Car Stickers Printing from your file to the finished panel

Car sticker printing guide

Preparing a car sticker job for print

Most disappointing vehicle stickers trace back to one of four things: a guessed measurement, a low-resolution logo, the wrong material or text too small for the distance. Here is how to get each of them right.

Why have car stickers printed professionally?

A home inkjet sticker can look fine on the desk and fall apart after the first wet week on a car. Vehicle stickers need printing on vinyl made for outdoor use, with inks and optional lamination that cope with rain, road spray and washing brushes.

Professional printing also gives you control over the cut. A die line that follows your logo, or clean individual letters, looks far more like signwriting than a white rectangle stuck on the paintwork.

Finally, there is consistency. If you run more than one car, or plan to reorder later, the same file printed on the same specification keeps every vehicle looking identical.

What people print car stickers for

Typical car sticker printing jobs include:

• Sole traders – a name, trade and phone number on the doors of the family car.
• Small fleets – matching liveries across pool cars and sales vehicles.
• Motorsport and car clubs – member stickers, event plaques and sponsor panels.
• Dealers and garages – branded rear-screen stickers on the vehicles they sell.
• Personal projects – a design, name or piece of artwork for your own car.

Measuring, materials and cut

Measure the actual panel, not a brochure drawing. Door handles, swage lines, badges and fuel flaps all break up the space, so note the flat area you can use and photograph it with a tape measure in shot.

White vinyl gives solid, opaque colour on any paintwork. Clear vinyl lets the car colour show around the design, which works for dark graphics on pale cars. Metallic vinyl suits badge-style designs, and lamination adds a protective layer where washing and sunshine will take their toll.

For cutting, choose between a standard shape, a contour cut around the artwork, or letter-cut text with no background at all.

Setting up your artwork file

Supply artwork in CMYK at 300 DPI at the finished size, or better still as a vector file such as PDF, EPS or AI. Vector logos stay sharp however large the sticker becomes, while a small web image stretched across a door will look soft and blocky.

Convert fonts to outlines, or send them along with the file, and keep important text away from the cut edge. If you want to get close to a paint or brand colour, mention the reference so we can discuss how near print can get.

Not sure your file is suitable? Send it anyway. We look over artwork at no charge and explain what, if anything, needs fixing.

How good printing helps your vehicle work for you

A crisp, correctly sized sticker makes a small business look established the moment the car pulls up. Poorly printed graphics do the opposite, suggesting a firm that cuts corners.

Legibility is the commercial point. If a driver stuck behind you can read the phone number at a junction, the sticker has done its job.

Why customers choose AStickerPrinting for car sticker printing

Your file is checked by a person, not simply accepted by an upload form, and you receive a PDF proof showing the size, colours and cut line before a single sticker is produced.

Once you sign that proof off, production takes 10–12 working days and the finished stickers are delivered anywhere in the UK.