Matte Graphics vs Glossy Graphics

In my experience, yes, matte scratches immediately and looks aged after one ride. High-gloss for me every time now. 

Hey @Martini_26 good question. Most of the companies use vinyl from company called Substance. We used them as well. Once they introduced the Matte laminate, we jumped right in. Few observations tho:

1. It looks amazing. For some designs especially Darker Black on Black kinda style, the Matte is just the way to go!
2. I am not sure if it was only a batch issue or what but the Matte overlaminate seems to be a tad thinner than the original Gloss one. You can even feel it when you open the fresh box and just touch the vinyl be removing the backing paper. It just feels little bit more flimsy? Thats the best way I can describe it
3. As far as the wear... It really depends on the skill and technique you have, but its not anything amazing. But we had guys who could rip through the glossy graphics after first and second timed practice anyway
4. Regarding scratching: You can definitely see scratches more on Matte. Its nothing crazy, its a dirt bike at the end of day, but its visible a little more than on glossy, bcs the gloss reflects a lot of light so you loose some imperfections that way. But if you plan on having them for extended period of time, the Matte tends to turn into more of a satin finish. When the Matte surface rubs against something it tends to turn a little more shiny. Also the scratches are shiner than the Matt texture, so over a period of time it can look very beat up.

So if you go for looks, on some designs the Matte is really nice, but if you want best performance for your money and still have somewhat good look longer, I would recommend Glossy graphics.

That's just my 2c. Good luck

I've run the matte look before. It looks awesome. I feel like it's give and take as far as how it wears. Since it's not as shiny to begin with, it doesn't lose any of that luster like glossy graphics sometimes do. But I did have some scratching, along with some marks from my old knee braces etc. Mine was on a white Husky though, so that was probably the worst color for that type of thing. If you are the type to change graphics each year, I'd try it out and see how you like it.

White would show the marks the least. like the other poster above said, the scratches show as kinda glossy marks. The matte looks awesome on the black and grey  designs, neon colors. Vintage bikes are also another time the matte finish looks really good.  But they are harder to keep new looking than glossy. We also offer textured as another option. The texture gives it a satin look or if you put SC-1 on it , its a little glossy.

The textured material that we offer, and some other companies offer is great at staying new looking. It will not show wear until you rub through them.   We call it Grippah ( Gripper said with a boston accent).   It is a textured finish like the sand texture gripper seat cover materials. It is more popular with the woods riders than the MX guys around us.Some guys love it, some hate it. I don't think it offers much as far as grip goes. But it will look the same after a mud moto as it did when you first put them on. People first started out doing it on airbox and sideplate areas. and then full bikes.  Ask your Graphics guy about it if you want something other than the glossy finish.   

 I just did the matte option I like the looks better

Negative. I would get black scruffs from my braces and boots (especially). The white matte got hammered. Still looks cool though. I like the finish.

@LLOYD22 love it. Looks great.

I meant as far as the stuff you can not clean off. You can clean off the black boot marks. But the scuffs that are in the surface of the laminate will show up more on black than white since they are kinda glossy marks.  After cleaning the bike the white will show less than black. Brake clear will shorten the life of the graphics , but it will get most boot marks off.   I tell customers not to use  the matte on bikes that will get ridden a lot no matter what the color is. Snowbikes, Snowmobiles, stuff that will not have as much contact , its great on those.  And looks awesome.   

The Gripper textured material is a 3rd option that not as many places offer. The above image shows the textured material/metallic gold combo. Its very difficult to see the flake with the textured finish. That is the material that I was saying hides scratches . Again I am talking after the bike is cleaned up. Not while its being ridden. But the texture hides everything no matter what color. It is just not a great option on chrome or with metallic colors as the texture hides the flake, and makes chrome look more like textured aluminium.  Its more of a love it or hate it look than Matte and Glossy are.

And Glossy will also look better longer than the Matte finish. You can use SC-1 or similar to bring the gloss back. With matte , after they have a scratch on them , there is not anything that will take it away that will not also change the feel of the graphics.  

I hear you. That is true to some extent.  But from my experience the black marks kind of embedded into the white matte. I could get them off w contact cleaner but much harder. On glossy it comes off easier. Just seemed a bit harder to keep looking good on my Husky than glossy.

I've seen that grippy texture stuff before. I think it'd be cool on certain areas, to try.

This "gripper" or "sand texture" material is indeed a good option for going matte regarding the visual enhancement if you really wish. From my experience its actually slicker than anything else, so you can't actually grip the bike between your knees properly even when its called "grip" .

