Paint & Graphics

Great looking rigs can improve public perception.

BETTE GARBER
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

      According to a recent study, an estimated 42% of over-the-road trailers have no graphics of any kind, content to drive along undistinguished and ultimately unnoticed by a driving population that has grown 147% from 1970 to 1997.
      People do look at and read trucks. So says a 10-year-old study by the American Trucking Associations in which over 90% of people were found to notice words and pictures on trucks and three-quarters developed an impression about the company based on what they saw.
      Graphically marked trucks were perceived as safer, better maintained and better driven than unmarked vehicles.
      Noted truck painter Scott Bouma whose Grands Rapids, Mich., company, Scott's Signs, turns out spectacular murals, unique paint designs, and fleet graphics, notes, "You've only got one chance for a second look. Identification is critical in business today. You want people to look at you.
      "You don't have to use 15 colors, but the choice says a lot about what you're doing. Anybody trying to stay ahead of the game needs to reevaluate their paint and graphics every three to four years, even if it's just adding a new sparkle of color to the existing look. Eye-catching ... that's what it's all about."
      Vibrant truck graphics make an impact on shippers and consignees, says Bouma. "When a product is picked up or delivered by a clean, quality piece of equipment, people associate it with quality freight. People don't expect junk to be hauled in a truck like that."
      Since the ATA study, new products have emerged in the graphics pipeline to help trucks stand taller and make a greater impact. These new image-enhancers are attractively priced, easier to apply and remove, more colorful and versatile, even changeable and reusable.

Turning Trailers Into Ad Gold
      Once the domain of city delivery trucks and buses, truckside graphics (full trailerside murals and back door graphics) have already begun branching out into long haul, so far mostly on private carriers. But that is bound to change.
      Truckside advertising is touted as the next wave in mobile advertising opportunities. New products and materials are coming into the market that make "wrapping" a truck with strong visual graphic messages quick, easy, and economical.
      "Large full-coverage graphics on the side of a fleet are a great way for companies to complement their current advertising programs," suggests 3M's Anthony Carrozzella, fleet and OEM products.
      Trailer-sides are being touted as an added profit center for fleets. The potential for truckside-earned income is virtually limitless: a fleet's own self-marketing message, co-op arrangements with dedicated shippers, paid advertising by "outside" companies, even changeable/seasonal graphics. Here's another option — trailers in need of repainting now have the option to be speedily "wrapped" in new color and graphics instead.
      There is even a way to measure the effectiveness of fleet graphics. The Traffic Audit Bureau (TAB) uses Global Positioning and Highway Performance Monitoring System technologies along with specialized computer software to estimate how many people are reached per vehicle per day. These numbers are being used to sell companies on exploring the possibilities of using trailer sides for advertising.

Advances In Application
      One significant advance with the potential to drive down the cost of graphics application is a revolutionary graphics applicator, introduced last August by 3M Commercial Graphics. It rolls a one-piece 48-foot-long, full-color picture onto a trailer, front to rear, in about one minute. A few minutes later a second pass aligns the top and bottom halves. The applicator even covers and rubs down the rivets.
      What used to take 18 man-hours of manual installation can now be done in four using this applicator. Back doors, however, are still done manually. The new wraps can be applied to soft-sided trailers as well. Traditional four-color cut vinyl graphics can also be applied this way.
      In addition, the company is developing a way to quickly remove old-style trailer graphics.
      3M officials said they hope to have the applicators in the marketplace by third quarter of 2002.
      Another product entry into truckside imaging is TruckSkin, introduced recently by van body builder Morgan Corp. in partnership with digital graphics printing company Britten Media.
      TruckSkin is seamless 14-oz. vinyl panels of high-resolution digital graphics attached to a trailer body using patented SkinGrip mounting hardware, an aluminum framing system. A ratchet attachment tightens the graphic to the truck side. No adhesives are used.
      Quickly interchangeable, the TruckSkin system allows fast and economical change-out of truckside ads and messages, and the vinyl panels can be reused. Installation takes less than one hour. The full "skin" eliminates shadowing or fading which can occur with conventional decals and also serves to protect the trailer sides.
      Morgan truck van bodies will be factory equipped with the SkinGrip hardware and ready to accept the TruckSkin changeable graphic panels. Other van bodies can be retrofitted to accept the system.
      The company also offers DoorSkin digital graphics, a changeable back door cover system, "so simple to change it's criminal," says TruckSkin vice-president Joe Lapekas. "A truck's back door is the most valuable real estate for advertising," he explained. "The sides are great image carriers, but in traffic, it's the back door that gets read the most."

NEW VINYL MATERIALS
      Faster application and removal, brighter, more brilliant color, positionable — these are some of the recent improvements in graphic films.
      Advanced easy application and removal features of truckside film graphics were developed specifically for fleet marking. New vinyl films are now available from suppliers Avery Dennison Graphics Division North America and 3M Commercial Graphics.
      Avery Dennison's EZ Fleet Marking Films incorporate patented Easy Apply (EZ) Technology that makes possible easy application and repositioning, and minimizes wrinkling and bubbles. EZ films are 2-mil premium high-gloss opaque vinyl, 100% warranted removable without heat and no adhesive residue.
      EZ 1002 Fleet Marking Film is used for screen printing and offers 7-year durability. MPI 1005 EZ Fleet Marking Film was developed for superwide digital printing and provides five-year durability.
      3M developed Comply Performance, a film feature that makes high quality installations easier. It works via microscopic channels in the adhesive that allow trapped air to escape. By teaming 3M's repositionable Controltac adhesive with Comply channels for air flow, 3M says large format graphics can be applied faster and with virtually no wrinkles or air bubbles. In addition, the company has come up with changeable adhesive for short term exterior uses that allows easy removal for up to two years with little or no adhesive residue, without using heat or chemical strippers.
      Graphics films incorporating the Comply Performance feature include 3M Controltac Plus Graphic Film Series 180C, Controltac Plus Graphic Film Series 160C, 3M Controltac Plus Electrostatic Graphic Film 8620C, and 3M Controltac Plus Electrostatic Graphic Film 8640C, all durable, positionable, pressure-activated films designed for application to various truck surfaces.
      Changeable adhesive films are 3M Controltac Plus Changeable Graphic Film 3500C and 3M Controltac Plus Changeable Graphic Film 8655C.

