How to Make a Vinyl Car Decal | Cricut Project

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Thinking of a little something for your vehicle? Here’s how to make a vinyl car decal.

You see them everywhere when you’re driving. People have little decals on their back windows. Did you know that it is easy to make using your Cricut? All it is, is adhesive vinyl.

What You Need to Make a Vinyl Car Decal

This is a fairly easy project that does not require a lot.

• design for your decal
• adhesive vinyl
• Cricut or any other cutting machine to cut out your design

I use permanent vinyl for this. You could use removable vinyl. Despite the fact that it is permanent vinyl, you could pick it off if you needed to. It may take a bit of work, that’s all.

My vinyl of choice is Avery vinyl. This is the vinyl that is used to wrap cars. It supposedly has a life of 4-5 years. So if you can wrap a car with it, you know a decal on your back window will work with no problem.

Be sure to pick a size that will not obstruct your view. Mine is a decent size and is in the bottom corner so it doesn’t get in the way when I am driving. I can always tell which car is mine in the parking lot as I recognize the decal!

How to Make a Vinyl Car Decal

This is pretty much like any other adhesive vinyl project. For details on All About Adhesive Vinyl, check out my post here.

Simply cut out your design and weed it as usual.

Since my rear window is tinted, I chose to make my car decal white. This seems pretty standard for most car decals, but if you have other colours, you might as well go for it.

How to Apply

As with any adhesive vinyl project, the surface needs to be clean. So be sure to clean your window. Rubbing alcohol and a cloth should be fine. Be careful of a cleaner with ammonia in it as the ammonia can make it challenging for the vinyl to adhere.

As most adhesive vinyl projects take a day or 2 to cure, try and pick a sunny day with no rain in the forecast for the following day as well. This way it can sit and cure.

I personally would only apply a vinyl car decal to my rear window. That said, I have seen some put it on the car body. Specifically, I’ve seen vinyl decals on the gas tank cover. My only word of caution with that is that your car’s paint gradually fades over time. When it comes to removing the decal, you will notice the difference in paint colour.

Now I made this decal a few years ago. I’m only writing about it now. I can honestly say that after a couple of years of rain, sun and snow, the decal is perfectly fine and looks as good as the day I put it on.

Want to remember how to make a vinyl car decal? Be sure to save this to your favourite Pinterest board.