Cooley Brite

[Scotchbrite]

Has anyone else been having trouble with Cooley Brite? Signs we installed about 5 or 6 years ago have been turning really brown in the past couple of years. There are other signs we installed over 15 years ago and they aren't getting nearly as discolored even though they are much older.

We have 2 signs made about 6 to 7 years ago that were made with new material and coincidentally both businesses changed names within 2 years of the installation so we peeled the vinyl and installed new graphics. Now about 5 years later, the faces have started to turn brown. The catch is, you can see the ghosting of the original graphics which are remaining whiter even though they were only on the faces for a year and it's been 5+ years since that vinyl was removed. And it's surprising how much contrast there is. We're not talking about a subtle difference between the old graphics and the area that has always been exposed. Where the old graphics were is still pretty white, and the rest of the face is quite brown.

For example, this sign was installed in Feb 2015. We peeled Maverick and installed The Mav in July 2017. The photo was taken a couple weeks ago. FYI, this is the west facing side. The east side only looks marginally better.



We've stopped using Cooley even though it used to be my go to material and it used to last so well.

 

[Joseph44708]

Dont blame Cooley.
Mother Nature Is A Bitch.
So you wanted to save $50 and resuse old material that has old graphics on it and has been in the burning UV Sunlight, and you paid your employee to remove the old graphics then clean all the adhesive off and apply new cut vinyl.
Only way I would reuse the original backing material is to apply a full printed sheet not cut vinyl.

 

[LincolnSign]

We have also been having issues with cooley. This sign face is only 3 years old, but it faces south so it's getting a lot of sun and tons of street traffic which seems to make it get dirtier faster. We've had a few complaints as of late and we're having to send crews to go clean these occasionally.

 

[JBurton]

Ok, devils advocate here, and while I haven't used their stuff since the eradicatable days, but I've only ever seen premium products from them.
My thoughts on your ghosting, I wonder if using a remover product compromised the UV protected surface, and accelerated the failure of the entire face, and evidently whatever remover did more damage to the already sun baked areas compared to the 'maverick' area that had been protected up until that point.

 

[LincolnSign]

Ok, devils advocate here, and while I haven't used their stuff since the eradicatable days, but I've only ever seen premium products from them.
My thoughts on your ghosting, I wonder if using a remover product compromised the UV protected surface, and accelerated the failure of the entire face, and evidently whatever remover did more damage to the already sun baked areas compared to the 'maverick' area that had been protected up until that point.

So in this case we haven't used any cleaning products on this face yet, and we only use cooley brand cleaners when we do. This wasn't eradicated, so it's just the premium white cooley material. It's tough to have to tell the customer that they'll have to pay to have us clean it. I don't know what the warranty on cooley is, but maybe I'll look into that.

 

[JBurton]

So in this case we haven't used any cleaning products on this face yet, and we only use cooley brand cleaners when we do. This wasn't eradicated, so it's just the premium white cooley material. It's tough to have to tell the customer that they'll have to pay to have us clean it. I don't know what the warranty on cooley is, but maybe I'll look into that.

Does it come clean with just soapy water, or do you need to scrub it too?
Also, are ya sure ya stuck it to the glossy side? I trust my guys to answer me truthly, but sometimes they're ignorant of why I am asking what I'm asking, and therefore would rather lie than disappoint me...