Painting soon, Clear coat over decals?

[Black_TurboSR5]

I'll be painting my 4runner soon and I'm thinking of applying the body decals over the color coat and then several layers of clear over the color coat with the decals in place. GOOD IDEA? BAD IDEA?

 

[SV_Dude]

A buddy of mine does a lot of high end custom stereo installs. He did what you mentioned on some amplifiers that he did. It turned out very well and looks like a professional job. The only thing that you need to make sure of is the selection of paint. Some brands of paint require each subsequent coat of paint to be tacky when applying the next coat. You'll have a heck of a time applying the graphics over tacky paint. So just be sure that you get a brand of paint that will allow you to dry between coats.

 

[csrobb007]

I wouldn't...decals are normally vinyl, and they do not react well to reducer/hardeners of the non-water based type. Problems on top of that would be the decal not giving the paint/clear enough "teeth" to bite to or with...eventually the clear will peel, especially on something exposed to elements a normal vehicle (as opposed to amplifier(s) kept out of the weather) will be exposed to, I.E. rain, water, sunlight, etc..
Depending on the complexity of the decal(s), I would suggest masking and painting the "decal", or design...much better results will be had, and you won't run the risk of doing things twice.

 

[SV_Dude]

Good point. But I supposed that would depend on the materials used. What are the requirements for "bite" on the clear coat, ect. I don't know a whole lot about paints and such but I would imagine that this has been done a lot in the car show industry.

 

[csrobb007]

Agreed...My shop does alot of street rod, race car, specialty type stuff, and durability is my only point. A trailer queen seeing nothing but perfect weather and conditions is something I would not pattern my process after, if I was doing a daily driver seeing rain, snow, mud, etc...that's all. Check with the company that makes the decals for compatibility with the products (paint) your using...see what they say.

 

[SV_Dude]

A trailer queen seeing nothing but perfect weather and conditions is something I would not pattern my process after, if I was doing a daily driver seeing rain, snow, mud, etc...that's all.

Good point

 

[Black_TurboSR5]

All good points, maybe I'll do some masking to imitate the decals w/actual paint instead, 87 style is mostly lines. Thanks

 

[cometobanks]

yhis is cheap ass Nason clear coat over vinyl stickers. been on there for 10 years, no problems. Unless you ever want to change stickers...

 

[SV_Dude]

Is your jetski left in the garage year round? The point above was that the elements and sun will eat it up.

 

[ToyoTech]

why not have it painted than add the decal than clear coat

my bike has decals under clear coat from the factory

 

[cometobanks]

no, They are either in mussy lake water, on the back of a house boat or in a car port

 

[Black_TurboSR5]

why not have it painted than add the decal than clear coat

my bike has decals under clear coat from the factory

That's exactly what I'm wanting to do.

I've seen the decals under the clear coat on newer bikes, thinking technology may be advanced enough to allow for this. The jet ski is a good example too, I might do it.:lightsaber:

 

[ToyoTech]

That's exactly what I'm wanting to do.

I've seen the decals under the clear coat on newer bikes, thinking technology may be advanced enough to allow for this. The jet ski is a good example too, I might do it.:lightsaber:

wooops i read the op wrong. i thought you wanted to clear the paint than decal than clear again. should check with a paint shop 1st (a good one)

 

[cometobanks]

Have them paint your stripes on?

 

[sympl_runner]

It's just so easy to add decals and remove them with a body eraser. Thinking about them being under clear coat and having a change of heart would mean mega work to change them ie...sanding and body work. And the edges would be raised in the clear coat all around the decals. I think it would be a sharper finish with the decals on top. A quality decal's not going anywhere

 

[sympl_runner]

Re-painting my hood pretty soon -- I'm going to cover the decals with tape first.

That's interesting. That would leave the decals flush with the clear.

 

[SUBTEGRAL]

Who did you quote? :

I almost just changed my mind about covering the decals with clear coat or not..

Won't the clear coat just protect the decals?

 

[4gin007]

Ive been painting cars for over 10yrs now. Ive cleared over plenty of decals. Heres how i did it, first let me say that you definately dont want to apply the decals on the base coat, that will not work in your favor and the durability will be horrible. You have to paint the vehicle first, let it cure for about a month before applying the decals on top of that new clear, if you dont then you run the risk of tiny air bubbles forming under the decal. Then apply your decals on the desired panels, then you have to gray scotch bright the entire panel, after the decal is on, scotch bright the decal also, very lightly though, you want to be able to see the scratches but you dont want to scratch through the color of the decal. Some decals are white underneath the color of the actual decal, becareful. Then you can clear the panel and over the decal. If you dont want to feel the line around the decal your gonna have to repeat the process over agian until the line is gone. WARNING: clear coat will run on the decal easier than it runs on the panel of the vehichle.