I have applied vinyl lettering to trailers for over 20 years now, but haven't had this happen before. It looks like a prep failure or chemical cleaner used after vinyl applied, but it was prepped the same as all tanker trailers and the customer said he hasn't cleaned the trailer with anything since it was lettered 6 months ago. It looks like all the peeling is from the top of the letters, but one letter is completely gone. Yes, it's stainless steel and the cast vinyl isn't warrantied for stainless, but the sister trailer I did 8 years ago looks great except for very minimal peeling that is natural for after 8 years. The owner did say the trailer is used and it used to haul apple juice. Now it's just used to haul water. Could the surface have been treated with something to protect it from the acid in the apple juice? The copy on the back of the tank looks great, no peeling at all, just the sides look terrible in most areas. Where the vinyl is sticking, it is on tight. I even had to remove some letters that wrinkled when I first applied it and those were hard to get off to replace. So they were sticking well in the beginning.
This issue reminds me of a car window project I did when Rain X first came out. I didn't k now the customer used Rain X on the car window before I applied the vinyl. A week or two later, it snowed a very wet snow and the letters slid down the back window of the car with the weight of the snow. So it made me wonder if something like Rain X was used on the surface and my cleaner didn't cut it. Just seems odd that the letters all peeled from the top on the sides and none at all peeled on the back.
The customer with the trailer said the lettering looked fine when he parked the trailer in early November, but when he saw it the other day, the lettering was all peeled from the top.
I will remove all the lettering for him, but to replace it, I need to figure out what went wrong before I try to apply something else ( and what should I use on stainless steel if the the manufacturer of the vinyl doesn't guarantee it on stainless? ) What would be the best cleaner?
Has anyone had this issue with tanker trailer? If so, your advise would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you
This issue reminds me of a car window project I did when Rain X first came out. I didn't k now the customer used Rain X on the car window before I applied the vinyl. A week or two later, it snowed a very wet snow and the letters slid down the back window of the car with the weight of the snow. So it made me wonder if something like Rain X was used on the surface and my cleaner didn't cut it. Just seems odd that the letters all peeled from the top on the sides and none at all peeled on the back.
The customer with the trailer said the lettering looked fine when he parked the trailer in early November, but when he saw it the other day, the lettering was all peeled from the top.
I will remove all the lettering for him, but to replace it, I need to figure out what went wrong before I try to apply something else ( and what should I use on stainless steel if the the manufacturer of the vinyl doesn't guarantee it on stainless? ) What would be the best cleaner?
Has anyone had this issue with tanker trailer? If so, your advise would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you
