I went with vinyl on mine. Wasn't sure how I wanted them, and cost effective compared to painted. Would like to have painted sometime, maybe if the money comes around. Currently thinking of changeing my flames, and get a vinyl graphic of a shade shifting dragon

 

if i had my choice and the equipment id paint graphics on,since i dont ill most likely use vinyl on the hhr and the camry eventually... then again who knows

 

What kind of person would pick vinyl over paint.Vinyl is for siding and old records.

 

 

A premium cast vinyl will outlast paint (the ones I use have an outdoor durability of 10 years; Even the best paints will be faded and dry long before then). At 2 mil. thick, a properly designed and installed graphic is thinner than brushed stripes too.

Vinyl has a bit of a bad reputation for many because of graphics shops and eBay sellers peddling disposable calendered vinyls and poor quality cast vinyls to the fast&furious crowd. Quality vinyl graphics and vehicle wraps will protect and outlast even the most professional paint jobs.

 

Vinyl. Its less permanent. May get more general interest when selling if its not all flame painted. Vinyl is like an above ground pool as part of a home for sale.. The new buyer can have a pool...or not....They have a choice. Choice is always good.

 

I think I would choose vinyl because I could change it if I wanted a new look.

 

There should be a 3rd option, "it depends". I could go both ways with this. And for many of the reasons cited here. How much money do you have? And how permanant do you want it to be? Is it a show car or a daily dirver? In other words, how "good" does it "really" need to be. In the end, its the look that really matters. I went with vinyl pinstrips and a small vinyl graphic at the end of the strip. I love the car, and I keep all my vehicles looking thier best. But at the end of the day, I'd rather save the money and effort for other things.

 

Vinyl works great because if you don't like it or get tired of it, just peel off and change the design. The only problem is if you leave it on for too long, say a few years, and you don't clean your car regularly, you'll have that funny discoloration where the vinyl used to be. Looks fugly.

But that wouldn't happen with this group. We're all anal about keeping our HHR's clean here!

 

I have vinyl'd my side markers to match body color. During the day, they blend in and at night the lamps still show through. Also have the overlays on the bowties. Painted white with black overlays w/ Chevrolet cut out block letters to show the white through. Wayyyy cool.