Graphics and stickers give your vehicle its personality. You allow your car to stand out with creative stickers, decals, wraps, and vinyl lettering. Moreover, these could be applied for different purposes – whether that be for promoting your business, applying coats to make your car feel brand new, or even installing stickers to give your car a creative pop.
With plenty of graphics in store, there’s no wonder you have difficulty choosing one. With this, here is the ultimate guide to help you, so read below, and you’ll be riding in style in no time!
Table of Contents
Vehicle Stickers and Decals
Vehicle stickers and decals are adhesive graphics placed in different parts such as the window, hood, bodyside, or door. However, these two adhesives differ in their size. If you ask for small car graphics ranging from 5 inches and below, you’d be given stickers. On the other hand, you’d be given decals if you’re asking for larger and more complex design adhesives.
Types of Decals
You can choose from different types of decals, namely: clear, opaque, transfer, and vinyl lettering decals. Like its name, clear decals are adhesives with a transparent background, layered with a dense white ink finish to give it a vibrant pop. These decals are best used on your windows as these can easily be applied with transfer tape. Moreover, clear decals have custom-cut shapes, which gives them a smooth finish.
Unlike clear decals, opaque decals differ from adhesives printed on a solid background, meaning they would block your view entirely if placed on your window. Since this type isn’t translucent, you can mostly see these decals placed in car doors, hoods, bumpers, or on the body side.
Lastly, transfer and vinyl lettering decals mostly have the same properties in the application, installment, and material since their only difference is their cut. With vinyl lettering, your adhesives are individually cut-out pieces formed into a font or shape, whereas transfer decals are single-piece adhesives.
Moreover, you should be wary about placing too personal and specific car decals (such as a residence or a number of residents) since these can be used against you.
Vehicle Wraps
You can also get vehicle wraps if you don’t want to add adhesives to your vehicle. With this graphic, large sheets of vinyl are used to transform the whole appearance of your car. Moreover, wraps are all the rage since the market has surpassed over four billion dollars in 2021 alone.
You can opt for a partial wrap if you don’t want the full-blown wrap. Partial wraps are smaller than a full wrap but larger than decals, so it still has plenty of coverage. Thus, these wraps are the best solutions for those who want to cover a large area using fewer materials than the whole wrap.
Types of Vinyls
You also have two vinyl choices: calendered and cast vinyl. The calendered vinyl is thicker and is more sticky than the cast, but it’s best if you’re looking for a cost-effective wrap. On the other hand, cast vinyl best conforms to the curves and tight crevices of the car as it’s more stretchable.
Magnetic Vehicle Signs
Magnetic vehicle signs work like stickers and decals, but they’re made with high-grade, flexible magnets. These graphics are typically edited or customized according to your liking and printed with a magnetic backing. As such, these graphics can easily be removed and altered and even placed in the front, back, or side of your vehicle.
Branded Window Film
You can try the branded window film if you only want to change your windows. This type is applied to your windows to give them a darkened appearance, block heat and UV rays, or decorate them with a splash of color. Moreover, window films differ from window tints since tints involve changing the shade of your windows, whereas films are custom-printed and applied to create a new finish.
How Do You Choose the Best One?
Since you’ve already learned about the different vehicle graphics, it’s time to learn how to choose the best one for your car. Here, it would help if you considered your graphics’ costs and purpose.
- Costs: Adding all the graphics to your vehicle may result in a massive price, so it’s best to refrain. Before you choose your graphics, you should set a budget on how much you can afford and how much you’re willing to go over the budget. Doing so allows you to improve your car without hurting your wallet in the long run.
- Purpose: Knowing the purpose of your installment is always necessary. If you’re getting vehicle graphics for your business, it’s best to get decals, stickers, or magnetic vehicle signs. These types allow you to easily display your brand name, contact information, and product or services.
If you want to liven up your car, you could always choose vehicle wraps and window films to make it look brand new. Nonetheless, knowing your purpose for vehicle graphics allows you to impart your brand or message to the world.
Final Thoughts
Vehicle graphics give your vehicle its personality, so it’s only suitable for you to know the different types of each one. Knowing these allows you to decorate your car creatively and freely – all while staying in tune with your budget and purpose.
