One of the biggest reasons your car decals or wraps will fail is from improper washing. Here are some rules of thumb.
1. Wand Wash: If you wash your vehicle by hand be cautious of getting to close with the wand. Any closer than 12-16 inches away and you run the risk of either lifting the corners or breaking the vinyl where it may have pulled away from a body groove.
2. Automatic Wash : Be careful of the ones with the gatlin gun style of undercarriage wash. If you have a wrap or lower graphics this style of washer can damage them.
3. Foamy brush: unless the vinyl is lifting already the brush is fine to use
4. Wash by hand: Preferred but not always feasible
If you notice that a corner is lifting please bring your vehicle back as soon as you can. Sometimes we can save it, but it needs to be early.
What is the difference from wear and tear and vinyl failure?
Most vinyl comes with a warranty. If you suspect the vinyl is failing from the manufacturer then you need to bring it back right away. Do not wash the vehicle or it will void the claim on the warranty. When the adhesive fails it has a distinctive pattern. Decals failing from to aggressive cleaning also have a distinct pattern.
In the last 12 years we have never had a vinyl failure from the manufacturer, but we always look for that first and installer error second.
If you are wondering how to install the decals let us know and we can give you a quick tutorial!