krussell Posted January 24, 2009 Share Posted January 24, 2009 About a year after installing reflective decals on the back of my RT I snapped this photo. While the reflection looks dirty, the bike was just washed. It appears as though the reflective property may be degrading over time. Anyone else seen this? It's interesting how "perfect" the strips below the license plate appear. Maybe it's related to the curve of the sticker. The stickers appear nearly black in regular light, just as they always have. Link to comment
Tony_K Posted January 24, 2009 Share Posted January 24, 2009 Ok, I'm not going into the loooong answer but just the basics. Your vinyl is not degrading. Black has a relatively low retroreflective coefficient. After all it's black. White is 100 where as black is 30. Angles are everything in the reflective world. What you are seeing is differences in that angle in your photo the strips are best because they are flat and your flash hit them at the right angle. I can go on but that's pretty much it. Link to comment
krussell Posted January 24, 2009 Author Share Posted January 24, 2009 Makes complete sense. Thanks! Link to comment
EffBee Posted January 24, 2009 Share Posted January 24, 2009 Ok, I'm not going into the loooong answer but just the basics. Your vinyl is not degrading. Black has a relatively low retroreflective coefficient. After all it's black. White is 100 where as black is 30. Angles are everything in the reflective world. What you are seeing is differences in that angle in your photo the strips are best because they are flat and your flash hit them at the right angle. I can go on but that's pretty much it. Yup, that's it. To prove the point, notice that on the lower inside half of the saddlebags, the reflectivity of the stickers is almost equal to those on the rear finder. That's because the curvature down there puts them almost at 90-degrees to the flash of the camera, just like the fender stickers are. Try another photo, and be sure you're about as perpendicular to the saddlebag stickers as you can be. I'll be you notice the difference. Link to comment
Joe Frickin' Friday Posted January 24, 2009 Share Posted January 24, 2009 Try another photo, and be sure you're about as perpendicular to the saddlebag stickers as you can be. I'll be you notice the difference. For maximum perpendicularity, back away from the bike some more. Being close to the bike means the camera's view axis is really perpendicular to only a small area in the middle - the license plate, really. Back off 10-15 feet further and use the camera's zoom to catch just the rear of the bike. Link to comment
elkroeger Posted January 24, 2009 Share Posted January 24, 2009 For maximum perpendicularity... "Perpendicularity"! Ha Ha! I love it. Link to comment
VinnyR11 Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 For maximum perpendicularity... "Perpendicularity"! Ha Ha! I love it. That's "parallelalarity" sideways. Link to comment
BFish Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 For maximum perpendicularity... "Perpendicularity"! Ha Ha! I love it. That's "parallelalarity" sideways. didn't realize retired Prez Bush was a member of the BMWST.com. Link to comment
Silver Surfer/AKAButters Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 And it's all about conspicuity. Oh, wait a minute. That's a real word. Link to comment
Danny caddyshack Noonan Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 Oh but perpendicularity is a word, at least it's used commonly. It is used in creating mechanical drawings. It is used to specify how perpendicular one feature, like a wall, is to another feature in a machined part. Then there's cylindricity..... Link to comment
ERdok Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 In defense of Bush, er' I mean, Mitch. http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definition/PERPENDICULARITY Link to comment
VinnyR11 Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 In defense of Bush, er' I mean, Mitch. http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definition/PERPENDICULARITY Waddya know?? Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maximilaritized culpa Link to comment
EffBee Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 Oh but perpendicularity is a word, at least it's used commonly. It is used in creating mechanical drawings. It is used to specify how perpendicular one feature, like a wall, is to another feature in a machined part. Then there's cylindricity..... Not to mention quadrilateralistic, triangularity, trapzoidality, parallelagramistic, sphericality, rhombusmatistic, Icosagonistic, dodecagonularity, ellipsalismic, ovalarian, cubalistic (not related to Fidel), pyramidality, and of course the ever popular, prismalistatic. Link to comment
VinnyR11 Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 Oh but perpendicularity is a word, at least it's used commonly. It is used in creating mechanical drawings. It is used to specify how perpendicular one feature, like a wall, is to another feature in a machined part. Then there's cylindricity..... Not to mention quadrilateralistic, triangularity, trapzoidality, parallelagramistic, sphericality, rhombusmatistic, Icosagonistic, dodecagonularity, ellipsalismic, ovalarian, cubalistic (not related to Fidel), pyramidality, and of course the ever popular, prismalistatic. dodecagonularity...say that 12 times fast. Link to comment
Brian PDQ Signs Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 Just a little bit about reflective films. Depending on the manufacturer there are 3, 5, and 7 yr films and that is the durability of them. This is what the manufacturer has in their brochures that I get and what it really means is if something goes wrong in that time frame they will replace the material but I'm SOL on labor. Typically the better the warranty, the different way the material is manufactured and the thinner the material is for going over curves, rivets, etc. The thicker material is more for flat surfaces only. One other tidbit is to never put reflective graphics on WET, only dry application as moisture can't escape from the reflective material like it can on other normal vinyls. Happy riding! Link to comment
Eckhard Grohe Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 The instructions that came with my decals said to put them on wet. What is the downside of a wet application???? Link to comment
Tony_K Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 The answer is directly above your question in the previous post. moisture can't escape from the reflective material like it can on other normal vinyls. That's it. Result can be bubbles in the surface apperance. If you got away without bubbles you came out ahead. Link to comment
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