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Manky Magnetics!
Tried to remove my Magnetic signs today. Haven’t washed the Van for 5 weeks and it’s been standing in baking sun. The signs were welded to the paintwork and have disintegrated around the edges.
It took boiling water, White Spirit and G4 Cleaner to clean up!
If your van carries magnetic signs……..get em off now as I think a couple more weeks and I’d have needed a re-spray!
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11 Replies
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blimey!!!
wise words Martin and a warning to others. When I sell magnetics I always advise customers to remove them at least once a week and clean both the back of the magnetics and the panel below with hot soapy water and then clean off with a soft cloth…
having said that – the heat lately has been unbelievable. (hot)
will you have to make new ones for yourself are are they recoverable?
more soon
mikethesign
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I always try and push customers away from magnetics, they fall off, blow off, get nicked and unless you take them off once a week clean the panel and vehicle WILL weld themselves or even rust to the vehicle, unless you’re like one customer I had and plan to use them on a Landrover. 😆 😆 😆
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I agree with Steve about magnetics in general.
One thing I did learn one hot summer a couple of years ago, is to recommend that customers always keep magnetics on a flat metal (not a Land Rover 😀 )surface if they’re not on the vehicle.
I had a minicab driver come in to see if I could do anything with what looked like a couple of egg boxes. Turned out these 2 magnetics had been in the boot of his car for 2 weeks at the airport car park while he was on holiday.
It might not be good for short term turnover, but it’s better customer focus.
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I also tell customers to remove them and wash down every week 😳
but thought this was due to the ingress of dirt behind them that would reduce the magnetism. Never for one minute thought about them rusting or welding themselves to the vehicle!No, Mike….I’ve got to make some new ones, big lumps out all over them, or may go direct on the van this time.
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I have an A4 sheet which I give to all my magnetic customers it explains how to care for you magnetics, as Mike says remove at least once a week and clean the panel and magnetic with soapy water, the sheet I have suggests spraying the back of the magnetics with a silicone type polish before putting them back on the vehicle. Always try to store them on a flat metal surface when not in use such as a fileing cabinet and if they should become a little buckled it is possible to iron them flat again but not as one of my customers tried with the iron on its hottest setting and straight onto the vinyl !!!
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My magnetic signs end up on the side of the fridge freezer until the customer comes to collect.
But like everbody else I tend to dissuade people from going down this road.
I don’t find magnetics very ‘attractive‘ but some of you may have ‘opposing‘ views which may keep us ‘poles‘ apart. I really should keep my ‘North and South’ shut and not enter into this ‘field‘ but I feel totally encompassed by it.
Someone point me the way home!
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Tell you what John if you ever pack up making signs you could always get a job at a tabloid newspaper writing their crappy puns 😆 😆
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The instruction sheet I used to hand out with mags suggested cleaning the vehicle panel and the back of the magnetic, then polishing both with car polish to form a barrier between the two. This worked fine until one customer came back with his magnetics curling up around the edges. It took me some time to figure out what he’d done. He’d polished the backs of the mags, and using the old adage “you can’t have enough of a good thing”, he’d lathered it on as thick as butter on his morning toast. Then immediately planted them on the van, trapping all the solvents in the polish. The solvents soaked into the back of the mags expanding them and causing them to curl.
You will never win with customers no matter how simple the task so try and give them something they can just leave alone. I’m sure if you tell them to wash a sign down once in a while they’d use a scrubbing brush and VIM every other day. (:) (:)
Alan
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I`ve just had a very similar problem.
A customer has just bought back a poster type A board.
The clear film which is held in place by magnetic material, has caused the paint to wear on the board and has started to go rusty..
The boards only 5 months old, bought in at night.
The suppliers replaced it, no problem. But am I going to get the customer coming back every 5 months??
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The only way to get round this one Kev is to have magnetic strips attached to the a-board as well as the plastic, we do this with ours
or have thin metal strips glued on to the plastic. -
cracking idea, Lorraine.
you`re not just a pretty face.. 😳
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