About Our Vinyls
We are always striving to be leaders in terms of design accuracy and material quality, and test lots of different types of vinyl to find the best products for our customers.
We use a combination of different vinyl materials in our products, depending on the intended use and finish/colour. Please see below for more detailed information on each type.
"Monomeric" vinyl
NOTE: we no longer list any colour choices using monomeric matt vinyls as they generally aren't suited to car decals. We've been recommending against choosing matt finishes (other than black & white) for some time now, so this seems like the logical step. If you really want a matt vinyl for your decal, please get in touch.
In almost all cases we only use monomeric vinyls for all but black & white matt colours. Monomeric is what's classed as an "intermediate" vinyl, intended for medium-term applications. Almost all our matt colours are using Metamark vinyls, with the following stats:
- 70 Micron Intermediate Calendered Vinyl
- Advanced Acrylic Adhesive
- Durability - 5 years for Black and Whites, 4 years for Colours and 3 years for Metallics
With the exception of black & white, monomeric vinyl is the only choice for matt colours. It is fine and in most cases will be good for many years beyond the quoted durability. Due to it's 70 micron thickness, caution should be exercised when cleaning - cloths such as microfibre can "hook" onto sharp details and lift them, damaging the decal.
Where possible, for detailed car decals, we recommend one of the "core" colours which will be provided in a more suitable cast vinyl (see below).
"Polymeric" vinyl
Polymeric vinyl is classed as medium-long term vinyl with an enhanced lifespan and overall higher quality finish. We have a large selection of Polymerics from Metamark, Avery Dennison, Hexis, and Ritrama - all have quoted lifespans of "up to" 8 years. All colours are gloss finished, with the exception of matt black and matt white.
- 70 Micron Polymeric Calendered Vinyl
- Permanent Clear Solvent Based Adhesive
- Durability - 8 years for Black and Whites, 7 year for Colours and 5 years for Metallic shades
This is our most common vinyl, but as with the matt finishes, detailed decals can also be vulnerable to catching on microfibre or other cleaning equipment - so our core colours will be provided in cast vinyl where possible and justified.
"Cast" vinyl
Cast vinyls are the pinnacle of quality, finish and durability. We are now delighted to provide all customers an upgrade to cast vinyls for all core colours in our range. This list of core colours may be expanded in the future but at present it includes:
- Black matt
- Black gloss
- White matt
- White gloss
- Stone grey gloss
- Nimbus grey gloss
- Storm grey gloss
- Silver gloss
- Silver metallic gloss
- Silver glitter metallic gloss
- Gold gloss
- Gold metallic gloss
- Graphite metallic gloss
- Anthracite metallic gloss
- Smoke metallic gloss
- Red gloss
- Tangerine Orange gloss
- Golden Yellow gloss
- Mid-yellow gloss
- Lemon yellow gloss
- Royal Blue gloss
We use premium cast vinyls from Oracal, Avery Dennison and Hexis. Cast vinyls have a durability of 10+ years, but the main advantage is the thickness - just 50 microns - which provides an ultra-thin layer to the decal making them almost invulnerable to cleaning damage.
Cast vinyl decals will be equivalent (or for older vehicles, superior) to factory original decals and are the best choice for detail work. For smaller decals, decals with a lot of detail, and original badge/model decals, we will automatically use a cast vinyl if you have chosen one of the core colours listed. Key specs:
- 50 Micron Premium Cast Vinyl
- Permanent Acrylic based adhesive
- 10+ years outside durability
