Preserving Vinyl Banners - Any suggestions?

Preserving VINYL BANNERS - Any suggestions?

I have a number vinyl banners that I would like to preserve for years to come. Some are hanging up providing temporary decoration as shown below while others are rolled up in storage.

After several years, the cheap ones just totally disintegrate. They can hang up for years but as soon as you flex them, they just crack into a thousand pieces.

Can something like Armorall or similar protectant be wiped on to prolong their life? Any other suggestions? Thanks in advance.

+1 on this.

I have a Ford Motorsport vinyl banner that I purchased back around 1993.

I'm about to start decorating the garage. It's been rolled up for a decade or more. I hope it doesn't turn to dust.

but even then, assuming it doesn't, I was wondering how to keep it from yellowing and falling apart once I hang it on the wall.

thank,
Chris

I went through the same dilemma two years ago. My thought was the previous failures were from the banner secured in the upper corners and blowing in the breeze. My latest attempt was securing the banner with all the upper grommets to a piece of 1" PVC tubing, and hanging the tubing from hooks. Perhaps I pulled the banner too tight, but the upper corners cracked from the border after two years, and the entire inside fell out.

I did the same with another banner and it's still fine, although it seems to have more mil thickness.

Suggestions?

Never put too much thought into it. Certainly too dry and too humid would have their effects on them. You could try a protectant like armour all, but if the banner is screen printed, it might mess with the ink. You could try it in a small spot to see if worked or not, before spraying the whole banner. Remember to do both sides of it as well if it worked.

A buddy had a Valvoline Racing Oil banner that started to crack as other's have described. Our solution was to lay the banner face-down and cover the entire backside with heavy-duty clear packaging tape. Use good quality material from 3M or other "name-brand" manufacturer. This is not the place for the "dollar store" brand of tape! The tape served to strengthen the banner and is not noticable from the front. Ideally, a large piece of self-adhesive, clear vinyl would be faster to apply, but might be very difficult to avoid wrinkles. The banner has been hanging with it's new backing for several months with no problems.

Jim

I think the problem is the plasticizers in the vinyl don't age well, sometimes they oxidize or evaporate and migrate out of the material, I know the Smithsonian has a lot of trouble with this as they try to preserve artifacts from the space program and the plastic parts just fall apart. No magic treatment has been found.

Try to keep them cool and out of the sun, heat and UV accelerate the aging process. I don't think applying armor-all or similar product will help in any way.

I wouldn't hang any weight on them...seems that would put stress on them. Remember, these are usually made to be used for short times. This is just a thought; on some of the hot rod sites I visit, members have complained of their tires blowing out while sitting in the garage. Although the thought is that the tires are old, many of them use Armorall on their tires often. Could this cause a problem over the long-term.

The tires on my '58 are pretty old BFG's, but show no signs of aging at all, and I seldom use Armorall on them.

Look up a product called Aerospace 303 -

Many folks in the RV world swear by the stuff for the vinyl graphics on their rigs (I use it on those graphics, my tonneau cover, and many rubber/plastic bits on the truck too). So far very happy with it. I would think armorall, or any product containing petroleum distallates, would actually hasten the degradation of your banners.

I'd avoid armor all at all costs. I've had plastic parts disintegrate when i used it regularly in the past.

If its really important, lay a layer of tisssue paper over it, roll it so it doesn't touch itself and has no creases or folds. and put it in a tube mailer or some other sort of rigid tube.
Store away from extreme temps and humidity conditions.

I can't help much with the banners, because I have some coming apart too. But I can tell you that Armor All is BS and will likely do more damage. I'd use silicone spray before that. Check with some local sign companies and they may have some ideas too.

The Hot Rod Grille said:

A buddy had a Valvoline Racing Oil banner that started to crack as other's have described. Our solution was to lay the banner face-down and cover the entire backside with heavy-duty clear packaging tape. Use good quality material from 3M or other "name-brand" manufacturer. This is not the place for the "dollar store" brand of tape! The tape served to strengthen the banner and is not noticable from the front. Ideally, a large piece of self-adhesive, clear vinyl would be faster to apply, but might be very difficult to avoid wrinkles. The banner has been hanging with it's new backing for several months with no problems.

Jim

Click to expand...

