Unimpressed by vinyl stripes

I assume I’m not the only one whose noticed this, but why can’t Ford do better with the vinyl stripes?
I’m definitely not up for the $10k painted option, but the vinyl stripes make the front hood/bumper lines unattractive.
I mean, why not extend the stripes? Roll them over the hoods leading edge? Anything to make them look like one fluid stripe.
I’ll stick with a black roof and stripe delete on my next GT500.
-J

biminiLX said:

I assume I’m not the only one whose noticed this, but why can’t Ford do better with the vinyl stripes?
I’m definitely not up for the $10k painted option, but the vinyl stripes make the front hood/bumper lines unattractive.
I mean, why not extend the stripes? Roll them over the hoods leading edge? Anything to make them look like one fluid stripe.
I’ll stick with a black roof and stripe delete on my next GT500.
-J

Click to expand...

There is a reason why Ford did NOT extend the vinyl stripes and roll them over the hoods leading edge. Remember the 2020 Shelby GT500 is built on the SAME assembly line just like any other Mustang at the same time ( close to 60 car per hour). The assembly line rate is NOT going to slow down just because it is a 2020 Shelby GT500 nor the line workers would spend extra 30 seconds. The front leading edge of the hood is not a straight line and rolling the vinyl strips over would requires TONS & TONS of work to make it look right and there is no guarantee the vinyl would not peel or get damage during installation over the front leading edge.

Totally agree bro..... just seems to fall short or something.

Rolling vinyl over the edge of a body panel does not require "tons and tons of work"

That line is there on the $10k option too but not as bad.

It’s a plot to secretly piss off anyone interested in stripes so that the only viable option is $10k or a stripe less neutered Shelby.

No shelby is ever complete without stripes. Rumor has it for 2021, the stripes will be purposely be slalloming and multicolored red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple instead of straight lines in black or white to accent how well the car handles and plays well with everyone’s tastes.

It’ll finish with a new custom pony tail made of real pony hair protruding and hanging about 15” from where the current 2020 gt500 snake emblem exists on the deck lid. The hood fender gap will be 6” and in its void will be a commemorative plaque 6”x6” in size finished in pink gold and soft silver to commemorate all those killed or hurt by a stray pony at a cars and coffee.

If you get painted stripes, you’ll get some okboomer stripes reminiscent of a less open America. Price is set for $10k again.

Source to remain anonymous, possibly Chris Mathews from msnbc.

biminiLX said:

I assume I’m not the only one whose noticed this, but why can’t Ford do better with the vinyl stripes?
I’m definitely not up for the $10k painted option, but the vinyl stripes make the front hood/bumper lines unattractive.
I mean, why not extend the stripes? Roll them over the hoods leading edge? Anything to make them look like one fluid stripe.
I’ll stick with a black roof and stripe delete on my next GT500.
-J

Click to expand...

.
When the stripes were " free ", they were able to do a better job..
.

Poisonous West said:

There is a reason why Ford did NOT extend the vinyl stripes and roll them over the hoods leading edge. Remember the 2020 Shelby GT500 is built on the SAME assembly line just like any other Mustang at the same time ( close to 60 car per hour). The assembly line rate is NOT going to slow down just because it is a 2020 Shelby GT500 nor the line workers would spend extra 30 seconds. The front leading edge of the hood is not a straight line and rolling the vinyl strips over would requires TONS & TONS of work to make it look right and there is no guarantee the vinyl would not peel or get damage during installation over the front leading edge.

Click to expand...

The stripes are not applied on the assembly line.

biminiLX said:

I assume I’m not the only one whose noticed this, but why can’t Ford do better with the vinyl stripes?
I’m definitely not up for the $10k painted option, but the vinyl stripes make the front hood/bumper lines unattractive.
I mean, why not extend the stripes? Roll them over the hoods leading edge? Anything to make them look like one fluid stripe.
I’ll stick with a black roof and stripe delete on my next GT500.
-J

Click to expand...

