Vehicle Graphics

cormie

Hi,
Looking to brand my new van asap. Has anyone any experience with any of the vehicle advertising companies and if so, who has come out best? It wont be a full wrap, just logo and text on front, sides and back.

As far as I know, there is plain vinyl and then reflective too. It'd be nice to be visible at night, but maybe some small spotlights would do the job better?

Also, I've seen before you can get magnet graphics that basically attach on to the side and then peel off. They are used on movie sets and all that. Does anyone know will these stay on until forcefully peeled off or if you go over 40km will the wind blow them off?

Any feedback appreciated:)

Gregor Samsa

Someone I know has those magnetic signs for her car (she has a Search and Rescue dog, and has to display the signs when she's on a call-out). As far as I know, there's no problem with them coming off at speed, but I'd say they'd be easy enough for some scrote to take them off when you're parked somewhere.

Also, you'd want to look into the legality of putting spotlights to illuminate the sides of your van. I'm not sure you can do that.

tc20

Cormie - we use www.beesigns.com for our vans (Merc Sprinter & Tranny),
i think there's something of a family connection with my boss. Work is spot on, they have templates for all makes & models of vehicles (im sure most graphic firms do), so its just a matter of telling them what model you have.
They're based in Greenhills Ind Est

cormie

Thanks for the replies. Hopefully nobody will notice they are actually peel off signs anyway:) That's good to know they stay on anyway, thanks for the info.

I wonder about the spotlights alright, who would I ask I wonder?


tc20, that's cool, I was on to them a few years ago and they seemed to reply quickly to emails and have a fair enough price. Good to see them being recommended now too:)

Stephen

What van did you get in the end Cormie?

tc20

Cormie - on a related topic, we got both our vans panelled by a guy based at Santry Lodge, cant think of his name, but im sure someone here will find out.

We have 3 reps in cars and two vans. The Tranny and all cars come from Fitzpatricks in Bray. Anywho, when we got the new Tranny panelled, they just send it to this guy in Santry Lodge. Top job, 10mil ply, varnished, and aluminium trim edging at rear & side doors (the varnish does hum a bit for a few days tho )
When we got the Sprinter earlier this year, we just went straight to yer man with it. Think it was around 500-600 euro,not cheap, but quality work.
You'll find Santry Lodge on the OS Dublin bible, iirc its near a big Tesco depot.

R.O.R

Cornie. I tendered for the supply of graphics for approx. 200 vehicles so have a bit of experience in this field. The actual graphics are fairly easy to produce and don't vary much from company to company, it's the vinyl that they are applied to and the quality of the fitters that make the difference.

How long are you going to be keeping the van for? Vinyl's tend to come in 3,5,7 and 10year. The company I used most would always go for a 5 year vinyl for a 3 year van and we ended up going for a 7 vinyl on the 200 vans as they were going to be on the road for 4 years. These went out with shiny gold lettering (you may have seen them around - quality team for a large Dublin based brewery) and that was very expensive to get a product that would last 4 years and stay shiny - you are best off with just full colour graphics unless the light replecting stuff is cheap enough.

The outgoing supplier for the old vans was print & display. There was a problem with the older graphics loosing there shine so we didn't go with them for the new vans. We also tendered with Vee signs who were proposing to use a 3 year film. Worked out much cheaper but they wouldn't gaurantee the quality would last.

Ended up going with Universal Graphics of Monaghan. They have a very fancy website http://www.uni-graphics.com/ (even features my old company Pajero Sport) and can help design the logo etc. Not sure how interested they would be for a single vehicle miles away from where they are based though.

Also did some work through bee signs for one of our companies without complaint, or if you are going to have the van ply lined (recommended) contact Van Equip (http://www.vanequip.ie/) as they can supply the whole package of ply line, graphics, tow bar if needed and roof rack / ladder / anhything you want to do to the van.

colm_mcm

I wouldn't bother with magnetic graphics, these are generally used on cars and small vans that are also used for social domestic use.

cormie

Thanks again, very good info there:)

Stephen, I should be getting a Ford Transit 02 with 70,000 miles, LWB Hi-Roof 330 model. It's white and in excellent condition exterior and hopefully engine (that I can't tell):o

It's actually already ply lined half way up and has a ford floor which is pretty good, has good grip and even has cargo hooks for tying things to on the floor, supposedly the floor itself costs about 1K new as an optional extra, and it has parking sensors too which also cost about 1K new:eek: I need a custom shaped bulk head I think though, should be able to design, cut and fit myself hopefully and then add in some things for keeping things like pianos steady and safe while in transit, don't want one of them toppling over:)

The reason I asked about the magnetic graphics is because I was thinking of getting a "poker.ie" set made up that I could apply when I wanted over the VanTasks ones which will be permanent. Would they still stick as well over another logo though? Also, do all sign companies generally provide magnetic ones too or would I have to go to a specialist for that I wonder?

R.O.R. I'm not sure how long I'll be keeping the van for really, is the longer lasting stuff generally a lot more expensive? I think Monaghan is a bit far so considering Bee signs have been recommended twice and were the crowd I was considering in the past, I may just go with them, unless a trip to Monaghan would reeeeally be worth it?

ballooba

Makes sense now. Magnets shouldn't be impeded by vinyl.

Will the graphics behing not be visible though? Or is there backing on the magnetics?

cormie

Yeah I'd have to probably just get the temps done on a full sheet, not cut out like, to both cover over the permanents and it may actually be the only way to keep them on anyway if there is a perimeter overlap to magnetise on to the bits that aren't covered by the permanent vinyl?

R.O.R

cormie wrote:

R.O.R. I'm not sure how long I'll be keeping the van for really, is the longer lasting stuff generally a lot more expensive? I think Monaghan is a bit far so considering Bee signs have been recommended twice and were the crowd I was considering in the past, I may just go with them, unless a trip to Monaghan would reeeeally be worth it?

Cornie, If you already have the designs I'd price up production and aplication seperatley and go for a 5 year vinyl for the fixed graphics - at least then it should alsways look professional or as long as you keep the van rather than getting a bit tatty after a couple of years.

If you price up production of the graphics with bee signs and with Universal Graphics if there is a massive difference then go with who ever is cheaper as long as they are using the same quality material. There are 3 different vinyl suppliers as far as I remember but I can't remember the names of them all. 3M are the best but also the most expensive, but one of the other companies is quite a bit cheaper but almost as good as 3M.

Universal Graphics are quite often in Dublin so could fit for you on site as long as there is somewhere well lit and under cover, or you could just go with the cheapest fitters. You don't necessarily need to use the same company for supply and fit - graphics can easily be posted.

cormie

Thanks again for the info, will look into getting 3M 5yr vinyl so:) I was talking to a guy today who happened to work in a company called Sign Right (I think they are just across the road from bee signs) and he said he could get them to give me a good price and it would take about half a day to get the graphics on the van.

cormie

Hey ROR, were Avary and Oracle the names of the other two do you know? If so, which was the bad one?

ballooba

That's Avery btw.

R.O.R

Only just seen this - Avery are the brand that are close to 3M in quality but cheaper. Don't remember Oracle so they either weren't in the running or were so bad that non of the suppliers recommended them.

cormie

Ok cool, thanks:) will let you know how I get on!