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Beware of bad stencil kits

5K views 18 replies 10 participants last post by  JoAnnBortles 
#1 ·
These things should carry an expiration date like a gallon of milk. Just laid down a stencil for a 442 hood and had the worst experience I have probably ever had. First off when pulling the main white sheet off for the center square the stencil started breaking apart in tiny pieces that was the first sign, then it left globs of glue on the hood where it had to be sprayed. Had a real hard time getting that stuff off with wax and grease remover. Finally get it all off then proceed to spray the stripe. Next remove the stencil to clear the hood, and again all glue residue everywhere. Now I am scrubbing fresh basecoat with wax and grease remover, 2 hours later and had to go back and fix the fine stripe that was damaged from soooo much rubbing to remove this glue residue. A job that should have taken a few hours turns into an all day and night disaster all because the stencil was just too old. Beware...............
 
#2 ·
Where did you get the stencil? Just so I know not to go there. I had a similar situation happen on a Chevelle SS hood years ago. Now, if I use a stencil, I go to my local trim supplier, he has the equipment, give them a drawing of what I need with dimensions and have them cut cut it for me. Usually while I wait. It doesn't cost that much and the situation you have is eliminated.

For the last SS striping I did, I laid the stripes out by hand, it takes a little longer but the results are better, I can fix my corners or edges as I go and make sure all is well before I paint. It seems I need to fix stencils in one place or another most times anyway.

Ray
 
#3 ·
That sucks, I have only used a stencil kit once, on an Elcamino a number of years ago and it worked like friggin magic! Don't have any advice other than to hunt down a quality kit because they do work well.

Brian
 
#4 ·
That sucks, I have had two calls in last month where brand new kits for chevelles were leaving glue all over the place both of them the company sent out new ones and said, we have never had this problem before.

The one in NC was so bad, I sent him to get some Goop to remove the glue.
The one in Texas had used a good base with activator, so with a little testing he was able to use medium urethane reducer with out damage to the base and it cleaned up pretty good on the hood.
The deck lid in both cases were not as bad and wax and grease remover with some elbow grease took care of the problem.
 
#5 ·
Yes Barry it sucks, and stencil's for Chevelle's are so difficult to but on with the center rib in the hood. I've ended up cutting stencils in half and putting it on when I'm doing grafics on panels like hoods with contour lines...it works well, less air bubble leaving a more even let down of the stencil...I just tape up my cut line before painting.

Ray
 
#6 ·
The stencil came from OPG in california, told the cust what happened and he told me that he would see what they could do. I already told him I can not take the chance of this happening when I put the stripes on the rest of the car, no way. See what is gonna happen now..... that is a good idea Ray about having them cut fresh.
 
#7 ·
I'm sure, as Barry mentioned,...the company will offer a cheap heartless response..."we never had this problem before" and not take responsibility. What does a new stencil help you now?

Try a local pin striping or trim supplier see if they can help. It does work extremely well, if I'm not hand laying flames, I always use this method, the stencil is always made from fresh material and lays down easily in comparison to old stencils, edges are much crisper, material is more pliable and a lot less lifting...many of these places have programs for a lot of the older muscle cars...If not, just give them the exact dimensions and a diagram also helps, they will cut them for you...give it a try, you won't be disappointed.

Ray
 
#10 ·
Your right Vince, and fine line tape for SS stripes or most any square to the body stripe is the way to go...there are web-sites that outline the dimensions for most 60's and 70's muscle car stripes...where they go, SS versus RS versus RS/SS, does it go under the spoiler, over the spoiler, nowadays it's all out there. Not like in the real old days when you had to take measurements before you stripped the car down...getting information from GM was tough back then.


Ray
 
#17 ·
This kind of thing is a hard lesson i learned many years ago, not all adhesives and stencil materials are created equal. I'm cringing reading the posts on this thread. Brings it all back to me. Ugh!

I'm sure it has gotten far worse since it happened to me 25 years ago. I bet many premade stencils are made overseas and who knows what they are using for adhesive and material?

And this is why I do not use any kind of stencil material unless I have prior experience with it. In fact, I'm so paranoid about this, I make all my own stencils now. For stripes, I'll get the measurements and tape them off myself. Yes its a little more work, but well worth it. And much of the time, it will some out better when you tape them off yourself, as not all sheetmetal is perfect, and sometimes you have to play around a little to get things even.

For non stripe stencils, before I started making them myself, I used a sign shop that used a stencil material I trusted.
 
#18 ·
Thanks Joann for joining us!
Your kind of a rock star in your field so excuse me if I'm gushing.
I've read a lot of your stuff over on autobody forum and was just watching you on a PowerblockTV episode with the water based flames. Awesome work!

Looking forward to learning more from you.
 
#19 ·
Well thanks for the kind words. it seems odd that on New Years Day I am online looking at emails. But its raining and I am bored. I think I'm gonna go in the shop for a while. Its either housework or paintwork. I'm bored with tv.

The profession of custom painting is a hard one. It involves brutal hours, unreal multitasking, seat of the pants thinking when things go wrong, which they often do. Its crazy to think I've been doing this since 1979. So many painting adventures over the years.

And that's what makes this thread important to me. Its a horrible sensation to apply a stencil and think "All I have to do is spray the paint, peel off the stencil, spray the clear and I'm done! Yippee!"
Then you try and remove the stencil, and it breaks into tiny pieces or peels up the basecoat with it, or leaves behind tons of adhesive on the surface or better yet, all 3 of these things happen. Now you are waaaay behind where you were when you started the day. You'd give anything to go back that point and do the stencil another way. You are in hell. If you live near a bridge, you are tempted to jump off it.

So always remember, there are no shortcuts in custom painting, any paint, material, or tool that 'seems' like a bargain, is not a bargain. Spend the time and money to get the quality stuff, you might think you're making more profit from using cheaper stuff, but when it goes wrong, and it will at the worst possible time, all that money you saved is so not worth it.
And always remember test unknown stuff, always. Better to buy a little extra and find out how and if it works than to find out on the vehicle and maybe ruin work you've already done.
 
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