srplus
Walked with the Dinosaurs
after seeing some of our cruisers with the snake blinders removed and holes left where the trim attached to the trucks, i got to thinking about vinyl application on cruisers. i wondered if anyone had used some of the stone chip guard vinyl products on the market today. 3M makes a pretty good one: Scotchcal Paint Protector Sheet - Transparent Chip Guard - Heavy duty, self adhesive clear urethane film to guard against stone chips on rocker panels, hoods and front and rear fenders. Described by the eastman company catalog (Phone (800) 345-1178): ). “Tough adhesive adheres well, yet can be peeled off without paint damage. Measures 3.75" wide by 75" long.” there are also other brands that have colors available and even have texture to them like rhino liner. i have never looked for this material before but am sure it is available at any quality paint and body supply house and prolly by now at auto zone or discount auto parts, etc. this stuff can also be applied to hoods as bug shields. it is almost like having rhino lining on the panels or hood that could be clear or almost any color and is easily removable.
car manufacturers are putting this stuff on the bottom quarters and some rockers of a lot of trucks instead of the ‘snap on vinyl body panels’ since it is so much cheaper. any competent vinyl sign shop could cut this stuff on its vinyl plotter, if they had a pattern to cut it to. or, even cheaper you could lay a sheet of cardboard on the floor and put your paper pattern down on it (over the sheet of vinyl you want to cut) and do a number on it with a razor blade knife. turn the paper over and then cut one for the other side of the vehicle. or, put the vinyl face to face and then put the pattern on it (trace or lay pattern down), make sure nothing shifts (tape over edges with tabs of tape as you cut every so often or use the low adhesion double stick masking tape to hold them together) and cut it for both sides of the car all at once with your exacto knife. you can use this trick for cutting bookmarked interior body panels out of plywood or cardboard with a saw as long as your jig saw blade does not wander.
for someone who wanted to get real fancy, you could apply the camo body vinyl or the zebra stripes and then put the clear body armor over it. i’m sure most of you have seen the trucks completely covered with the full printed decal advertising art… the chip guard is made of that same material just thicker. there is a beer truck that my shop did more than a decade ago that still looks good and we had to cut the material every 2” or so for the roll up doors to work. it is all in the prep and application. this stuff is also formable to shapes (complex convex and compound curves) if you follow the directions. they are even using this stuff on ipods!
car manufacturers are putting this stuff on the bottom quarters and some rockers of a lot of trucks instead of the ‘snap on vinyl body panels’ since it is so much cheaper. any competent vinyl sign shop could cut this stuff on its vinyl plotter, if they had a pattern to cut it to. or, even cheaper you could lay a sheet of cardboard on the floor and put your paper pattern down on it (over the sheet of vinyl you want to cut) and do a number on it with a razor blade knife. turn the paper over and then cut one for the other side of the vehicle. or, put the vinyl face to face and then put the pattern on it (trace or lay pattern down), make sure nothing shifts (tape over edges with tabs of tape as you cut every so often or use the low adhesion double stick masking tape to hold them together) and cut it for both sides of the car all at once with your exacto knife. you can use this trick for cutting bookmarked interior body panels out of plywood or cardboard with a saw as long as your jig saw blade does not wander.
for someone who wanted to get real fancy, you could apply the camo body vinyl or the zebra stripes and then put the clear body armor over it. i’m sure most of you have seen the trucks completely covered with the full printed decal advertising art… the chip guard is made of that same material just thicker. there is a beer truck that my shop did more than a decade ago that still looks good and we had to cut the material every 2” or so for the roll up doors to work. it is all in the prep and application. this stuff is also formable to shapes (complex convex and compound curves) if you follow the directions. they are even using this stuff on ipods!
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