how do you go about matching vinyl to vehicle colour?

[Bill Dewison]

I should imagine its virtually impossible. 🙁 Even white seems to be different for different makes of cars, let alone the huge range of reds, blues etc etc.

Robert mentioned a while ago though that he’d had some vinyl made to match a particular colour. Might not be entirely practical as you’d probably have to order quite a quantity, but you’d get an exact match I’d imagine.

Could I ask why you need an exact match?

Cheers, Dewi

[Andrew Bennett]

of course you can mate.
I fancy having a go at Roberts Vehicle Window covering technique, unfortunately my vehicles colour is Caprice Turqoise (!) (!) (!)

[Chris Wool]

i have before now sprayed white and grey vinyl with car spray paints.
i have been trying to perfect blending prints to car colours not yet thou

chris

[Andrew Bennett]

Have you photographed any of your results at all?

[L J.]

Andy,
i had this problem once of matching a customers requirement for a certain colour that the vinyl manufactures didn’t make.
the answer was to order a litre of screen printers ink, mixed to the right pantone shade & spray it onto a good quality white vinyl, let it dry in a warm atmosphere & then spray frog juice (clear lacquer). perfect results.

By the way if you need to put it through your plotter to cut letters or shapes from this painted vinyl then take my advice & cut it several hours after it’s dry, not before you spray it.
long john.

[Robert Lambie]

quote lj1600:

Andy,
i had this problem once of matching a customers requirement for a certain colour that the vinyl manufactures didn’t make.
the answer was to order a litre of screen printers ink, mixed to the right pan ton shade & spray it onto a good quality white vinyl, let it dry in a warm atmosphere & then spray frog juice.

good advice mate, i used to do the same thing.

we recently had a long term customer ask for specific spec on colour.
we could match it using a colour match system from, i “think” Wm smith. which was excellent at the time… we then found out cox offered a better service than the flood coating., but was pricey & had , minimal costs At0ached. further feild, after speaking with Cameron steer at europoint display he told me he could match the colour with a “CAST” vinyl, to cox’s calendar and also beat the price…. on supply! (group members only)
anyway… we now use them for this service and recommend it to anyone with a serious colour matching problem

[L J.]

Bob,
yes but how much would you have to order from europoint? surely they are not going to sell you a 50 mtr roll of a shade nobody else makes!!
it wouldn’t be cost effective to them.
long john.

[Bill Dewison]

I like the idea of spray painting vinyl 😀 Sounds cool! I want a go!

I’d have a problem doing any of those methods with my vehicle though as it has one of those bizarre paints on that changes colour. One minute its silver, then its gold, then its bronze depending on the lighting conditions. 😕

Cunning plan, I’ll sell the old jellopy and grab a white van! 😀

Cheers, Dewi

[Robert Lambie]

quote lj1600:

Bob,
yes but how much would you have to order from europoint? surely they are not going to sell you a 50 mtr roll of a shade nobody else makes!!
it wouldn’t be cost effective to them.
long john.

from memory you have to buy 5 full rolls for the vinyl to be made for you.
which isn’t cheap, but still works out cost effective.
what you have to take into consideration is that, if a customer demands an exact colour match, he must also expect to pay top dollar for it?
its not a case of, if you don’t offer it cheap, you wont get the job, every sign company in competition to you will be in the same boat. the way to do it is give them the very “best” for their money.
a pantone matched cast vinyl, is the best!

i have sprayed vinyl with ink in the past, it does work very well… but… there are downsides to it. depending on the amount of thinner you have in your ink, it can cause the vinyl to shrink, (varies on differnt vinyl makes) & can also attack the adhesive on the back, it also makes the vinyl turn very stretchy & difficult to fit.
spraying with ink also leaves a sort of silk finishl to the vinyl, not hi-gloss.
as you said. only cut after you paint with ink, but ide also suggest leaving the vinyl 24hrs to allow for shrinkage and out-gassing.
the main problem i have with inking, is the length of time it lasts.. dont get me wrong, it does work, and works well… but i have noticed that over time the ink, has a matt sorta look of it & changes in colour slightly…

for the likes of a re-branding of a company on a large scale ide suggest only having your vinyl made for you.

[Shane Drew]

We have had similar requests from clients here too. I spray the vinyl with car paint – 3 or 4 light coats instead of 1 or two thick coats – but make sure it had the plastisizer additive or it will crack.

The down sides are that the painted tape will fade at a faster rate than the painted metal surface.

I thought Oracal offer to match a tape to a special colour if you buy 300 sq mtrs or more.

Cheers
Shane

[Shane Drew]

quote Dewi:

I’d have a problem doing any of those methods with my vehicle though as it has one of those bizarre paints on that changes colour. One minute its silver, then its gold, then its bronze depending on the lighting conditions. 😕

Cheers, Dewi

You need to buy the Avery XL series mate. It does the same thing. Changes to all sorts of colours 🙄 . I did a ute here for a racing team. Looked awesome. frightfully expensive 😮 … but awesome

Cheers

[Robert Lambie]

quote dsi:

We have had similar requests from clients here too. I spray the vinyl with car paint – 3 or 4 light coats instead of 1 or two thick coats – but make sure it had the plastisizer additive or it will crack.

The down sides are that the painted tape will fade at a faster rate than the painted metal surface.

I thought Oracal offer to match a tape to a special colour if you buy 300 sq mtrs or more.

Cheers
Shane

hi shane, yes your right mate.. i think it was 5 full rolls (250 metres) maybe different over here… i could be wrong though. 😕

[John Childs]

Avery will colour match anything on 800 series. As you say Robert, minimum quantity is 5 rolls @ 1220mm. I forget exactly what we pay, but I worked out at the time that Avery’s colour matched 800 series was quite a bit cheaper than Finelines 5yr calendared flood coated stuff that we previously used. Better product and lower price.

[Robert Lambie]

hi john
yes i agree with you, what you were paying back then was better than finelines prices and you were getting a proper colour of vinyl, not a flood coat.
the thing was, when i called cox, they quoted much higher than what you were getting it for. so i called your local branch and i think they confirmed what you pay, but said i had to use my local depot. when i called back my local cox depot. they not only wouldn’t give us it at the price you were paying, but also increased it on what they first quoted.
i wasn’t aware oracal offered colour matching, so when Cameron came into see me and i explained what had happened, i was very pleased when said they could beat, if not equal the prices quoted and also in a faster turnaround time. which was my main issue at the time…