Whats the difference and which is better? I've used water on my typhoon and think it looks ok at best because of the border around each one that you have to live with even after its dry.
Bike decals:water vs vinyl
- Thread starter Frankthetank
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CCR
Mouth-Breather
Waterslide hold up better in my opinion but it is more work to put em on and more chances to mess it up and harder to find and usually cost more. Vinyl is cheap, easy and looks good. Plus any sign shop can usually make you whatever decal you want. I do think wear and tear is harder on vinyl though, waterslides will age ... vinyl just starts to look crummy after a while.
I've never put any water transfer decals on but it seems on all the older bikes I have had they appear to crack and fade as they get older pretty bad, even if they don't live outside. I've also read that you probably shouldn't buy NOS ones as they will kinda fall apart when you wet them and try to apply them. I like the vinyl decals simply because they just shine and look nice, also they go on easy and you can usually slowly pull them back and replace them down to get them straight pretty easy. All my bikes stay inside out of the weather so they stay looking like new almost indefinately with the vinyl ones.
I've been using waterslides on my recent Schwinn build. I found them easy to install, and they look good to me. But mine needs to look original so the border isn't an issue.
This looks really good.largek9 said:Maybe the best of both worlds I always use soapy water (very little soap) to install vinyl decals then set, wipe and clearcoat. This one looks shinny in person
So there is a border/outline on vinyl as well? Either way it looks good and I might give it a try. Thanks guys.ozzmonaut said:
CCR
Mouth-Breather
Frankthetank said:
It just depends, some vinyl is print on a clear vinyl decal, others (if possible) are just cut out of colored vinyl. the print on clear vinyl type will usually have a border.
