Best time to put a sticker on your car

Car decals and stickers for vehicle windows can turn your car into a mobile advertising platform for your company. They’re also a great way to customize your car’s look, make it stand out from the crowd, or simply showcase your favorite sports team or a family portrait.

Whether your goal is marketing or personal expression, it’s essential to apply car stickers properly. You want the focus on your design and message, with no messy application or bubbles causing a distraction. Of course, you can take your vehicle to a car detailer to do the work, but if you learn how to put stickers on your car yourself, you’ll save yourself a great deal of money

Learning how to put a sticker on your car may seem complicated, but it’s an easy process. Choose your vinyl car stickers, or create your own custom decals using our free online design tool. Decal stickers for cars can be any size, shape, or color. Some are small and simple, while others are large or intricately cut into custom shapes that follow your design's outline. Apply your car decals using our guide no matter what type of decals you choose.

How to Put a Sticker on Your Car

For the best results, work with your car decals in a shady location when the temperatures are between 50F and 90F. Before applying the decal to your car, apply firm, even pressure to the decal so each of its three layers is firmly attached to one another. This ensures the decal won’t come away with the removable backing.

Step #1: Clean the Surface

Once you have determined the general placement of your car decals and stickers, clean the surface. Clean a much larger space than the size of your sticker so you can get the positioning precisely the way you want it. This step will prevent your sticker from having weird bumps and ensure it won’t peel or become unstuck.

Use a car cleaner and a soft cloth to get started. Rubbing alcohol is another excellent choice. It guarantees strong cleaning action and evaporates quickly. A 50/50 mix of water and rubbing alcohol cleans your car without damaging the paint, and without leaving a waxy residue that will impair the car decal’s adhesive.

Step #2: Position the Car Decal

Before you begin your car sticker’s placement process, you want to determine the ideal location for the decal. This is an essential step for the car decals to look right, especially if you use more than one. Positioning stickers for cars is one of the most important parts of the process.

Hold the car decal against the vehicle to get an idea of how it’ll look. Assess the overall position to see if the sticker will look better at another location. While evaluating options for the car decals’ placement, keep the protective backing on the sticker to protect the adhesive.

Step #3: Use Masking Tape and Soapy Water

Once you’re certain of the exact position for your car decal, secure it in place with a piece of masking tape. This tape will not damage either your car’s paint or the decal.

Now, fill a spray bottle with a solution of roughly 5% dish soap to 95% water. This “wet method” of car decal application is particularly helpful with large or intricately cut decals. Spray the car where you will apply the decal and the adhesive when it is exposed. The soapy water allows the vinyl car sticker to “float” as you position it to your liking.

Place a single piece at the top of the vinyl car sticker. This anchors the sticker in place. Now, lift the bottom of the sticker, using the masking tape like a hinge. Remove the decal’s backing, exposing the adhesive. Make sure you don’t touch the decal’s adhesive because it can become dirty, which impairs the adhesive and may introduce messy-looking bumps to your sticker. Spray the adhesive with soapy water.

Holding the bottom edge of the decal away from the car, slowly lower the decal to the vehicle, using your thumb to press and smooth the sticker from the center, working our bubbles to the edges.

If your car decal is small or has a simple shape, you can remove the backing at one time. But if it is quite large or intricate, take the backing off in pieces. Again, move slowly to avoid causing wrinkles.

Step #4: Smoothing Out Air Bubbles

Because we used the wet application for adhering the car decals, you can use a squeegee to smooth out any bumps, wrinkles, or bubbles. If your car sticker is small and you used the dry method (basically, without the use of soapy water), a credit card is a good tool to work out bubbles.

Step #5: Remove the Transfer Tape

Most vinyl car decals are made in three layers — the adhesive, the colorful sticker, and the clear top coating called the transfer tape. The transfer tape keeps all parts of the decal together and maintains proper spacing between components of the design. In steps 1-4, we left the transfer tape in place. Once the car decal is in place and all the air bubbles have been removed, leave the transfer tape in place for several hours or even overnight. This ensures the sticker fully adheres.

Then, gently lift off the transfer tape to complete the application process. Congratulations! You now know how to put stickers on a car like a pro!

Printmoz is your one-stop shop for custom car decals, air release vinyl wraps, bumper stickers, and more! With Printmoz, your imagination is your only limit!

So you want to place a sticker on your vehicle? This is NOT a job for a professional. Anyone could easily complete this process.

StickerTalk vinyl stickers and decals for cars are designed to be very forgiving during application. Location is everything and choosing the correct placement of your sticker or decal is very important.  Our stickers work great on the windows, on the bumper, on the trunk or almost any of the painted surfaces.

However, in order to stick well, they should only be applied to a smooth, clean and dry surface of the car that doesn’t have any sharp curves. For example, you wouldn’t want to try to curve the sticker around the corner of the vehicle bumper.

In this article we will discuss placing stickers on your car. We sell two types of stickers, but both of them utilize the same high quality vinyl that will make application easy.

Let’s begin!

How to put sticker on car:

Our vinyl stickers are the easiest to apply to your car because they are simply peel and stick, but designed for long life and ease in application.

