i painted a black iroc for a customer and was wondering how thick the lower gold striping is and is there a cheap alternative to buy the striping other than hawks and phoenix ?

 

There used to be a TON of people making them on Fleabay. I have had some experience with a few years ago. They all had different Mil.'s of vinyl that they used, so be aware of that. The quality most of the time just wasn't that great. I have Phoenix graphics (complete kit) on my Iroc after I had painted it, and I will say I am pleased with it. I bought them years ago when they fist started doing them and didn't really have the name out there yet when I came across them by accident. They had other graphics that I couldn't find anywhere else so I went for it. . I had saved them until I was ready to paint many years later, and they were still great to use. I think they are a quality vinyl and would not hesitate to buy them again. Last I saw it was about 200 bucks for a complete kit, and I think that is very reasonable for what you get. These are kind of in the category of you get what you pay for, imho.

 

I've been in the signs/graphics/vinyl/wrap business my whole life, and have installed factory/phoenix graphics vinyl, and custom made my own. While the ultimate appearance and function (if done properly) is essentially the same, the installation process is so much easier with the factory style graphics. They're perfectly sized and spaced, taking curves around corners into account, etc. etc, plus the wet application makes them relatively easy. ...all that being said, quality was never a concern for me as I could control the quality of the custom stripes, since I sourced the material. There is NO WAY I'd buy some custom graphics off of eBay. SOOO much garbage out there, but of course...there may be some good products out there. Still. I'd buy from Phoenix.