Vinyl Types

This is often viewed to be the most popular vinyl due to cost and the fact that it is ideal for flat surfaces, meeting most of the requirements of a large portion of signage requirements.

Its short to medium lifespan (2, 3 and 3 – 5-year durability) also fits most of the signage needs companies have.

Third Grade Grafitack 100 series was developed for short- and medium-term outdoor application lifecycle (2, 3 and 3 – 5-year durability) when applied on a flat background. This makes it suitable for commercial use on shop windows, for party decorations, seasonal offers, Chromadek signs etc. However, we do not suggest it for vehicle branding since the quality of the paint work of a vehicle has a massive impact on the vinyl and could remove the paint from the vehicle when the vinyl is removed.

The downsides to monomeric vinyl are that it can shrink slightly over its lifetime and if used on channels and recesses it will pop out or bulge because of its strong memory.

Why would you choose monomeric vinyl?

• Ideal for standard, flat applications.
• Can be lower in price.
• Short to medium lifespan (can suit most customer’s needs).

Why decide against monomeric?

• Not suitable for uneven surfaces.
• Can suffer slight shrinkage.

The tack on monomeric vinyl is permanent which makes it a very difficult and tedious task to remove from (any) a vehicle’s surface especially if it has been on the surface for more than a year – this can cause damage and on white vehicles yellow stains may be visible.

Second Grade Grafitack 200-300 series was developed for all outdoor applications of up to 5 – 7 years when applied on a flat, non-ribbed background such as sign-making on cars, boats and trucks, for decorations of shop windows and advertisement boards. It is also perfect for everyday advertising both indoors and outdoors.

As well as its longer lifecycle, another reason for its higher fee is that this vinyl won’t shrink over its lifetime and has the bonus of being useable on slightly curved surfaces.

Why would I choose polymeric vinyl?

• Longer life span.
• No shrinkage.
• Ideal for flat and slightly curved applications.

Why decide against polymeric vinyl?

• Can be pricey compared to monomeric vinyl.

This is the highest quality, premium type of vinyl.

They normally have an 8 – 10-year lifespan. Cast vinyl is soft, thin and flexible, which makes it ideal for vehicle dress on cars, vans, motorcycles, planes, corrugated surfaces, etc.

No matter how deep the recess you apply it to, you’ll have no problem with it bursting out at all. Unlike calendared sheets, cast vinyl will not shrink or pull back to its original form when exposed to heat (as in the case with a heat gun).

Why choose cast vinyl?

• It has a longer lifespan if applied over uneven surfaces, like pop rivets, deep grooves, notches, etc.

• It won’t bulge – even in the most severe recesses.
  • It is soft, flexible and thin.

Why decide against cast vinyl?

• It’s costly & will last the same amount of years as Polymeric vinyl when applied to flat surfaces

Although we print a double pass (layer) of ink on clear vinyl, the colours are not as crisp as in the case with white vinyl. However in cases of roughly 80% ink coverage on clear vinyl, this has an interesting and desirable effect. An advantage of clear vinyl is that when we print it in reverse and apply it on the inside of glass panels or windows, the panels or windows serve as lamination and no extra lamination is required.

We have approximately 80 standard pre-pigmented coloured vinyl to choose from. In the case where simple text or logos are branded in standard/spot colours, this vinyl is the best option to use since it is more UV resistant than printing and laminating vinyl. Pre-pigmented vinyl is available in a various quality grade. The most common to use is polymeric with an approximate 5-year lifespan in European standards. Polymeric vinyl will last just as long as the next more expensive option, cast vinyl, when it is applied to a flat surface.

This vinyl is most often used when branding vehicles, office and shopfront doors. Clients who prefer this vinyl, usually requests cut-out lettering. This type of vinyl is fairly durable and you can expect to pay around R300 per m² more than you would normally pay for cut-out vinyl.