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to wax to spray? how do you clean Daytona graphics?

9K views 20 replies 8 participants last post by  Junkman2008 
#1 ·
just picked up my second charger yesterday after having the first one for only 4 months and crashing it. Not my fault by the way. but to the question what do you do with all the decals on the Daytona car for waxing or do you spray them with something.
 

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#2 ·
You have to tape them off with painters tape and wax around them. If you get wax on the vinyl then you need to use isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol) to remove the wax from the vinyl. Ive also used a pink eraser but do not rub to hard as this can change the finish.

Vinyl looks great but can be a bit of a pain. Also, when washing a car with vinyl do not go through a automatic wash with high pressure water or rough brushes. High power car wash dryers can also damage vinyl depending on the quality.
 
#3 · (Edited)
Turtle Wax Ice spray wax user here and I just spray it over the stripes and everything and works great, many spray wax and detailer are like this. Now for conventional paste wax, you must tape off the stripes.


Lol, no idea why my car is sideways. [emoji2]

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#4 ·
Its a Challenger. It's challenging you Slidd. :grin2:

Never used the Turtle wax spray ice. Ive heard it's vinyl friendly. Ive always used Meguiar's Gold Class carnauba Plus liquid wax. Maybe Ill try the Turtle Wax Ice. Kinda a pain to tape off the car every time I wax.
 
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#6 ·
so what do you use on the spoiler and the front air dam. I will get some of the turtle wax Ice today to give it a shot. God I love this car. It was shitty to loose the other one but it happened for a reason I love this one more and it is an 06 with only 15000 on it yea 15000
 
#9 · (Edited)
You need to read this writeup I did before you screw up your stripes.

This is a question that often comes up on a lot of car care forums so I decided to dig into the vinyl strip industry and get the scoop straight from the manufactures. First, a little background on the industry.

There are 3 major manufactures, 3M, ORAFOL and Avery. There are plenty of smaller manufactures but they do not do the volume, nor provide the size of raw materials that these three manufactures do. One thing to note. The companies that actually manufacture the sheets that the stripes are cut from do not sell directly to the public. Thus, if you do not know where the raw material was purchased from which your stripes were cut, there's no way to tell who manufactured your stripes. Your car manufacturers are definitely not going to let you in on this information and your local dealerships don't have a clue.

Just like in any business today, you also have your Chinese knockoffs. They have flooded the market with their usual sub par quality junk and you can usually spot them by their low prices. Of course, a lot of consumers only see the dollar signs and are easily manipulated out of their money for low grade materials.

The secret to finding out who manufactured your stripes lies in the adhesive backing that is peeled away during the installation of these stripes. Sometimes, the company who buys the materials in order to cut your stripes will request that the backing be left blank in order to conceal that information. That way, you always have to go to that installer to get the exact same quality stripes, unless you go with something different.

Vinyl stripes are NOT all the same. They are created to be used in specific situations. From outdoor to indoor, from cars to signs, the vinyl industry creates decals that cater to specific applications. You would not believe how many different blends of vinyl that one company can create. In vehicle lettering alone, ORAFOL has over 20 different "blends" to choose from. That's over 20 blends, from 1 of 10 categories that cater strictly to outdoor use! Indoor graphics consist of 6 more categories, each with their own set of blends. Talk about the secret recipe vault, I'd like to know who is guarding that thing!

So as you can see, the vinyl industry is very complex in what they put out. Thus, care for your vinyl stripes can be very specific, depending on what you have. However, ORAFOL made me privy to their care and maintenance information, which I am going to share with you all. In a nutshell, the ONLY thing you should be doing is washing your stripes with soap and water. They suggest a mild car wash soap. In their information that they gave to me, they suggested Dawn, Joy or Ivory. Now although those product are safe for your car and paint, they will wipe out any wax or glaze on your car. Thus, you want to use something safe for the products that are protecting your paint. That would be a shampoo made for car paint.


Care for Your Stripes

I spoke with Dean Strohmenger who is the Sr. Product Support Specialist for ORAFOL. First, he directed me to this document, which outlines specifically the care of vinyl stripes. Here's the deal. ORAFOL and other companies like them do not sell directly to the public, they sell to distributors. The distributors either cut the patterns from the sheets that they purchase, or sell to the people who cut the patterns and/or install the cut materials on your car or sign.

