Hi Guys,
Where can I get a hood decal to look like the painted hood from the '10 Steeda Q Mustang?

 

any sign/decal shop can crack one out for you.

 

And you will be replacing it in a few short years when it starts hazing up or the edges get nicked up. Vinyl hood graphics are a royal pain to remove because they get both the heat of the sun and the engine compartment - I know firsthand on that Just spend the money now and have a decent paint shop do it right. I had silver rally stripes (hands down the worst vinyl graphic color) and they went to hell in about a year - black will go for about five years (had them on my '04 Mustang) but then the graphic will be fossilized onto your hood. Paint is permanent and absolutely gorgeous

 

Thanks for your comments!

 

how about diy with some of that plastidip stuff?

 

I recommend this...but only temporary! I did this just to see if I liked my stripe design....I took it of after a week. Great idea to us something temporary to see if you want it painted

 

This is paint? Wow nice. How much did this set you back!

 

The hood stripes came to $1,000 even but Brad, the guy who did this is nothing short of AMAZING The shop is called Speedzone Body and Paint in Santee, CA and is definitely not your run of the mill body and paint but, a specialty custom paint shop. Most of his work is for motorcycles and watercraft but, he has several cars out there like the candy apple red Mustang in Fast and Furious 4, a Mustang build-out during the San Diego International Car Show, an several exotic cars. Considering he removed the old vinyl stripe which was a whole day itself and the superb quality of his work (all the lines is crisp and parallel with the surface is smooth as glass) he is well worth the price which was comparable to other shops I had quote it!

 

Fossilized onto your hood? First I've heard of this. Do you have any confirmation that this happens? I don't have a garage for my DD and I eventually will switch stripe patterns when I'm bored with my current one.

 

All paint fades...if you have a vinyl stripe, it is "protecting" that paint from the sun which will fossilize that stripe into your paint forever.

 

Well how can you prevent that from happening? Change the stripe every year? lol

Also I'd like to think that's covered under any warranty

 

The problem is removing the stripes. I had them go over the hood and trunk. I personally removed the trunk and that took me over six hours to do using steam and a product call vinyl off and a vinly scrapper. Problem is the stripe will come off in little pieces and the longer the stripe is on the car the smaller those pieces become. My stripes were on for just a little over a year. Here is the real deal, it will cost you more (either time or money) to just remove the old stripe. Figure if you replaced them every two years, in that time you will have spent about $700 where my painted hood graphic was $1,000 (of which probably $200 would be to remove the old stripe, and it will hold up as long as any paint finish. Also in removing the vinyl, you can do it the way I did our with a vinyl eraser but that will probably mar up the existing finish below so you would end up repainting the base finish (as was done in my case). Even with a year on, I had a slight fade which may be more noticable with other colors.

 

This is why I will never put vinyl on my car. I wouldn't spend a grand to paint my hood either though.

 

To each his own.

 

So if I wanted to eventually switch to rally stripes, the earlier I do it the better?

 

Clearly you didn't use heat to remove the old vinyl. Years ago I removed 14 year old side vinyl from a '92 S10/Blazer, and after buffing and some rubbing compound, you couldn't tell that anything was ever there.

 

No comparison. You are right side vinyl comes off a lot easier than horizontal vinyl because it is not as exposed to the sun or engine heat like on the hood of a car. Oh, by the way steam is very hot and it did help but the stripe still came off in pieces. Happy your vinyl removal went easy but your results are not typical - ask any body shop.

 

I took a hood decal off after 2 years and it came right off. I did notice that i could still see the lines, but after a couple washes it went away. My vinyl came off in one piece, but it was in 90 degree heat, so this might have helped. I've seen other cars with bad lines after removal though.

 

The day I took my rear decklid stripes off it was 105 degrees in San Diego. It may have had more to do with the color and the fact that it degraded so fast (why Ford no longer offers silver lemans stripes). I know the guy who did my hood took a day just to remove the hood stripe although he was going slow to avoid damaging the finish. My fade was minimal even though they were put on days after I got the car. The longer the stripes are on, the more the difference will likely be. I've heard buffing and sun exposure will help it become more even over time.