I was thinking of ordering roof graphics for a new mini I'm ordering this week, and I was wondering what people's experience with them are. I was concerned because I heard that perforated vinyl graphics for sunroofs last at most 2 years with proper care, especially in a cold climate (as is my case). Is this true? How well have your graphics held up over the years?

 

I had a Texas Flag graphic installed on the roof of my Chili Red MC (no sun roof). Aesthetic Creations in Arizona did the actual graphic and a 3M certified tech did the install in Houston. It was awesome and they all did a fantastic job. My daughter then proceeded to peel it off last month when she bought the car from me. It had been on my car for a little over a year and still looked great. I would strongly suggest that you don't park your car outside a lot, though, and definitely not under a tree that "pees" a lot. Be sure to get a 3M product and get it professionally installed, and you can't go wrong. Good luck!!

 

I have a perforated roof graphic on my '03 Cooper's sunroof. It's been on since April, '04. I live in Ohio, and the car is always garaged, but it still gets into cold and other types of cruddy weather when I take it out for drives. I don't take any special care of it, but it still looks like new and isn't fading or peeling. I'm more than satisfied with it, especially since it cuts down on the inside glare thru the sunroof.

I just put a solid graphic on my new MCS' sunroof, just to see if there will be any wear difference down the road. AesthetiCreations made it for me.

 

The key, I think, is sun exposure. If you are able to park in a relatively shady area the majority of the time, your probably ok.

On the other hand, if you have 3M install it, then you have a guarentee! Sun or shade!

 

Stay away for harsh detergents and wax and hail. OkI put mine through hell it needed to be replaced after a year but that was maily due to hail storm it destroyed my grafic.

 

a good person to ask is dragonflyer.

 

How much light (as a percentage?) does the perforated allow through?

 

I have had my roof graphic on for maybe 2.5 years now, no issues what so ever. I would say the perforated graphic reduces the light by maybe 50% over just the tinted glass alone. Mine is black on the underside, and white on top with the graphic...so the black underside helps with the darkening from the inside.

I put mine on myself, no problems there either, just followed the instructions. No peeling or fading, although the car does not go out in bad weather days, as it is not my daily driver.

This pic is from a LONG time ago, although it looks just as good now as it did then. I do coat it with wax that has a UV component to it...4star is the brand, got the sealant from www.detailersparadise.com a local place here in the Denver area....same stuff I use on the paint. Never had an issue with the finish. I figure with the way it looks, it will probably last at least 10 years, if not much longer. Hard to tell since it still looks brand new after all this time.

 

I was at my dealer checking out some of their used MINIs while waiting on service for mine and noticed one of their chequered roof decals was peeling a bit... I like how they look but IMO if they're not painted on, they're not going to last as long. I park outside all the time too.

 

I put a static cling American flag on my sunroof about 2.5 years ago. In the last month or two it has began to come loose a little at the edges. It blocks the sunlight completely....but, to me it looks better than a perforated cover and keeps the interior cooler. I paid $55 dollars for it and would get another one if I could find a place that still sells them.

 

RaiderZA is selling a white static cling:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...74&postcount=9

 

My perforated vinyl flag from CooperFlags lasted 9 months or so before it looked so bad I took it off.

It had been sold to me by the previous owner of CooperFlags before he sold the business. The current owner suspected that it might have been made with substandard material even though I was told it was the 3M product.

The company that installed my flag does graphics on fleets of buses, trucks, etc. I discussed my experience with the owner of that company and he told me that even the best printable perforated material is designed for a side window application where it would not receive the most intense direct UV from the sun. He said that a small amount of degradation that would horrify a car enthusiast would be un-noticeable on a city bus, especially because the advertisements change every few months so the material is always fresh.

In the end, I was unwilling to try again with the perforated material.

Like resmini, I also had the static cling flag at one point. If I were to do it again I'd get the static and not mess it up by taking it off and removing it too often.

 

This is really kind of disappointing. Cooperflags basically states if you are in a hot climate or don't park in a covered spot during the day that your graphic isn't going to last at all. This was going to be my first real mod too. Guess not.

 

Duck,

If you have graphics constructed out of solid color pieces of vinyl instead of the cheap to make printed stuff, it has the potential to last many years.

If you must have the printed stuff, just think about it like a pair of shoes that you enjoy for a while until the wear out and then you replace them.

 

That post was from 2004...

 

So far we haven't had too many problems with ours. The biggest has been where the sunroof is cut out, where the piece of felt is, it peeled a little bit. Of course that is going to happen, but a little clear nail plolish and a squeege and that fixed it. The vinyl itself is very good quality. Dragonflyer installed it at the MOTD this year, guarnteed for 5-7 years!

 

Zero issues with my CF vinyl graphic. You have to protect these things just like your paint. I use the 303 aerospace protectant which is basically SPF 40 for your graphic. If you do not take care of it...expect failure.

 

Had my US Flag graphic installed by dealer, after 18 months one corner started to lift. It was the perforated type. My car is garaged. I didn't feel like spending $250. for another with installation, SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO......................I took my MINI ( CR/White Roof ) to my buddies body shop, we located a manufacturer of Epoxy-Primer for glass, sprayed a 2mil coating on the roof (after a thorough glass cleaning), painted the sunroof a matching white, clear coated, and WALAAA ! , INVISABLE SUNROOF..................looks great, and should last as long as the MINI. I wax it when I do the rest of the car. One unexpected result was, the inside glass of the sunroof, after painting, became a MIRROR, when I look up at it, I see the reflection of the whole interior of my MINI.............HFM

 

OOooooo, sounds almost kinky.

 

Mirrored? That sounds actually realllllllllly cool!

 

I went with solid vinyl over the sunroof after the failure of the perforated. I actually prefer it. You can't really "see" out of the sunroof with the perforated anyway, so why risk it? And the solid vinyl along with 20% tint all around keeps the car a lot cooler.

CooperFlags was the supplier/installer. Very happy with them.

 

You'd think MINI'd get the hint and start putting some sort of hard top type cover to slide in place for people who don't want all that "sunshine". I guess that's what the hard tops are for though, right? I've had a couple of sun roofs on past vehicles, so I knew I wasn't gonna be happy with that particular option. Just too hot down here in South Texas. I noticed the last time I had Chickadee in for service, MOTW had a ton of convertibles sitting out on the lot for sale.

 

I have a grey-tone Union Jack, full roof with perfed sunroof, graphic. I bought it from the original Cooper Flags owner and it had been on my car for 3 years with nary a bubble or peel. The perfed part filters about half the sunlight, if I had to guess.
Normally, my car is garaged, but last year we had a large addition put on our house. The garage was used to store building materials, so my car was parked outside for 6 mos. The perforated part started to peel last fall. I ordered a new graphic from CF again. The new one has much better printing quality and came with a small bottle of UV protectant. The new graphic has only been on for a few weeks, so I can't make a comparison in wear and tear.
Go for the graphic, use the anti-UV stuff or get a cover.