I wanna stripe my car, anyone got any useful info?

lowmiata · Postby **lowmiata** » Mon May 29, 2006 7:03 pm

Just started doing mine again!!

this will be the third time!!

doesn't get any easier no matter how many times you do it

Some simple rules
-wider the stripe the harder the bends are
-badges and centre fixings are a good place to cheat
-bonnet bulge is the hardest part
-rear bumper following a close second!
-front and rear bumpers can be cheated slightly by cutting and restarting in the radius grove that runs around the car
-closer the stripes are the easier it is but the parallelism shows up 10 times as bad if its not perfect
-a drop of detergent in a squirty bottle,credit card type card,towel and a sharpe knife are your best friend!

as for size mine have always been 150mm wide stripe 35mm gap between and the second time i did them i flanked either side with a 2.5mm pin stripe

if you make the strip much smaller it will look to small on a standard car ie if you had a body kit it might look ok

and anything more than around 175mm looks to chunky on a little car!

if you really want to see what it looks like before you go sticking vynil onto your car just grab a roll of pvc tape and run the edges of the tape as if it were the stripe and you should get a fair idea of what it looks like!

couple of stripe designs

classic two big stripes (symetrical) with pin stripe too the out sides
Modern just two big symetrical stripes!
offset (would not recomend on an mx!!!)
across the back ie hemi style
you could also fade them out as they go down the car

no real right and wrong!
if you don't like it you can just do it again!

Postby **Okibi** » Mon May 29, 2006 10:24 pm

I've started a new thread with photos of striped / sticker art MX-5/Miatas.

Feel free to add any you may have.

http://www.aus-cartalk.com/viewtopic.php?t=19222

Casey · Postby **Casey** » Tue May 30, 2006 12:07 am

bam wrote:offset looks that bad??

No way - offset looks cool. I liked it ever since I saw the Beemers on Mr and Mrs Smith. Pilsner has done it on his race car (a wide one and a thin one) which looks brilliant except he did it on the drivers side. Better on the pax side IMHO.

Postby **Okibi** » Tue May 30, 2006 12:23 am

I think I remember reading on the \"RealBig\" list once that traditionally the stripe is meant to be on the driverâ€™s side of a race car so that emergency crews know where to extract the driver.

bigdog · Postby **bigdog** » Tue May 30, 2006 11:10 am

Contact is ok Bam, but signmakers vinyl is much better quality and UV treated. Contact isn't as glossy either - meaning dirt can stick to it easier. Ask your local signshop to cut some stripes for you, or have a look on eBay - I saw some stripes for sale there a few weeks back from a signmaker.

irwin83r · Postby **irwin83r** » Wed May 31, 2006 10:16 pm

so much for being unique lol

ive been toying with thick and thin offset stripes for ages. and now they are poping up everywhere! haha

well ateast i'll be able to see if i like em

think the old monaro's had the style we are talking about

they were on the right though?

have a friend with a vinyl cutter.. might be able to get him to make some... will talk to him next time i see him

CT · Postby CT » Thu Jun 01, 2006 10:36 am

I would like to echo Lowmiata's comments that it doesn't get any easier no matter how many you do. The rear fo the car is hard to do and takes much patience. The boonet bulge is tough too. My stripes are 20cm wide and I used 50mm masking tape as a centre line. The reason for this is that you can butt the stripes up against it which ensures that the centres are perfectly spaced. Optically, that's where the eye focuses so that's the bit that needs to be correct for dual stripes.

Signwriters vinyl is easier to use than contact too as the glue is designed to be wet and stay sticky. Definitely use soapy water and have a very smooth credit card. It's important to be well organised when you start as if not, you can destroy a lot of vinyl very quickly. Have a crack at it, it's not hard and very satisfying but takes plenty of patience.

lowmiata · Postby **lowmiata** » Fri Jun 02, 2006 5:31 pm

bam wrote:ok so contact is out. maybe if i do stripes like the manaro there i can avoid the bonnet bulge?

hehehehe
It will be 10x worse off to one side
the curves of the mx5 are evil to anyone wanting to stripe it!

bigdog · Postby **bigdog** » Sat Jun 03, 2006 11:43 pm

I knew I'd seen this on eBay -finally found it for you. Don't know how it compares cost wise, but at least the hard work is done for you - their stripes are laid in one piece with all the gap work done for you, you just lay it on the car and peel back the backing.

http://www.tricked-graphics.com/7-9-year-racing-stripes-c-577.html

green_comet · Postby **green_comet** » Sun Jun 04, 2006 2:29 pm

took me about 5 days to do mine, and as everyone says its a bitch of a job.. i dont think i would do it again.

but it came out looking pretty nice..

just make sure you keep the surface nice and soapy, dont let it dry coz then your in trouble..

if you have more questions, just pm me..

mossy · Postby **mossy** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 12:19 pm

Why not do this, I think it looks awesome.
http://www.roadster.co.jp/rpf1.html

EGG80X · Postby **EGG80X** » Wed Jun 21, 2006 12:50 am

got some vinyl to play around with, but what a bitch to apply on!!
The nb boot and front bumper are so curvy!!

got jib too, the sign dude only gave me 2.5 m instead of 3

only did it upto the boot lid...... but hey it was only for 20 bucks and its cut as well :lol:

rodent · Postby **rodent** » Wed Jun 21, 2006 1:27 am

LOL Kelvin you're striping the beast? PICS PLEASE!

jonno.

green_comet · Postby **green_comet** » Wed Jun 21, 2006 7:24 am

you need to heat the vinyl up with a hair dryer, and it becomes very plyable..

But while heating you have to keep the surface very wet.. then you can mould the vinyl around the curve's..