Paint/Vinyl Decal Question

[stharding1836]

I've decided to paint my foamie Atlanta Braves themed. I want to put vinyl decals on it, but I don't want them to fade in the sun. If there a certain type of poly or spar varnish I can use to keep the decals from changing color in the sun?

[GPW]

STH, we had as long running experiment with UV coatings on a huge carved and painted sign we made for over the gate at a friends ranch… Things would go well for several years , but 5 or 6 years later you could see deterioration and fading of “sign” colors which are usually pretty color fast …
Maybe keep it in a shed or cover it may help better than some pricy varnish … ???

[stharding1836]

GPW, would you recommend putting a clear coat or poly as a final coat to keep them from peeling?

[GPW]

STH , we had coated it with a good Poly , then a UV resistant coating … The Sun here is intense and the best we got was 10 years before it started to show wear and tear ( the sign) .. I think peeling is a result mostly of bad surface prep or incompatible finishes …
But then we’ve had good luck with good Exterior house paint … ( FS) The problem too is dirt ….. everything eventually gets dirty living outside , the FS is no exception , and a good twice a year wash down really helps … We’re still basically on our First paint job , but some areas have been re-painted as we modified it over the years … Still OK !!! I’m thinking about a repaint , color change soon … maybe !!!

Ps , here’s some signage we made for a local music store … 10 years outside facing West and a busy expressway … Acrylic paint with more poly /UV coatings… We also did the paintings of the rock stars , 4’X8’ each … I think they live in somebody’s garage now , along with that Big guitar sign .

[Shadow Catcher]

Get your graphics from a sign company ours is 10 years old with no fading.

[GPW]

SC , we were wondering …. Do those Vinyl wraps allow Rust to happen underneath , like in our Damp climate … We see a few advertising car and bus wraps around here , just no old ones ???

[GPW]

Driving through mid city , I spotted a warehouse where there were several Vinyl wrapped cars sitting outside ( advertising themes) , so I just had to stop and inspect them … Somebody did a pretty nice job applying them , and they looked good , from what I could see . They all looked “new" , and I suspect the warehouse was a place where this happened …We’ll have to check them out again when they're open and can answer some questions …

JMHO, I believe a vinyl wrap may be problematic on a Foamie trailer , but Super on a “Hard” sided trailer …

[Shadow Catcher]

We had to rebuild Compass Rose, I returned to Bad Brush Design and they made new graphics (they are not a wrap). My understanding is that it is a 3M material.