Old decals - making them stick?

So I bought some old stock sts decals a whole back. Finally finished the build and looking to fit them. Started with the head tube and all seemed well. Fitted the decal, rubbed it flat and proceeded to remove the top sheet. Annoyingly some of the decal came away with it.

Started the top tube decal, thankfully I had a spare one. This time I left it to get warm indoors, stuck it down on the frame, did a thorough job of rubbing it down and again some of the decal came away with the top layer removal.

Anyone got any tips for successfully fitting old decals?

They seem sticky enough, it's just the decal doesn't want to part with the removable top layer. I've been pretty patient and done my best around the edges but it's mid decal that starts to lift.

Keen to avoid this with the rest if I can, so any advice will be gratefully heeded.

Sorry I can't help. Gil is probably the one to ask.
I was wondering what old decals were like, I used to lend panels to a sign maker, they scanned
them and used the scans to draw the graphics to make decals, I nearly always got handfuls of
decals off him. I rarely ever used them, but I gave them away fairly often and if they had sat
in my garage for six months they were often useless. The carrier didn't come away completely
and where it did come away OK the sticker wasn't very sticky.

Re: decals

hi, my friend owns a printing and vinyl decal shop, when i have watched him applying vinyl graphics he rubs over the backing paper with a credit card like piece of plastic six or seven times.when you have done this peel the backing paper back from right to left keeping it as close to the frame as possible as if your folding it back over itself. also its a good idea to wipe the area before fitting with a little methylated or white spirit to remove any silicone based products you may have used in the past

Cheers. Wondering if I should apply some heat while I try and lift the top sheet? I only have one 'spare' decal.to play with now.

Just thought I'd clarify that it's not the full decal itself that is coming off with the top sheet, but a layer of the decal.

By this I mean that the decal colour appears to have been printed in layers. For example, the white of the GT logo seems to have been created in white, with black outlines to create the detail. It's the black outlines that are coming off, so I guess the issue is that the top layer of the decal is sticking to the top sheet and when I'm peeling this back, it's peeling bits of the decal off with it.

Any thoughts, desperate to finish the sts, if for no other reason that it looks a bit silly with the sts decal on one side of the top tube.

Re:

I once bought a complete set of OEM Specialized decals (the ones the factory won't sell any more) and thought I'd found the proverbial pot of gold at the end of the rainbow...

Uh-huh: totally useless!

Try removing standard masking tape from anything you've left too long: same thing...

...the decal is dried on to the carrier and that's where it's gonna stay, unfortunately. Oh Gil...

So I got them on in the end with minimal damage. How long they will stay is another thing. Heat seemed to help, still needed to coerce the decal from the top sheet with a sharp blade in some areas but aside from that and some annoying cracks in the decals, all fitted. I'll update my sts thread with the results.

ishaw":kwk87bl4 said:

Just thought I'd clarify that it's not the full decal itself that is coming off with the top sheet, but a layer of the decal.

Click to expand...

Only got this far and said to myself "GT".

Give me a photo and I'll try and help

Are they mine, someone else's or Original dry transfer, all this will make a difference

...reading again sounds like a water slide, this might be where you're going wrong

Thanks Gil. They aren't water slide just old/original decals from around 97/8 I would guess. Once the wind has blown them off I'm sure I'll need some more. Do you have any gt sts 1000 ds on file?