Road Signs, Traffic, Street, Highway, Parking, Speed Limit and Custom Sign Company About Grades

Local ordinances and your state, county or local DOT or highway departments dictate what grade of reflective sheeting MUST be used on signs. Please contact your regulatory agency for reflectivity requirements for all signs erected on public property (and in a very few communities, on private property).

Due to the thousands of different county and city sign ordinances, we can only offer the following GENERAL ADVICE of the various grades of reflective sheetings we offer:

3M™<> Engineer Grade 3270 enclosed lens sheeting (meets ASTM D-4956 Type I Specifications)
• Developed by 3M™<> in the early 1950s, an excellent product and is still widely used today.
• Often used in areas with little or no competing light, such as dimly lighted parking lots.
• Rarely used for regulatory signs (“Stop”, speed limit etc.) on Public Roads.
• Used where High Intensity or Diamond Grade sheeting is not required

3M™<> High Intensity Grade 3930 Prismatic sheeting (meets ASTM D-4956 Type III and Type IV Specifications)
• Reflects approximately 3-4 times more light than Engineer Grade
• Used in areas with a moderate amount of competing light such as well lighted parking lots or simply when desired for increased visibility
• For highway signs where Diamond Grade sheeting is not specified or required
• Modestly priced sheeting and an excellent choice for many applications

3M™<> Diamond Grade VIP 3990 Micro-Prismatic sheeting (meets ASTM D-4956 Type IX Specifications)
• Reflects approximately 10 times more light than Engineer Grade
• Used in areas with a considerable amount of competing light such as city streets or where maximum reflectivity is desired
• Required by many state and local highway departments for regulatory (such as “Stop” and speed limit) and other highway signs

Other 3M™<> reflective sheetings we offer include orange “work zone” sheetings for road construction sites and fluorescent yellow and yellow-green VIP sheetings for school zones and pedestrian crossing signs.

3M™<> reflective sheetings carry the best warranty and we believe them to be superior to their competitors’. Therefore, we do not will not use products made by any other manufacturer. For additional info, please visit the 3M™<> website.