Jim,
I removed the decals on my 98 Dak based on my previous experience
with decals on paint on my Toyota. After time, no matter what you do,
the vinyl will dry out and start to peal. A short time later, it looks
so bad, you have no choose but to remove what is left of the decal. If
this is done anytime after about the 6 month to a year mark in the
trucks life, the sun will have affected the paint enough that there will
be a "shadow" of the decal permanently left behind in the paint. And you
cannot remove the shadow, even with rubbing compound. So, if you really
like the marking, the best thing you can do is take the truck in to a
body shop and have them make tracings of your decals as templates, then
remove them and use the new templates to paint the markings back on.
This way, they will never dry out and start to peal off. And if they do
start to peal, you go back and make the shop honor their lifetime
warrantee on the paint they applied to your truck.
Another reason which was really secondary, is that to me the truck
just looks so much better without anything breaking up the lines of the
truck. If someone does not know that I bought the Sport and paid the
extra money for it, that is OK with me as it is my truck and I know
exactly what it is. And I do not like chrome, If anyone else likes it,
that is cool too, but I'm happy with it first.
BTW, I had to explain this to my wife as well. So, you are not alone
in questioning this procedure. It is just something I like.
John
98 Dak 4X4 Sport, 5.2L, Auto, 3.92 LSD, T&H Package, Power Everything,
Nerf Bars, Billet Grill, Rhino Liner, Snug Lid, DDBC, no factory decals,
but I did retain the Magnum V8 badge.
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