Alright guys gimme your opinions here. This summer I want to get racing stripes for my vista blue stang. White is the color I want for the stripes but I'm not sure if I want to get them painted or to get vinyl stripes put on. Tell me what you guys think. I was leaning towards painting them but not entirely sure. Thanks all!

 

Painted will always look better, and it'll be smoother to the touch. That being said, it's also going to be more expensive. My vote: paint

 

Here you go... here are some pics of my VB with the white vinyl. Just washed/waxed yesterday.









Here are the good things about the vinyl:
Cheaper. I got mine for 500 and I have heard of people paying almost 3k for painted (granted they looked 500% better).
The vinyl, surprisingly enough, has actually helped to protect the paint of my car. Your car is going to get little nicks and scrapes. But I've noticed the nicks in my stripes have just taken the vinyl off the car and the paint is still there. So there you go. Past those two reasons, I don't know any advantage. Some may not be able to tell the difference if far enough away but once you're close to the car, it's apparent they're vinyl.

 

80% sure that I am getting vinyl white stripes applied this summer. It came with them originally, but I put a few black tire wall marks on them. Baltimore vinyl is my thinking.

PS UFNAVY06, you should of went Orange stripes, to show your Gator colors.

 

paint

 

It costs more for paint but believe me you won't be sorry!

 

I have vinyl and eventually want to get painted. I think the painted looks nicer.

 

I would do Vinyl first, then once you are happy with the look and appearance, do paint. There are quite a few varieties of stripe out there, so vinyl will allow you to "play" with what you like.

I did Vinyl for about 2 years, then had them painted on. No regrets at all with going that route.

 

"Fryguy" ballpark how much did it cost to get your stripes painted??

 

Painted stripes look dramatically better than vinyl if they are done right. Proper wet sanding and clearcoating will produce a high gloss finish over the stripes which you are missing on any vinyl stripe job. Get vinyl if you are not keeping the car. Check the reflection on my clearcoat. You won't see that with vinyl. Painted stripes done correctly have no edge.

 

My car arrived at work on a Wednesday, and it went to the body shop for painted stripes later that day. No hesitation from me AT ALL!! Painted all the way. Knew I loved the look and wanted the stripes to look good for years and years, hence the paint route. Now with that said, it is more expensive. You gotta find a place that knows what they are doing (i.e remove bumpers, taillight buckets), hood and trunk lid. If they don't remove any of these things, go elsewhere.

With all this said, once you add stripes to your car, be prepared to have people stop you at gas stations, at restaurants, atm machines, etc. You draw SO MUCH MORE attention, its amazing (and fun). See my pics below for pics of my car. Stripes are 10" with a 2" gap, in Performance White.

 

Around $2000 -that included taking everything apart, sanding, painting and reclearing the whole top, front, and rear of the car.

 

People say I should get orange pinstripes on the car along the sides of the white. Maybe... I'm really back and forth on things I want to do with the car currently and some include new fascias and such which would require painting/restriping. So until I say yes or no to that stuff, no orange stripes.

 

I'm going with PAINT this time around with my new GT/CS. Vinyl was kind of a PITA and got scratched too easily.

 

Boy, I personally don't think there would be a choice in my mind but to paint. I admit I have vinyl rocker stripes but for whole car stripes, I would put my foot down and paint them on. There is a good point to be made that you may or may not like them after done, but I would be willing to bet a good chunck of change you will be in love with them. I have a painted hood (in gloss) and get so many compliments on it although it is not the normal "dull" finish for hoods, it really accents the black and yellow theme I have going on. And as stated before, you can have it block sanded to have it reflect just like the rest of the vehicle.

The choice is up to you, but I think throwing money into vinyl stripes is just tossing it out the window for what you REALLY would like to see when you look at your ride...

 

IMO, it's just personal preference. Do you want the quality and expense of painted stripes, or the flexibility to remove vinyl stripes if you get tired of them? Good quality vinyl should last 6-8 years... maybe longer if the car is usually garaged.

I only have a total of $450 invested in my 3M lemans racing stripes and rocker stripes (including labor). In a few weeks I plan to change the look by replacing the rocker stripes with a reverse "C".

Don't get me wrong, I love the look of painted stripes. But there are a lot of extra mods that can be bought with the $1000 to $1500 savings with vinyl.

 

 

It all comes down to money. I had vinyl (since I use to install signs for a living) at one point but now they are painted on. If you go painted it costs more to have them done properly ie: remove badging, spoiler, etc so they are not just masking around areas. Clear over everything and wet sanded so you can't feel an edge. If you are going to go the Maaco way and only spend a few hundred to get them painted, well, I'd rather go vinyl since you can always replace a crappy vinyl job easily. Can't say the same for a bad paint job.

Just look at the pics in my blog and you will see shots of when it had vinyl and then painted.

 

Great stuff guys, I appreciate the feedback. This makes me think more and more towards painting...