Hey guys, i ordered some IROC-Z door decals but alas they came with no directions. I have always had no problem putting these vinyl decals on windsheild banners, but I have never put anything on the actual paint and body. What are the steps to install these decals. Some instructions and advice could really help. Thanks guys.

 

clean area. measure and line it up right (masking tape helps here). put stickers on, start from the middle and work out to one side then the other.

just take it slow and make sure it stays in the right place. nothing worse then trying to do it quick and having crooked lettering..

 

Long but should help anybody that's never tried it before:

Yrs ago when I was a maintenance supervisor for an OTR trucking company, the owner of that and the owner of Featherlite grew up together so natuarally the Featherlite custom painting dept. (that does all the racing trailers and many other trailers you see on TV) decaled all out trucks. I told the owner we could save money by sending me up there to learn the tricks of the trade and I could teach our shop guys.

Well, I gotta full one day crash course to cover the jist of things. In a nutshell it helps to have the right tools for perfection, but can be dool by improvising.

You decal came with paper on both side, take some 1-2" strips of masking tape on the top edge of the decal and tack it onto the spot clsoe to where you want it. Then you need to find a straight and level reference point on the car so you can use a tape measure to get the front of the decal and back of the decal on the same "plane" aka level to the car where your putting it. Once you've got the decal exactly where you want it and how you want it, write down the measurements so you can get the same heigth on the other side as well as side to side/front to back (so it'll be the same distance from the front door edge to the start fo the decal edge)

Once its in place, pick a centered location on the decal-pick a spot between 2 letters/numbers. Take another peice of masking tape and make it long enough it'll go past the top edge of the decal by 2" or so and past the bottom by 2" or so and stick the tape to the door and slide it down BETWEEN the break of the letter/number

Now, start with (I'll just say the left side of the decal from where you put that long peice of tape) Pull off all the little "tack" peices of tape you previously applied on the left side only, now pull that side of the decal over the right side side of the decal almost like your folding it in half. Start to slowly peel the backer off the decal at as sharp of and angle to the sticker as you can-this will help not pull up the decal off the important side. Once you've pulled the backer to the point it's taped to the car, rip it off.

We used a special hard rubber squeege, but a credit card can also be used. Bring the decal back around like your going to stick it to the car-but dont let it touch anything. Use the credit card-and starting from the point it's taped on the car, work the ccard in a half moon/'fan shape- starting in the middle of the decal and spread it up, then go back and spread the bottom down. This helps push out all the air bubbles as opposed to just abruptly sticking it to the car. The whole time you fanning/wiping the decal into place you want to keep tension on the unstuck portion of the decal so it'll keep the levelness you spent all that time figuring out.

Once you have one side completely stuck, you can then pull the tape of the dividing line off the decal and pull the right side back and repeat the same process. After you have the entire decal stuck to the car, go back over the entire decal (with the top paper still in place) and re wipe it with the credit card trying to eleiminate any bubbles that may still be there. Once your happy, slowly start to peel the top paper off amking sure it does'nt pull up the decals with it.

If there are air bubbles, you can try to push them out with the cc to the edge so it escaped the sticker. Some are just plain a pita, so thenyouo'll have to get a pin and poke a little hole in the air bubble and using the cc again, work the air out of that pin hole. Soemtimes after your done, you can use a heat gun/hair dryer to heat up the decal and smooth out any minor imperfections.


Side note:
Some guys apply decals using dry (like I do) and other prefer to spray the area down with Windex for the sticker wont adhere right away to the vehicle. Applying wet allows adjustment since you can slide the decal around. Downside, it takes quite awhile for it to dry enough so you can squeege it out without moving the decal and also it takes awhile for it to stick to the car. I applied all mine dry becasue I did'nt want to spend an entire day decaling these big semi's and the decals were'nt that big to bigen with. If you ever see a Valley Transportaion truck rolling down the road hauling tractors or construction equipement there's a good chance I stuck the decal on( from the hood to the middle of the sleeper) as well as the registration numbers etc...

 

Ones I put on my 88 were a Scotchcal product, name on back of decal. Remove backing. Put on wet with water and a few drops of dishwashing liquid mixed. Slides around some and you just start in middle and squeegee the water out. Wait 15 minutes or so and remove top cover paper. Pretty slick setup. The masking tape along the top edge to hold it lined up is a good trick too.