stick in the first place with Rain-X on the windshield?

 

[BIG EASY DOES IT]

I lettered 7 trucks last week and they sat in the yard waiting for satellite installs so have yet to turn a wheel on the road. The 751 decals on the air dams are literally falling off from the top down. I have been installing these decals in 751 for the past 8 years... several hundred trucks. This is the first time I have had this problem. Same prep as always. Seemed to cut, weed and install the same.

Anyone have any ideas on what has happened. The trucks also had black 751 installed on the sides at the same time that looks pristine.

Adrian

Had similar issues with fresh installed vinyl and diesel gas. We would install small stickers on the tanks and outside of the light towers. If you leak diesel onto the sticker it turns the adhesive to goo and the stickers start peeling very easy.