Question for those who know...

whats with cracking decals?

Not just cracking during installation, but cracking while soaking in water to release.

I tried the hardest stripe first...the roof striping.

It has to deal with small louvers at the rear, and over the edges of the door flaps.

I used decal set and soften, but the decals started cracking wherever I had to shape to the surface.

Eventually it had broken up so badly, I wet it and slid it back into the water (in almost one piece).

I tried more decal softener on the surface and tried a second application, but things got worse.

Eventually I cleaned it off and started masking for painted stripes.

During all this, I noticed that I had rubbed off a small section of the door decal.

It has been on there for a week or two.

I've made a repair, but it'll need some clearcoat to secure it.

I will try the other stripes, since they all cover flat (slightly curved) surfaces,

but as I said, I am seeing decals cracking while soaking in water.

Is this because they are old? or what?