We all want to have awesome, sharp-looking cars that people notice. Below you’ll find 10 tips/tricks we’ve learned over the years from both purchasing and cutting our own decals. While these tips are mostly talked about in terms of the racing world, they totally apply to anyone needing vinyl graphics; They are useful for race cars, truck decals, shop windows, billboards, banners, etc. Read on…

1. The wider the font, the better.

A fancy font may look great on paper but when you are making decals for a car, truck, billboard sign, etc. THE WIDER THE FONT THE BETTER! Sometimes you can simply “bold” your font and get some much needed width on the letters but not always. Keep in mind that not only do you owe your sponsors or customers a great deal of thanks for their help or business, it is your job to advertise for them. Race cars are almost constantly in motion, a majority of that time at high speed except for caution laps and depending on the size of the race track, you may only get one small moment per lap to showcase your sponsors to the fans. You need to make it count. Wide fonts are easy to read and make out from a distance, you have a better chance of someone actually reading and remembering your sponsor if the font is nice and wide. If a fan has to “work” to figure out the fancy script on your quarter panel says “Joe’s mufflers”, they aren’t going to bother. They will give up, it’s not worth the effort to them, especially if they only get a small glimpse of your car.

2. Light on dark to leave a mark; dark on light will make it bright

We speak from experience here folks. You may think that fluorescent yellow will look awesome on your white chassis or holographic green will spice up your black paint scheme but let me tell you… it’s gonna fade right into the background. Now don’t go thinking you can’t use the colors you want, you totally can, and they can look awesome BUT, you have to use them right. For light-colored paint schemes, decals should either be a solid dark color, or a light colored outlined by a solid dark. Never waste your time outlining a light color with a light color, they will just kind of blend together and totally defeat the purpose of your outline altogether. The same can be said for dark. A light color such as white can be used to outline that holographic forest green and make it “pop” off of your black paint; Fluorescent yellow numbers outlined in glossy black will look super sharp on that nice white door panel. You must always remember to contrast the main color of the race car body so your decals stand out. If your paint scheme is multi-color, choose the outline for “the greater good”, whatever color dominates, go against it.

3. Measure in “squares”

When you measure a decal you should think of it as one big square. Whether it’s just a door number decal or multi-line sponsor sticker, measure the space you want it as a square and adjust the decal content to fit inside the square. Your decal professional should be able to make your graphic proportional to the square size allotted.

 

 

4. Stagger multi-line sizes

This tip throws back a little to #1, when I was trying to stress how important it is that fans can actually read what is on your car. a Typical multi-line sponsor decal most commonly consists of 2-3 lines. Line one is the sponsor/business name, line two is typically the city/state where the business is located, and line 3, if necessary, contains the business phone. It is possible to combine lines 2 and 3 but it really depends on the placement of the decal so it doesn’t end up looking squished. For multi-line decals, make the first line, usually the business name, the tallest, then decrease the height of the font for subsequent lines by .5 – 1″. This will make the main line “pop” a little over the others.

 

5. Remember the Italics

When measuring the area for your decals, remember that if you use or want an italicized font you have to take the decal slant into account. Too many times we have forgotten this rule only to end up with decals that are much smaller than we anticipated. You must measure from farthest point to farthest point.

 

6. Windex is your friend

When you are applying large decals, it is sometimes very hard to put them on completely straight. Sometimes the decal may shift when you are removing backing or perhaps your space is limited and you cannot correctly judge it’s placement. In these trying times, Windex is your best friend!!! Spraying Windex directly on the paint or window surface will give you some freedom to move your decal around by preventing the decal instant-stick. The Windex can then be pushed out by your squeegee or left to evaporate on its own.

 

7. Masking tape is essential for decal application

This tip is a must-know for anyone applying decals. With all decals, big or small, one of the biggest struggles is applying the decal exactly where and how you want it. 1. When you have your decal positioned where you want it, take a strip of masking tape (or painter’s tape) and run it down the middle of the decal, from just above the top of the decal to just past the bottom. This will secure the decal in position. 2. Next, peel one side of the decal away from it’s backing until you reach the masking tape strip. 3. Tear away the backing at the masking strip and apply that side of the decal. Then, remove the masking tape strip, peel away the other half of the decal from its backing, remove the backing, and apply the rest of the decal. Ta-dah!!!

8. Less colors are more

When you are choosing decal colors, don’t go overboard. Too many colors can take away from the overall look of your car by making it seem too busy. Often times, just reversing the outline and fill colors will give your decals the “different” look you were going for without distracting from the decals themselves, thus making your car easier to look at and remember.

9. A hair dryer isn’t just a girl’s best friend

We’ve all bought something before that was used. Sometimes, what you buy can be covered in decals and advertisements you don’t want or need. Now, if you’ve bought a race car and intend to put a new body on it, by all means, leave the previous owner’s decal on there and just tear the body off. BUT, most of us can’t afford to always put a new body on or we need the old body parts for spares after a wreck. Maybe you finally found that awesome deal on that enclosed trailer but it’s covered in another race team’s decals, well look no further, this tip is for you. Break out the hair dryer fella’s!!! Holding the heat from a hair dryer to applied decals will make them retreat and be able to be peeled off. We have used this trick many times to remove old sponsors or decals from a previous owner.

10. Fancy Caveat

I know fancy can appeal to many people but let me just put my two cents out there. Fancier isn’t always nicer-looking. Sometimes fancy just doesn’t work. Sometimes it hides your sponsors instead of expressing them. Sometimes the whole thing is kind of blended into one big fancy scheme and you can’t tell where one sponsor starts and the others begin. I’m not knocking fancy designs, I have seen people do some really fancy stuff that just looked beautiful and sharp, but often times, I can see what they were going for but failed at, and it’s a shame because you can tell they thought a lot about it and just wanted it to come out perfect. You know what they say about the road paved with good intentions right? It’s totally fine to try and be fancy, you might make it work and be thrilled, I’m just saying stop and give some thought to your end game so you are happy with the end results.

 

That’s it folks, the best 10 tips for vinyl decals I could think of and let me tell you, we’ve tried it all. We have ruined a ton of stuff, we have re-cut a TON of stuff, and we just hope we helped someone learn something so that it won’t cost them any more than it has to. Do you have any tips you’ve learned? Share your tips in the comments below. Enjoy!