Painted General Lee graphics vs. vinyl

[mauibarber]

I wanted to ask the guys who own General Lee's, how well the vinyl stick on graphics hold up to car washes, sun and all around wear. If you washed the car say twice a month, how long would it be before the vinyl stickers starting looking bad?

Does anybody think that having the vinyl graphics are BETTER than having the graphics painted on?

Thanks,
Alex

[Wakko]

Vinyl graphics will last you for years, but (like paint) it depends on how you maintain it.  Leaving it out in the sun all day will significantly shorten the life of the decals.  If it's kept covered (keep in mind many covers allow UV light through them and the UV light will fade the decals) or in a garage you'll get years and years.    On the other hand, painted graphics have the cool factor and if they're done right will look better with a uniform clear over them.

[skip68]

I would never take a charger in a car wash Well, maybe an 06

[JimShine]

Either way is fine so long as you get quality vinyl. My only beef is you have to settle for weird vinyl graphics. If you are building a non-Movie Lee, its hard to get decent looking graphics that are not way off in some way. With paint, you control all that.

[Wakko]

I would never take a charger in a car wash Well, maybe an 06

Heh, I agree.  I don't think he meant an automated wash tho...

[BlueSS454]

I'm in the same boat now with mine.  Paint is only a couple months away and I am trying to figure out how to paint the graphics on.  I already made a stencil for the 01, I know the GENERAL LEE text is a verdana font 4 inches tall, but the flag is a whole other story.  I have not been able to figure out how to lay it out and shoot the paint on.  The biggest obstacle I see are the stars, the rest is easy since it's a 1 inch constant white border.

[JimShine]

If you want to do it easy and be correct to the show, all you really need to do is paint the red and blue of the flag. The white boarder and stars were vinyl as was the text. If you need to paint the white (and I wouldn't blame you for wanting to), the stars can be done by having a sign shop make you the appropriate sized star (I have measurements somewhere) on a piece of vinyl you would use as a paint mask. Get 13 made and hand place them, then hand paint, or tape off around and spray.

[Nacho-RT74]

my votes are for paint, easier to manteinance and better finish as part of the car itself, no just added, even in case of scratch or some crash, harder to touch up

[BlueSS454]

If you could send me the measurements or sizes for the stars, that would be awesome    I was also thinking of getting the decal and cutting the stars out of it, then laying it over the prepainted red, blue and white borders and shooting the white stars last.  The way I was going to do it is mark out the flag area, then tape off the rest of the roof, spray the white.  Next mark off the 1" borders with painters tape and lay the red down, mask off the red and shoot the blue for the bars, then lay the cut up decal down and reshoot the white stars.  This is the only way I can figure out to do it.

[JimShine]

Figured I would share these with you all. I filmed this at the Valuzet's ranch in 2004. These guys made the GL's up to 1982ish. You see one of the Valuzet brothers in the KWS Rides episode..

Click here to see Video

Click here to see Video