Classic & Vintage - Decal Application Instructions

My Guerciotti decals came in today. Coincidentally so did my frame that was being chased at the LBS. I love when it works out like that. Anyway the decals have some instructions but I just want to get any advice I can from the experts. The instructions say there is a wet or dry way to do it. The wet way is recommended since you can move them a bit for alignment. They basically say:

clean the frame with a soap water solution
wipe down with a cotton cloth
using same solution wet the surface.
cut the decals out
peal back and apply
(then he goes on about quality vinyl. I am not sure what he is talking about, perhaps the quality of the decals? If vinyl is involved anywhere please advise me)
And I gues some decals have an application tape over them? So after applying to the frame you wait a few hours and peel that tape back.

One of the things I'd like to know is are any tricks to make alignment easier? I have a god awful eye for bad alignment and it would drive me nuts.

So I am open to any advice. The decals are heat foil printed and the backing tape says Avery on them. Apparently they do not need a clear coat though he says it's fine if you do clear coat them, I won't.

Thanks.

Bump. Can anyone give jfmckenna a hand?

East Hill

I've never heard of a 'wet' method of applying vinyl decals. Doesn't mean it doesn't exist, but you'd think I'd have run into it by now. The application sheet they refer to is what I call a carrier sheet. You peel it and the decal off the backing, apply and burnish it then peel off the carrier, leaving the decal behind on the surface. It's a way of ensuring that multiple-piece decals stay in alighnment.

There's a couple ways of keeping decals in alignment during application. If it's a panel-type decal, you can wrap some masking tape around the tube, making a 'fence' to but one end of the panel against. You can also use one of these fences to but a ruler against and make light pencil lines on the frame tube.

Can you scan your decal sheet in for us so we can see what you're dealing with?

Maybe you're dealing with a decal something like this?

http://www.streetglo.net/decal-sticker-installation-instructions.htm

They even have videos.

I have used a wet method to install vinyl decals. It was the recommended way to intall the aftermarket decals I bought for my 89 CSX. It allowed you to position the decal correctly and once in position you used a squeegee to "set" the decal. The squeegee also allowed you to get all the air bubbles. This was a windshield decal and covered a pretty good sized area.

Looking at my own Guerc, I can see perhaps why they are giving you those instructions. The downtube and seattube decals have a clear vinyl carrier that wraps around the whole tube. If you were to have air bubbles in the clear portion, it would not look good. But then I always found a needle does wonders on air bubbles.

Thanks for your replies. I will scan the stuff in tomorrow as I don't have them now but here is where I got them: http://tinyurl.com/2ndk4m

jfm

EDIT: oops I didn't realize I had the wrong image URL's locked behind my firewall.


Well it went a lot smoother then I thought it would. It was actually pretty easy to allign and stick on in one motion:

Down Tube
http://ww2.hereweare.us:8080/images/bikes/guerciotti/dt-before.jpg
http://ww2.hereweare.us:8080/images/bikes/guerciotti/dt-after.jpg

Seat Stays
http://ww2.hereweare.us:8080/images/bikes/guerciotti/seat-stay-before.jpg
http://ww2.hereweare.us:8080/images/bikes/guerciotti/seat-stay-after.jpg

Seat Tube
http://ww2.hereweare.us:8080/images/bikes/guerciotti/seat-tube-before.jpg
http://ww2.hereweare.us:8080/images/bikes/guerciotti/seat-tube-after.jpg

Signature
http://ww2.hereweare.us:8080/images/bikes/guerciotti/sig-before.jpg
http://ww2.hereweare.us:8080/images/bikes/guerciotti/sig-after.jpg

Bump - edited URL's