Defective Stripes?

Technical Question and Answer - On topic to 71-74 Plymouth B-bodies only.

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72GY9Runner
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My Cars: 72 Plymouth Road Runner GY9,Ember Gold interior, 400 Auto with AC, strobe stripe and canopy vinyl.
Location: Alberta, Canada

Defective Stripes?

Post by 72GY9Runner » Fri May 04, 2007 12:49 am

Ok, I just want to confirm what I think I already know....

I started applying all my stripes tonight, and things pretty much went bad right from the start.

First....
I applied the 72 reflective hood "callout decals". These are the ones with the reflective background and a black outline.

The decals went on ok, but when I went to remove the protective covering, the black outline wants to come off with the paper. :cry:
Is there anything I can do to fix this?

Second, and the most depressing,

I applied the reflective white roof strobe. It all went on really well, and except for a couple of really small bubbles I had no problems whatsoever. Until I removed the protective paper that is...

When I got the stripes they came all rolled up in a little box about 6 inches square. I took them out and let them straighten up for about a month or so. After install though, it looks like wherever the stripes had been bent, that the reflective backing is now showing through. My stripes have silver stripes showing through all over the place. It looks like crap. :rant:
Once again, is there anything I can do? I think I know the answer to this already.

The last question is.... what's the best way to remove the stripes? Cuz I'm pretty sure that's what will be happening next.
Dave Lutz
57 Plymouth Plaza Sedan, 58 Dodge Regent 2Dr Hardtop, 65 Valiant (273 Commando -Canadian built), 67 Satellite, 67 Polara, 70 Cuda, 72 Runner, 78 Dodge Diplomat 2Dr
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Post by CtownRunner » Fri May 04, 2007 5:54 am

Good luck, that sucks. Hope it can be fixed, if not let us know later where you got them so the rest of us can avoid the same problem.
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Eric
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Post by Eric » Fri May 04, 2007 8:08 am

The reflective decals are very brittle. You can't bend them sharply or they'll break (the lines you're seeing in the strobe stripes). Rolling them generally isn't a problem, but you have to be carefull when you install them not to bend them back when applying and removing the backing paper.
As for the hood decals, not sure about that one, did you soak them? If you did, could be it softened up the adhesive between the two decal layers.
AKA Butterscotch71....the road runner nest is out to win you over this year!Image
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72GY9Runner
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My Cars: 72 Plymouth Road Runner GY9,Ember Gold interior, 400 Auto with AC, strobe stripe and canopy vinyl.
Location: Alberta, Canada

Post by 72GY9Runner » Fri May 04, 2007 10:33 am

Dry applied all the decals, so I don't think anything I did is causing the callout decal problems.

I followed all the instructions with the decals to the letter, and did not bend the strobe. I actually pulled the backing away from under the stripe while it was laying flat on the car. That said, there were some nasty bends in all the decals, including the callouts. They weren't creases but they were folded over almost in half in several places. (As I mentioned before, they were jammed in a really small box)

For the roof portion of the stripe, I used the 3M squeegee that the instructions called for. The side stripes were in such small sections that I just used my fingers to massage out the bubbles and lay the stripe flat.

All work was done in the direction of the stripe, but these lines are kind of wavy and in mostly diagonal directions. And the driver's side strobe has a huge section of one block that is almost all silver.

I bought these from Year One, and they are licenced by Dale's Cuda Shop. That said, at this time I don't know that it was the manufacturer's fault, or age, packing damage or whatever. I've used his Cuda hockey stick stripes in the past and had good luck.

I'm hoping they will send me a replacement set, but the car is supposed to go to it's first show in 3 weeks and I doubt they will make it here in time. :(

Anyone have tips on removing the old decals?
Dave Lutz
57 Plymouth Plaza Sedan, 58 Dodge Regent 2Dr Hardtop, 65 Valiant (273 Commando -Canadian built), 67 Satellite, 67 Polara, 70 Cuda, 72 Runner, 78 Dodge Diplomat 2Dr
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72GY9Runner
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Posts: 121
Joined: Wed May 25, 2005 11:13 am
My Cars: 72 Plymouth Road Runner GY9,Ember Gold interior, 400 Auto with AC, strobe stripe and canopy vinyl.
Location: Alberta, Canada

Post by 72GY9Runner » Fri May 04, 2007 4:16 pm

Well... Some good news I guess.

New stripes and callouts are being sent out to me today no charge.
I had to laugh though, cuz the support rep wanted to issue me a RA# to send back the defective stripes.
It took me about 10 minutes to convince him that the car would not fit in a shipping box, and he couldn't understand why I couldn't see the defects until I removed the protective paper. Kept asking why I would install them if they were defective. :lol:

So, now I just need to get the other stripes off the car. Hopefully they come off and the paint stays on. (fingers crossed)
Dave Lutz
57 Plymouth Plaza Sedan, 58 Dodge Regent 2Dr Hardtop, 65 Valiant (273 Commando -Canadian built), 67 Satellite, 67 Polara, 70 Cuda, 72 Runner, 78 Dodge Diplomat 2Dr
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scottish440
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Post by scottish440 » Sat May 05, 2007 6:13 pm

sounds like the screenprinted part of te decal is coming off....new vinyl
materials have a weather resistant UV coating that is hard for screenprinting
to stick too......this is my guess....great that they are standing behind
them...scott
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