1. Temperature is a very important consideration when applying your sticker. Too much heat and the sticker will become too flexible and be very difficult to get proper placement. If it’s too cold then the sticker will not stick well. So, before you begin, please be sure that the temperature is between 40 degrees Fahrenheit and 80 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Thoroughly clean the window or vehicle surface. Be sure the site is free from any dust or residue from previous stickers. Any dust or dirt will create an air bubble that can not be removed. We don’t recommend rubbing alcohol on painted surfaces, because it can remove your car’s wax. We recommend that you wet the area with just plain water without soap and a clean cloth to thoroughly clean the paint surface. If you are placing the sticker on a window, we do recommend using rubbing alcohol to clean the area, especially if you have applied a rain shed product to the window. This will help remove any chemical that may cause the sticker to fail prematurely.
3. Slowly peel the car sticker from its backing paper and apply it.
4. If you need to reposition the car sticker simply remove it and reposition as necessary. There are some surfaces that this will not work, such as paper, cardboard or other similar surfaces because the paper will peel up with the sticker.
5. Once you have your car sticker where you want it, firmly press it into place working from the center outward. If there are any air bubbles, simply smooth them out with your finger or thumb. We don’t recommend using a credit card as it may scratch the surface of the car sticker.
6. Step back and admire your new StickerTalk vinyl sticker. Laaaaaa!

Vinyl Car Decals with transfer tape:

Applying vinyl car decals is different than applying a vinyl sticker on your car. Decals are typically intricately cut stickers that have several pieces or small pieces that need to be kept in place by a transfer media. We don’t use the media that looks like masking tape. We use a clear PVC transfer media that will need to be removed once you apply the decal to the correct location. Since it is the clear media and doesn’t look like masking tape, it will allow to see the site that you are applying the decal and make it easier to get it into the correct position.

1. Temperature is a very important consideration when applying your decal. Too much heat and the sticker will become too flexible and be very difficult to get proper placement. If it’s too cold then the sticker will not stick well. So, before you begin, please be sure that the temperature is between 40 degrees Fahrenheit and 80 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Make sure you have cleaned the vehicle suface. It is important the the area is free from dust or residue from previous stickers. Any dust or dirt will create a air bubble that can not be removed. We don’t recommend rubbing alcohol on painted surfaces, because it can remove your car’s wax. We recommend that you wet the area with just plain water without soap and a clean cloth to thoroughly clean the paint surface. If you are placing the sticker on a window, we do recommend using rubbing alcohol to clean the area, especially if you have applied a rain shed product to the window. This will help remove any chemical that may cause the sticker to fail prematurely.
3. Slowly peel the car decal from its backing paper being careful that all pieces come up with it. If a piece of the decal stays stuck to the backing, simply lay the transfer tape back over it and press firmly with your finger to get it to stick to the transfer tape. Repeat this as many times as necessary to get all pieces of the decal to come up with the transfer tape.
4. Carefully choose the location for the car decal. Decals can not be easily removed and repositioned.
5. Firmly press the car decal into place working from the center outward across the entire surface using a finger, squeegee or credit card. If bubbles are present simply smooth them out with your finger or thumb.
6. Important: Now remove the transfer tape by slowing peeling it away. Make sure that any small pieces don’t peel up with the transfer tape. If they do, simply lay it back over the surface and firmly rub the offending piece. Repeat until all pieces are securely in place on your surface.
7. Inspect the car decal for bubbles. If there are any bubbles, simply smooth them out with a thumb or finger.
8. Step back and admire your new StickerTalk vinyl decal. Laaaaaa!

Where NOT to apply a sticker on your car.

Surfaces that are not flat

Sharply curved areas could cause your sticker or decal to fail.

Fabric Seats and Headrests

The surface of the seat will not allow the adhesive to properly adhere.

Leather Seats and Headrests

The leather is treated with conditioners that will not allow the adhesive to stick properly.

Sun Visors

Just like the seats and headrests, you shouldn’t put stickers on the sun visor. They will begin to peel shortly after being applied.

Dashboards

These surfaces are commonly treated with conditioners that will cause the adhesive to fail.

Carpeted floor mats

The adhesive will not stick well to carpet.

Rubber floor mats

The stickers and decals will not stick to rubber.

Tires

As with the floor mats, the stickers and decals will not stick well to rubber.

Engine

Our stickers and decals are designed to handle temperatures up to 140 degrees Fahrenheit, but the heat from the engine will easily exceed that and will destroy your sticker or decal.

Tailpipe

Just like the engine, the heat of the auto exhaust will melt the sticker or decal.

Treated Glass

Windows that have been treated with rain shedding chemicals are difficult to stick to. These treatments leave an invisible film or residue that will prevent the decal or sticker from properly adhering to the glass.

Thank you for purchasing your Car Stickers and Car Decals from StickerTalk.

If you have followed the above directions, you should have a great sticker, in the correct position, that looks professional and will last for a very long time in most outdoor environments. It will be a fantastic conversation piece for family and friends and hopefully prompt some great interactions or at least a chuckle or two.

If you have any questions about our products or the proper process to apply a professional looking sticker, don’t hesitate to ask. We are always happy to answer any questions.