24-Hour Vinyl Power
      Safety brought reflectives to trucking and film suppliers are hoping fleets will expand on the use of new reflective sheet vinyls for full-blown graphics that remain visible around the clock, dazzling the eye both day and night and marking trucks for ultimate visibility as well as safety.
      Avery Dennison's NV1000 Night Visible Film uses embedded glass beads to reflect light and make vehicle graphics pop. The glass beads bounce light back to the viewer along with the carrier's product or image message.
      From 3M comes Scotchlite Removable Graphic Film with Comply performance Series 680CR, a 7-year retroreflective film designed for commercial vehicles as well as striping. This film retains 90% of its dazzling reflective power even when totally wet.

PAINT POTENTIAL
      Use of a great paint color or color combination can also establish a dynamic fleet image. But it's a hard life for truck paint: running the road, getting dinged and scratched, enduring severe weather and road chemicals, not to mention surviving truck washes where brushes and hoses exact their toll.
      To protect equipment and preserve the factory finish, most truck manufacturers now send their trucks out of the factory wearing DuPont Imron polyurethane enamels, either Imron 6000 basecoat/clearcoat or Imron 5000 series single-stage topcoat. International uses Sikkens (AKSO Nobel) polyurethane enamel. Mack could not comment while undergoing reorganization.
      Nothing beats a factory paint job, one painter told us. "Manufacturers have the facilities to do the job in a way I can't in the field. The factory environment ensures truck bodies are totally clean before painting and they can bake the paints on for optimum hardness."
      At Volvo Trucks North America, Inc., Imron 6000 is used exclusively, offered in a variety of solid, metallic and pearl colors called "Reflections From The Road." The company is also open to creative paint combinations and some vinyl graphics, like those appearing on the new limited edition commemorative VN770 tractor-Great Dane trailer combo.
      Standard paint at Kenworth is Imron 5000 series, accounting for approximately 60% of total production. Remaining production is completed with Imron 6000, available as an upgrade option. Kenworth offers custom paint designs in up to five colors and customers can also submit their own designs. Custom paint represents between 10% to 15% of Kenworth production. Vinyl graphics are not done at the factory, but design kits are available through PACCAR parts.
      Peterbilt, Freightliner and Western Star also offer a wide choice colors in the two Imron systems.
      At Freightliner, customers' own designs are implemented if graphic layouts and color part numbers are provided. Pinstriping and small designs are not factory issue.
      Peterbilt will do paint striping in various colors, going through an exacting layering process to lay down the stripe. "Stripes are painted on as part of the custom look that we do. It is part of who we are," says Scott Pearson, Peterbilt general marketing manager. Painting fenders a different color from the body is an option.
      International offers one-color bodies. Custom colors and painting peripheral components, like steps or frame, a different color are offered as an option. Striping is not available.
      For repainting and custom paint jobs, a urethane rainbow of choices awaits. Signage specialists will pick and choose from a variety of high performance automotive finishes and custom colors from PPG, Sherwin-Williams, Sikken (AKZO Nobel), as well as DuPont Imron. And if their thousands of paints aren't extensive enough, Velspar's House of Kolor offers a mind-boggling array of Kandy Kolors, radical metallics, pearls, toners and bases.
      Continuing as one of the hottest color looks is color-shifting paint utilizing a patented light interference pigment called ChromaFlair, made by Flex Products, Inc. These are the paint colors that shift and change dramatically depending on the viewing angle. Sixteen paint companies worldwide market their own lines of color-shift automotive finishes, among them DuPont's ChromaLusion, PPG's Harlequin, Sherwin-Williams' MultiTones, BASF's RM Extreme Colors, and House of Kolors' Kameleon colors.
      The exacting manufacturing process, using thin film technology and millions of dollars in equipment, gives the resulting pigment its high saturation and strong color shifts. And it's also what makes the paints so dear to buy. For example, the OTC price for just one quart of ChromaLusion is $658. A pint of Sherwin-Williams MultiTones goes for over $300.
      This Spring Flex Products released SpectraFlair pigment that creates a slightly holographic look of shifting rainbows on a background of liquid metal. It's so new paint manufacturers have only just received samples, but it will appear in automotive finishes in the near future.
      Despite this specialty paint's price, truckers are finding ways to incorporate the color-shifters into their paint schemes. Most limit its use to small area accents like on fenders, steps, striping.
      Not Panelite's owner Les Barnhart. Three years ago he brought seven ChromaLusion-painted truck tractors to the Mid-America Trucking Show. Approximately 21 gallons of paint, donated by DuPont, were used. The value of the paint alone, at an estimated value of $2,200/gallon, was $46,200. Panelite paid for everything else, including clear-coating, and the total value per truck in paint alone came to $12,000 to $15,000.
      "We got a great deal and we are deeply grateful to DuPont," says Barnhart. "Those trucks really stood out."
      An economical alternative is to use color-shifting cut vinyl. Avery Dennison makes one under the name Shade-Shifter.
      Says Stretch, "Color-shift vinyl is roughly three to four times the cost of regular vinyl, but it doesn't take more time to install or cut, so it isn't actually tripling the cost of the job."