raredesign

Man what a day! I have had my car for almost a month now. I love it, but when I purchased it, I told them I wanted it striped. I had never had a ford before and didn't know much about mustangs...just loved them.
Obviously, I wasn't aware that there was no such thing as factory stripes, but they told me they would have them put on. I figured it would be factory, whether diecut or whatever.
They had some 3rd party dude hack it up, but I didn't notice until after driving it a bit and my adrenaline balanced again.
NOTHING IS STRAIGHT! Just by eyeballing it, things the stripes are not measured out right, whether a wider gap here, or a curve or jagged edge there. It is a not-so-exacto knife cut. I took it in and the 3rd party dude as well as the dealer manager took turns getting in my face, so i layed them straight. Now the manager is supposedly going to talk to the dude and see what they can do. In the meantime, I have the owner's number and I am going to have a little chat with him.
1) nasty homebrew cut-it-out-of-bulk stickers
2) 6 inches rather than 10 (not too big of a deal, but they didn't give me the option so I figured it would be like the shelby)
3) doesn't cover the bumper (I was given the excuse that it chips...does it?)
4) messed up corners on the scoop. (My mustang is red, so I told them they should have used 10 inch white stripes with a white scoop and then put a red runner down it just like they do with the shelby gt)

I don't know much about vinyls and if this chips or that, and what is factory appearance or not, but I would have at least been happy if it was DIECUT!...not a stinkingdollar storesticker cut to fit.

NewRoushPonyOwner

Well I can tell you that vinyls over the front bumper do chip like a mother and the hood ones are prone to chipping also. I think I had five or six spots all together after only 10k miles, I'm just now having them replaced and am planning to cover with the 3M clear protectant material. The original stripes were done by Roush Performance before I bought the car and they were FLAWLESS! Perfectly placed, no bubbles, etc. However the stripes were under the hood scoop rather than over and immediately starting showing wear and tear where the scoop's edges rub. Now that I finally decided to have them replaced through the local Dealership's outsourced graphics guy Im in the third go round of problems due to unsatisfactory application. What a pain! My advice is to have someone do it who REALLY knows what they're doing and who has done many mustangs before. I'd also recommend saving up for painted stripes, or even a clear coat over the stripes, they really do end up looking a lot more professional. Good luck to you no matter what...
peace,
Fatimah

raredesign

Thanks for the response, unless you are Turkish, then tesekkur ederim ;-). You might be Arabic though...just guessing.
Well, in my current situation, do you think I should just have them yank the stripes and then take it somewhere else? I think I paid about $350 at the dealer for them...no bumpers.
If I was to have the dealer's 3rd party guy do it, how much do you think the clearcoat is?

NewRoushPonyOwner

Well, its hard for me to really say what you should do. Chances are that if they redo it, it will be in generally the same way. Another thing about vinyls is some places sell kits (I would search around this site as far as where/how much) that are pre cut and have stencils I think too so maybe they wouldn't be able to mess it up if they had one of those! Or ask if they have someone with at least kindergarten level cut and paste skills who could do the job right this time! You'll have to spell it out to them word for word for sure if you want the stripes to wrap down to the bumpers, be done specially over the hood scoop, or have a clear coat over them. I'd guess the clear could run you in the hundreds just itself, going over five body panels (front bumper, hood, trunk lid, rear of trunk, rear bumper) but I'm really not sure. There are a lot of other paint/body people on this site who'll hopefully see this thread soon and give you more specific information. So... I'm not Turkish or Arabic, just American with a Muslim name from my father, what does Tesekkur Ederim mean? It sounds cool!
best of luck to you again.

raredesign

it means thank you ;-)