The Peeling Graphics Gathering

[Trailer Trash 2]

Oldguard, yes your words are true and the year was 07 at Flying Flags Rally. I just keep peeling them off every time we go out, just the bad ones. its almost white now other than the dark green decals which believe it or not are still hanging in there. I still love it even though its an ugly duckling due to the bad decals.
I did a complete wax job on my Monty (Myself) and that took a week so much a day, Gel Gloss and my 6 inch Porter Cable orbital sander with buffer and applicater pads ( no Sandpaper ) lol. a lot of work. very tireing job.
If Wayne used a window scraper to cut the currled edges off the decals and take the sharp edge off the blade by going over a wet stone on the edge, that way it wont grab the good part of the decal. He might be able to live with the defect.

[Flymutt]

Maybe it's just me but I don't notice that many SOBs with this problem unless they are really old. Like I said, maybe it's just me?

[uhftx]

quote:Originally posted by The Weekenders

I suspect painted on graphics would be immensely expensive but wouldn't that be nice!!

I recently saw another blog where the owners overhauled / upgraded their 5er SOB. I think they were up to 25k which included 3wks body work including painted graphics. That price included much more than just new graphics though.

[scattershot]

$25,000?!! I only paid $37,000 for my 2955RL!

[richfaa]

In 2013 before we purchased our Big Sky keystone said they did not have any graphics in stock for the early model years as Burlington Graphics did not produce them anymore. If they are not produced how can they provide them. Our solution was to put a later year graphic on our 2006 3400.I believe the 210/2011 graphics were a pretty good fit. We did not do that however and went with the full body paint of the Big sky. Keystone uses a new graphic company and I do not know what the record of that company is. The graphics on our 2006 3400 did well for the first 4 years began to peel and shrink on year 5 and fell apart at year 6.The graphics were in severe environments for the entire 6 years.

We have a friend that does graphics mainly on boats on the Great Lakes and those graphics are a far different quality. His comment on our 06 Graphics was..you got what you paid for. He said the 06 graphics were graphics that could be expected to last 4 to 6 years with proper care.

we were not impressed with how they apply the graphics at the factory. They are applied right on the line under varying environmental conditions.

[c214dick]

like in the movie ad for Jaws, "just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water", kind of applies to my graphic situation. I have made a number of postings regarding my problems and solutions. Well just when I thought I was finished we noticed the "Montana" on the street side is in really bad shape. Monte sat all winter in Illinois while we wintered in Fl. I knew I had a few more graphics to finish replacing but now I find this new one. If I ever complete the replacement process I will apply marine varnish as mentioned in a previous post.

[Carole]

To Rving2us There are many other SOBs that have had the peeling decals. We had 3 sunnybrooks, a 1996 , 1999 and 2004 and belonged to a Sunnybrook club. Nearly all the campers from 2003 to 2008 had decal problems and Sunnybrook did nothing about it. If you got new decals you paid for them as well as paying for labor. I have seen several other brands with same problem. I just pray our new 2013 Keystone product won't have this problem.

[richfaa]

Agree we see many SOB in C.G with peeling, shrinking and cracking graphics including Motor homes. I do not recall when Montana changes graphic suppliers any one have a report on the newer graphics.

[mopar1]

I have a pristine set of graphics for our 2008. Still in the box they came in. Why bother putting them on to have them peel off later?

[Gkerlin]

My warranty expired one month ago.

Saturday I was up on a ladder washing the bugs off that were collected over this winters travel to AZ and back...

All of a sudden my fingers snagged a couple of rough spots on the letters... guess what is just starting?

[mopar1]

quote:Originally posted by Gkerlin

My warranty expired one month ago.

Saturday I was up on a ladder washing the bugs off that were collected over this winters travel to AZ and back...

All of a sudden my fingers snagged a couple of rough spots on the letters... guess what is just starting?

Your membership to the peeling graphics club!

[scattershot]

Welcome to the club. We'll teach you the secret handshake soon.

[c214dick]

Even though I have the "Montana" to replace the newly found peeling one on the side, I will only remove and not replace it. I will finish the few graphics left with the new replacements but will not replace the "Montana" on the front cap. I'm not going through this again either. Maybe at the fall rally if Keystone sees enough generic Montanas they might step up to the plate. NOT!!!

[Carole]

Hey, Dick, that is a really good idea. Bet it would get their attention.

[richfaa]

The point is where do they get the graphics??? If they are not made anymore. Where do they come from??I know from a friend that has a graphics business that just about any graphic can be duplicated for a price. I am guessing but maybe Montana might provide a later year set of graphics that are still made. We considered doing that on our 06 3400 and I think the 2010 or 2011 graphic set was a fair match with very minimum shadowing. I had the feeling that if I chose to do that Montana would be helpful. Meanwhile the new graphics supplier may be of better quality.???It is worth asking questions.

[Rondo]

This subject comes up every year at the Fall Rally and so far they(Keystone) has not given us any answers as to why or what to do. Fortunately, we have a 2004 unit (so far) and the graphics are in great shape. There had to be something the manufacturer(Burlington) did to the graphics to change them or the glue used or a combination of both OR even some other reason but they just don't seem to be the quality of the previous years graphics! I was looking at some units at CW in Litle Rock while waiting for my front landing gear to arrive from Lippert and they had several newer preowned(2009 and up) units on their lot and everyone of them had peeling and cracking graphics. Something has to be done or something is definately wrong with the applications when they come out of the factory. Let's ask again this year at the Fall Rally and see if we can get an answer!

[c214dick]

Rich & Ron your points are well taken. You have my permission to ask all the graphic questions you want from Keystone. I will enjoy the inside of my unit as it is just as nice as when we purchased it. We bought it for the interior not the exterior. As this will probably be my last RV I will keep it mechanically sound and comfortable and appealing on the inside. As my graphics deteriorate I will take them off and clean the area where they once resided w/o replacing.

[richfaa]

We do not care about graphics anymore as we went with the full body paint. In my opinion I say how they apply the graphics at the factory is a contributing factor. They are applied on the line out in the open in a varying environmental conditions.

When did they change to the present graphic vendor and are these graphics going bad also.

[c214dick]

Whether they were applied improperly or deffective material is really not the point to me. Keystone tried to help by sending me free replacements which may or may not be the answer to my problem. Others have replaced theirs with the same results, some peeled again and others didn't. Assuming other SOBs have similar ptoblems than there is no real solution. My Cedar Creek did not peel and I'm sure the application process is the same. I'm only saying that as long as I have the comfort of a nice interior, I don't care about maintaining the "Montana" name on my unit any more. The only "Montana" on my rig will be on the curb side until it peels and than it will be removed and not replaced.

[bighornram]

I've been a long time member of this club. I traded my 05 Wildcat with almost no decals left. What was left was so faded they were only shadows of what used to be there. It resembled a FEMA trailer. I argued replacement until I was but to no resolve. I too had the mindset for the last 2 years that the inside of my unit was what was important and ours was still like new. It didnt' take long to notice that the decals were not the only UV casualty. EVERYTHING plastic was brittle to the touch. I made the decision to upgrade and swore to not have the UV problem again. My rig is covered and is protected with premium cover made from soft Sunbrella. This is an option as we are not full timers. Just another step in our checkoff list when we travel.