The vinyl material for lettering and stripes vary in quality due to their plasticizer content. This plasticizer content consist of various materials/chemicals and determines how long the stripes will last. This also determines how long of a warranty you will get with your stripes/lettering. Each company has their own "secret recipe" that makes up their plasticizer content but I'm sure that the maintenance procedures are going to be similar for all of the various manufactured stripes/lettering. One thing that you NEVER want to do is apply ANY kind of wax or sealant on top of any vinyl decal or stripe. This will dry out the plasticizer content and cause the material to turn white and fail prematurely. You should avoid this at all cost because it will also void your warranty.

One very interesting thing about the warranty of these vinyl stripes. They are warrantied based on a sliding scale, depending on where you are located. In other words, a 10 year warranty is not 10 years in Arizona or Texas, like it would be in New York or North Dakota. Also, and this was the most shocking point that he made, the warranty is based on the vertical plane. That means the stripes on the side of your car is where the warranty is applied, not the horizontal parts. The horizontal parts are NOT warrantied because the elements of weather are too brutal to warranty that part! Wow, I never knew that!

So there you are. A document that definitively instructs you on how to care for your stripes. One thing that he said to definitely not do is wax your stripes. He said that waxing the stripes will dry up the plasticizing content in the vinyl and cause them to fail well before their supposed lifetime. he also said that waxing the stripes will have adverse affects to their appearance like causing them to turn white. I've seen plenty of car owners who have found that out the hard way.

So there it is folks, straight from the Junkman's research desk. You learn something new everyday if you go off looking.


The Junkman
 
#10 ·
so, a product like Turtle Wax Ice spray wax, as Slidd has mentioned, is not safe to use? there's no substitute for experience and if Slidd hasn't had any problems then that's pretty hard to argue with. would really like to know cause i'm about to take delivery on a new Daytona 392.
 
#11 · (Edited)
Hey, it's your car. I got MY information from the people who make the vinyl graphics. Go whichever way that you feel is more credible. The document included in that write-up cleanly states what you should do. If you don't want to follow the manufacturer's advice, good luck.
 
#12 ·
JM

Why not a product like 303 that is designed for use on plastics.
 
#13 ·
The plastercizing content of your vinyl stripes can be affected negatively, depending on what is used on it. The 303 product has been out for years and yet, Orafol doesn't mention it as being an approved product to use on their stripes in this document. Thus, I wouldn't do ANYTHING other than what they say you should do to their stripes, nor would I use anything other than what they say on them. They manufacture the stripes and know way more about them than I care to know. The stripes are supposed to have a matte finish so for that reason alone, I would never put anything on them other than soap and water. You are only shortening the life of the stripes by putting stuff on them.
 
#14 ·
, nor would I use anything other than what they say on them. They manufacture the stripes and know way more about them than I care to know.
I had looked at the link.I didn't notice where they specified any particular brand, however,
you may apply a silicone or Teflon-based polish designed for vinyl vehicle graphics. (

From 303 mfg website
Safe and effective for vinyl, clear vinyl, gel-coat, fiberglass, carbon fiber, synthetic/natural rubber, plastics and finished leather​

But even more importantly...
303® Aerospace Protectant™ does not contain any harmful silicone oils, which can dry out and damage surfaces.​

Interesting conflict of info, mfg of the vinyl states you should use silicone product, and 303 states that silicone will dry out vinyl.
 
#19 ·
Yea, that's an issue. The only car that I ever saw with vinyl graphics that I liked was this one:



But with this car, I would do one of three things:

1. I would cover the entire hood with a clear bra if that was possible.
2. I would clear coat the entire hood with the phoenix under the clear coat.
3. I would buy another hood and have it painted, and then have a airbrush artist paint the phoenix on top of the paint, and then clear coat the hood so that everything is under the clear coat.

I mean, that would be a no brainer for me. But you have to keep in mind that I'm a guy with this UNDER my hood. :D

 
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