Just had the hood on my car wrapped in 3M carbon fiber material. My question to the experts here (as i am not an expert by any means) is, can i stick vinyl stickers on top of the wrap? I was told it would not stick by someone else, but i dont believe he is an expert, and i want a second opinion.
Swearing in the church. This is a composites forum where they use real carbon and not vinyl stickers.
Stickers may be applied on top of stickers, yes.
Wow thanks for the ill informed and sarcastic responses. And i would point out that you are wrong! As i decided to try it last night and it doesn’t stick! So not only did you give a non answer, and gave the response of a prick (MIchiel) You gave incorrect answers (Hanaldo). Thanks for the warm welcome! smh
Always do a test before doing something large or expensive like full hood Firebird stickers.
I have custom-made 3M vinyl stickers and numbers made for my RC sailboats that go on CF, PE and VE hulls and sterns, as well as mylar film sails. As long as the surface is cleaned before application I have had no adhesion problems, even when the boats are constantly in and out of the water, but they are not stickers on top of stickers.
The only failure I had was when I forgot to clean off the residual Frekote 770 NC mold release before applying a sticker. Nothing sticks to Frekote!
I get the stickers from Callie Graphics http://www.callie-graphics.com/materials.php
Applying stickers over stickers is asking for trouble as you are depending upon two different adhesive layers to hold possibly two different materials with different rates of expansion outdoors and on a hot hood where the temperature fluctuations will be extreme. Even if it did stick initially, I would be concerned about how it will hold up over time. At one point I asked the 3M distributor if I could clear coat over their automotive highlight trim tape. He said it would work, but would not hold up for more than a few years and so didn’t recommend it.
Yes sure you can , just look at NASCAR , multiple wraps and stickers on every car.
Stacked wraps are common and like said in previous comments prep is the key. As vinyls often have oily residue after the manufacturing process.
Denture Alcohol would do the job to rub down and clean area before you placed stickers , don’t use anything that would leaves a residue.
The quality of the sticker material will also make the difference how good it sticks , not the surface of the wrap it self.
Tim
Same sticker material - same adhesives (probably designed for high temps) and one body is lucky to last a single season. Mixing stickers is like mixing different brands of paint and primer. Most of the time it works, but when it doesn’t, you have a mess.
Test, test, test.
Well I’m sorry you didn’t find the humour in your question, I’m just not sure why you thought a composites forum would be the place to go for knowledge on stickers.
In any case, this is a great forum with very little mistreatment of members, so I do apologise for stirring.
Erm… Errrrr… Ummmmmm… Carbon, wrapped and 3M in the same sentence… Errrrr…
No words…
Well now. I thought he meant that he had the hood wrapped with carbon (actual fiber, not a sticker) and wanted to put a sticker on top of the carbon? :wondering:
hahah…
and yah… come to a composites forum and ask about fake carbon fiber… You’re gonna get flamed for that. I’d have to agree with Michiel. That really wasn’t a rude response at all. I think that most of us find the idea of the 3m “carbon” vinyl crap borderline offensive to begin with.
Bingo! You got it!
Thanks for everyone who gave actual answers! I appreciate it!
Yes you can put a sticker onto the carbon then… If you are planning on not changing it then you could try putting the sticker under one of the layers of clear gelcoat that would be put onto the carbon to cover it. That would help making it smooth with no bulge over the sticker. BUT test it first with a sticker on a test piece first just in case the resin reacts with the sticker material.
Well if it’s real carbon then it isn’t 3M. And there’s no reason a sticker wouldn’t stick to it, unless there were traces of release agent on it.
So if that is the case, you’ve got a bonnet that has been skinned with carbon fabric and resin, then the only issue with adhesion that I can see is if you haven’t cleaned the substrate properly.
I put all kinds of stickers on my parts all the time, various resins and adhesives in play but never any issues.