But its true that some woods riders go for this especially as double up on some areas, as from my experience it has at least the same if not a slightly better wear resistance than standard gloss. The main issue we had with this, and that's why we didn't like to do the whole bike was, that in very sketchy places on your plastics, some edges around vents etc. you can't bend it as well as the rest. It will just not stick that good in tight areas. We had constant problem with this, as well as the bubbles underneath look the worst from all 3 options (yes most of them will disappear over a time). Me personally, I don't like the look of LINE-X look material on my bike, I would rather keep it just on the back of the truck. But I guess its just personal preference

 The laminate we use for the " Gripper" style graphic is NOT the Substance material. If you have only tried that one , that might be why you had issues with conforming it. We use the Convex brand textured laminate . And while it costs a lot more than the Substance version , it has been popular and is easier to install than the gloss. As far as bending around sharper corners.  Glossy is still the most popular , easiest to clean , easiest to keep looking new material for MX graphics that we have found. We use Substance materials for most of the other materials . But their textured material did not get a positive response from the same customers who like the brand we use. 

If you do not replace your graphics often ,and ride often, gloss is going to be the easiest to keep clean and looking good.  If you like the look of the textured stuff and that it will not show scratches it is an option that will also last well. But it can be harder to clean in certain cases. In the mud it will outlast most other materials. The texture fills with mud and then mud slides on mud, instead of sanding away the graphics. So in muddy conditions it can last longer than glossy.  But in dry conditions the glossy will often outlast the gripper.

 It also comes down to the rider too. Some riders can destroy a brand new set of graphics in a 20 minute moto, and others can put many years of time on them. Same bike , and materials.  If you tend to get boot marks on your bike, or notice wear happening quickly in any areas. Stay away from matte unless you do not mind replacing them more often. If you never get boot marks on your bike , and graphics normally last you multiple years , or you sell the bike before getting another set of graphics. And your willing to risk having graphics that may now result in showing boot marks , and need to be replaced sooner than normal. Then the Matte might work for you. 

If you dislike the way the textured graphis look, then there is no reason to get them. Other  than not showing wear as quickly. The material we use is slightly softer and more grippy than the Substance version. But not to the extent that it really provides aa noticeable amount of extra grip. It sounds like the person who made the post made up their mind on which way to go. But I'm sure there are a lot of other people wondering the same things. We have only used the Substance Matte finish material as far as trying matte graphics. There may be something out there that  works differently. But Matte finishes all seem to react the same as far as what I have seen with other matte finished surfaces. 

This thread is making me question my decision to try something new and go with matte for this new setup.. hopefully it doesn't look like trash after a few weeks. If so, expensive lesson learned I suppose. 

 I just had these made in the matte. And after the first ride they look like shit where my legs rub. I will be getting gloss next time. I will say it does look really good when they are new. 

I did matte graphics on my new bike because I wanted something "different" that was extremely subtle. A less glossy finish seemed like it would play into that.

What I haven't seen mentioned here that I thought might be helpful to include in the discussion is that the matte finish seems to have more memory than gloss. Being thinner and more flexible makes application a little easier, but the trade off is that if you try to peal away and reapply the graphic to get rid of a bubble or better line up an edge, creases and marks are left behind. If you try to squeeze air out of an awkward area, the crease from the bubble stays. Heat doesn't eliminate them. Luckily, since it's matte, you don't notice these imperfections unless you look for them up close.

As others have mentioned, they do seem to damage and wear a little easier as well. I thought the opposite would be the case because matte finishes in paints/coatings tend to be more durable, but the matte graphics really just seem like they're missing the extra layer of protection that the gloss provides. Despite that, I'd make the same choice again since I'm just getting into riding off-road and know my plastics don't have a chance of staying nice for long either way. 

The surface of matte finish is made so it has a very fine texture to it. And Gloss is made to be as smooth as possible. So when you rub the matte finish your making it smoother and that is why the marks look glossy.  If you like how it looks and don't mind changing them more often , its cool to have all the options that are available these days for graphics and plastic colors.

The marks that you got in your graphics should flatten out  some . If your able to have it out in direct sunlight , the steady heat will often "heal" areas of graphics  as far as things like small bubbles  and  similar issues.  There are a few different brands of vinyl that are made specifically for MX graphics , but most of them offer multiple thicknesses  in gloss and matte. The finish itself shouldn;t make it thinner or thicker, but the graphic company could have used a thinner version of the matte finish on your graphics. The Substance brand matte and gloss are both supposed to be the same thickness and I have not noticed it being thinner . It does feel softer to me to. They have to compromise between the material being soft enough to be easy to conform to the bike,and hard enough to hold up.  It seems like whatever is done to make the matte finish ends up making the vinyl softer overall . 

At the end of the day it is all about individual preferences and style and that's why we offer all these material options as you never know (:  Moreover, there are designs and colour combos that look better in matte than gloss and vice versa. 


 

     Mr. Tk40, that motorbike looks fantastic !  That is all .