I agree J.
It's like this on my '19 RS3 and it drives me crazy. My eyes automatically fixate on that every time I look at the car. Kinda cheesy, especially for the price of my car and the new GT500's.

Snoopy49 said:

The stripes are not applied on the assembly line.

Click to expand...

Do you know at what point the stripes get put on? Do you also know the actual proces?

The vinyl stripes are applied in the Mod Shop after the car has been produced, rolls off the assembly line. This stage of production won't show up on the tracking websites.

tones_RS3 said:

I agree J.
It's like this on my '19 RS3 and it drives me crazy. My eyes automatically fixate on that every time I look at the car. Kinda cheesy, especially for the price of my car and the new GT500's.

Click to expand...

Yes, the biggest omission is looking at any front pic of a vinyl car vs a painted car and seeing the break in the stripes on the vinyl cars. It just breaks up the front end in a negative way.
-J

I would skip the OEM stripes and have a reputable professional graphics shop fabricate and install exactly what I wanted.

These graphics shops nowadays can do some amazing custom graphics/stripes

Poisonous West said:

There is a reason why Ford did NOT extend the vinyl stripes and roll them over the hoods leading edge. Remember the 2020 Shelby GT500 is built on the SAME assembly line just like any other Mustang at the same time ( close to 60 car per hour). The assembly line rate is NOT going to slow down just because it is a 2020 Shelby GT500 nor the line workers would spend extra 30 seconds. The front leading edge of the hood is not a straight line and rolling the vinyl strips over would requires TONS & TONS of work to make it look right and there is no guarantee the vinyl would not peel or get damage during installation over the front leading edge.

Click to expand...

Do you honestly think that vinyl stripes are installed on the assembly line? lol

Have you ever seen the amount of work/time that it takes to prep the surfaces and install vinyl stripes properly?



.

biminiLX said:

Yes, the biggest omission is looking at any front pic of a vinyl car vs a painted car and seeing the break in the stripes on the vinyl cars. It just breaks up the front end in a negative way.
-J

Click to expand...

I agree fully.
It's kinda "cheap" looking in my opinion.

Stripe delete for the win.

gimmie11s said:

Stripe delete for the win.

Click to expand...

Yep. Much cleaner looking

gimmie11s said:

Stripe delete for the win.

Click to expand...

LOL
I've been thinking about it.

Snoopy49 said:

The vinyl stripes are applied in the Mod Shop after the car has been produced, rolls off the assembly line. This stage of production won't show up on the tracking websites.

Click to expand...

This was definitely true on the S197 GT500.
I’d assume it was the same for S550s.
-J

biminiLX said:

This was definitely true on the S197 GT500.
I’d assume it was the same for S550s.
-J

Click to expand...

I heard the difference between the S197 & S550 is the stripes for the S197 were applied by a contractor and Ford bought a machine to make the stripes for the S550 and is now doing the application.

I could be wrong about this, but I remember reading about it.

I’d pay a local shop to do it how you want over having it done from Ford

With the S197s, you can clearly see that, from the factory, they stop short as they approach the end of body panels.

When I had stripes applied to my 08 by a reputable shop, they ended up having to do them three times. Reason being, I had made them round the corners and complete the look rather than stopping short or overlapping two connecting pieces . . . and it didn't hold; the vinyl quickly began to pull up. They explained to me that this is why the factory stops short - mitigates risk of this problem. This is really the case on the rear of the early S197s as you go over the rear bumper and especially if you try to continue the stripe in the license plate area.

Another issue when the shop did it . . . as you move across body panels and make directional changes, an otherwise straight stripe can appear like it is no longer running in a true, straight line. You see this most when looking directly at the front of the S197 and follow the stripe down the hood, then parallel to the ground on the front bumper, then down the front of the bumper perpendicular to the ground.

The "kits" used at the factory compensated for that. But, in the aftermarket, you are reliant upon the skill of the person applying the stripe to stretch and caress the vinyl to appear straight to the naked eye.