A guy here offers Avery woodgrain for my 1986 mercury grand marquis colony park. Is the quality of Avery ok? Are more expensive suppliers like 3M and www.woodgrain4wagons.com much better? Thanks! Ina
Mine was from Avery, and I'm happy with it. Others have had good experiences with both 3M and the other one you mention. They are pretty much the top 3, and they've all been doing it for a long, long time. It needs to be for exterior signage or automotive and the adhesives are usually of high quality. The Avery product and 3M were original factory products, if that helps.
Avery is a calendered vinyl film and is really not recommended for cars, if it works fine. The 3M High Performance films are cast vinyl which is what your supposed to use on vehicles. They print almost all the 3M cast vinyl woodgrain at Sharpline Converting but they only sell to dealers, print it on order because it has a short shelf life. I ordered mine through New Life Auto Trim. That woodgrain wagon places uses the same film, I can tell just by looking at the grain pattern. This explains the difference in the vinyls. http://www.signindustry.com/vinyl/articles/2005-07-01-Avery-CastVsCalendered.php3
My woodgrain from woodgrain4wagons.com was applied early in 2008 and is holding up great. And Mick's a great guy -- I highly recommend his fine work.
I notice that the New Life company states that they clear coat their product to a high gloss. Personally, I would not like that....the original wood grain on wagons is NOT a high gloss which makes it look more like wood. Good info on the cast and calendered, BV. That was educational. I STILL have not found a company that makes the actual color, pattern and finish of the original wagons. I don't understand why 3M doesn't still have the original stuff, or, at least, the ability to manufacture it??? If I had to restore a wood grain I would be lost. I don't think I have seen a restored wagon yet that had the exact factory wood grain look. Very disturbing.
Here are two possible sources: http://www.idsfinishes.com/ http://www.stripeman.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=Graphics&Category_Code=WGD
I ordered woodgrain from woodgrain4wagons. Just applied today. Looks nice but there was not enough material to do all trim. Fortunately the original woodgrain on some trim parts is in good shape and I had not removed it but if you look closely you can see the difference. I have to apply the trim, lights etc again, if I am ready I will post pictures.
Redneckratrodpat has a series of videos of him applying his Avery high gloss woodgrain on his sedan-nosed wagon. Not sure about the shiny wood but I bet it would grow on me. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qgDty8WRiU&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOe4a9OZLuY&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6Y64kVJD6Y&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWzczzfbF_E&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuMS-9fSecE&feature=related
Stand in Front of It -I'll bet after you get the trim and everything back on no one but you will notice the difference. As insurance, stand in front of the off color parts at a show!
Woodgrain for Wagons I would not recommend Woograin4Wagons. Basically he took my money and sent me junk plus a couple of the pieces were broken. If you want all of the ugly details I have a 4-page Word document that I can email to you. I will recommend T/A Truck Painting & Graphics Website: ta-graphics.com Brandon tagraphics@sbcglobal.net 262-691-1410 Brandon did a lot of work trying to match my 1963 Ford Country Squire wood grain -- both the dark vinyl and the light trim. It looks fantastic! Seeing this man work makes me think that he can do almost any kind of wood that you would like. Tell him John with the '63 Squire recommended him.