I recently unrolled a Sunoco banner and found that it's falling apart. My first thought was to tape the back as you have described here. Haven't gotten around to it yet, but I don't see why it wouldn't work, other than my banner might be too far gone to save.

Thanks for the replies guys!

How they are held up: I agree with not putting to much stress on them. I've had a couple rip at the grommets (eyelets) and now I'm careful about pulling equally all around the perimeter to hold them wrinklefree. Even added extra grommets on some that didn't have enough. Grommet kits can be found at places like Lowe's, Home Depot, and HF for under $10.

Protectant: I love that 303 Aerospace Protectant and buy it by the gallon - works great to keep the plastic panels on the Avalanche looking new (and that truck has a bunch!). I might try it on a cheap banner to see what effect it has. Certainly wouldn't want to discolor ones that I actually paid good money for.

Applying some type of backing: Back when I was buying all my Stanley cabinets from ebay, they were also liquidating a bunch of large decals for a $1 each so I stocked up (why, I don't know). They were meant to be pasted on the floor of hardware stores and seem to be decent quality material. One size is 18x36" (Stanley logo) and the other is 12x96" (looks like giant tape measure tape). It wouldn't take many of these to cover the back of a banner that I really want to keep. I might give that a try on the '70 Chevelle banner I paid big bucks for. As mentioned, it will be tricky to avoid wrinkles.

Another Observation: I noticed on some banners, the material is cracking just where the silver is printed (aluminum car rims in picture), so maybe the different color inks play a factor too.

One last experience: My dad had an old STP race banner (from back in the sixties) hanging in our barn for the longest time. It looked perfect all those years as I was growing up - not a crack. When I finally had a garage of my own, I decided to "borrow" it because I figured he didn't really care about it anymore. Well, the instant I disturbed it, it crumbled into a million pieces everywhere. The "Lite" and "K&N" banner up near my ceiling did the same thing when I went to take them down and they were only up there 2-3 years. Out in the sunlight, I would have given them 3 months, tops.

What about the stuff used on car convertible tops?

I've been using Ragg Top on my car for years.

303 is the best

Perfect timing for this thread - I'm getting ready to hang a decent-sized (6' x 4') banner & am curious about the comments from shopnut & Rag Roc re: best ways to hang them. Do you guys recommend putting a banner on some type of frame (e.g. PVC) or just hang them from the wall with equal tension from all the grommets?

QBall68 said:

Perfect timing for this thread - I'm getting ready to hang a decent-sized (6' x 4') banner & am curious about the comments from shopnut & Rag Roc re: best ways to hang them. Do you guys recommend putting a banner on some type of frame (e.g. PVC) or just hang them from the wall with equal tension from all the grommets?

Click to expand...

I've made PVC frames, but mainly because its sliding or flip-up doors that the banners are being attached to. Follow this link to post #272 of my main build thread if you want more info on those.


For attaching the banners or checkered flag material to the PVC frames, I came up with this method that wraps over and around the backside of the framework:

The black pieces are little nylon ties that make the job easier (follow the link above for more info on them), but they could easily be replaced with wire or string. A short length of small diameter bungee cord gives just a little bit of tension to hold the banner flat and lets you move it on the frame for final adjustment. The bungee cord is probably only stretched an inch (maybe 2" for the larger banners), so don't over do it or it will rip the grommets out eventually.

The bungee cord also offers some "give" to allow the banner to expand and contract as the temperature changes. IMHO, this is important, and the ones that were just held up hooking the grommets over screws have ripped out. I think this happens because you tend to pull it tightly to get the wrinkles out, but then it is too tight once the weather changes.

Vinyl for signs is rated for how many years before it starts to go bad. The lower quality stuff is 2 to 3 years the better is 7-8 years. All the vinyl I have seen if left out long enough will go bad. All you can do is have the banners remade. Take good pictures and measurements and take them to a sign shop and they can make new ones. Ask them to use the longest lasting vinyl (its more expensive) or they will use the cheaper. It does help to keep UV off them as it accelerates the process.

I have 2 posters that I borrowed (swiped) at the 1974 Camel GT race at Road Atlanta.
One is still in a blueprint tube in my bedroom.
The other one gets displayed about 2 months out of the year.

Do not use any chemicals on vinyl banners unless you are instructed by the company who actually made the banner.