Cut vinyl lettering

I was initially reluctant to put "stickers" on my car, but it turns out that cut vinyl works really well and doesn't damage the factory paint at all. I get all my vinyl from Sharon Johnson of Lone Star Lettering in Lewisville, TX. I do the design work myself (or select a font if it's just simple lettering), send her a vector file to "print" on her cutter, and she does the rest. A pair of 12-inch "23"s for my car costs less than $10 and she'll do them in pretty much any (single) color, size, font, etc. She did the big Porsche logo on the wing down to the little tiny track maps and helmet lettering. If you're in the area or you want to do an order by mail, call her at 972.355.0951 or email cougars1@aol.com.

If you want to pay 2-4 times more, go to Kinkos or Fast Signs.

I learned that there are different manufacturers and types of cut vinyl. Some are easier to remove than others, but none I've tried was terrible. My favorite is apparently made by Oracle. Any time you're removing anything from a surface you care about, always peel back at a 180 degree angle (instead of pulling it "up" away from the paint). The different brands all seem to go on about the same

Tip - bubbles
There's a trick to eliminating bubbles when you apply the vinyl. It's not really a big deal with small decals, but if you put something like 12" numbers straight on your car, you will get bubbles. The way to avoid them is to apply the vinyl wet. Dedicate a spray bottle to a magic mixture: half water, half rubbing alcohol, and a drop or two of dish soap (depending on the size of your spray bottle). If you have extra money, you can buy application fluid (that does exactly the same thing) commercially for $10-$20 per bottle.

Spray the surface moderately (it doesn't need to be soaked), apply the decal, then squeegee the vinyl to get the water out from underneath. Then wait a couple minutes before removing the backing.

This method works really well - especially with a rigid plastic squeegee from the Lowe's wallpaper department (I cut my squeegee in half to make it a better size for the width of the numbers). The best part is that you can nudge the vinyl around or even peel it off within the first few seconds and reposition it. If you put them on dry, there are no second chances other than scrapping the vinyl and putting on a new one.

Tip - vinyl removal
When you remove the vinyl, you'll almost always get some residue left over. You can get rid of it with Goo Gone or things like that, but something you already have around that works just as well is WD-40. Yeah, really...and it doesn't damage the paint.

No brainer - temperature
Don't try to apply vinyl at the track when it's windy and 34 degrees in the morning. Do it in your garage the day before. You won't get a ticket just for driving with numbers on your car.


Do you know other tips and tricks?