Lee Umberger

Lee Umberger leads CDD Graffix LLC, the company behind Jeep Decal Store and its house brands. He is a Navy veteran who has designed, printed, and installed vehicle graphics since 2009, from cut decals to full wraps, and has run the crews that do the work. He oversees everything published on this blog.

Background

Lee started cutting decals as a sole proprietor in 2009 and incorporated the business as CDD Graffix LLC in 2020. Outside this trade he has owned and invested in businesses in unrelated fields, which is why the shop is run as an operation rather than a hobby. The shop operates in South Carolina, where every cut decal order is produced in house rather than outsourced or drop-shipped.

The shop runs a Roland print and cut system for printed graphics and a Summa plotter for cut vinyl, working in ORACAL 651 calendered vinyl for cut decals and ORAJET 3551RA with laminate for printed work. Lee sets the specifications the shop works to and still runs the equipment himself. The practical knowledge in these articles, which vinyl survives which climate, why a color changes the durability rating, what actually happens when you pull a decal off a repainted panel, comes from producing the work rather than from reading about it.

How the shop works

CDD Graffix is a small operation that uses outside help where it makes sense. Cut and printed decals are produced in our own South Carolina shop. Design work is split between the shop and a bench of contract designers who work to a written brief and have their output reviewed before anything is cut. Partner print shops handle paper products and work still in development, and tire covers, seat covers and sunshades are produced by an outside manufacturer, which is stated on those product pages.

CDD Graffix operates five brands alongside Jeep Decal Store: Collectible Decals, RoadGuard Covers, Coolvue, Polar Ridge and Wayland Forged.

On the trail

Lee drives and wheels his own Jeeps, a 1997 TJ with a 4.6 stroker, a 2021 Wrangler 392, and a decked-out Gladiator Willys Sport, and takes part in the Jeep Badge of Honor program, which is why articles about it on this site include real app screenshots, real errors, and a real badge collection rather than a summary of someone else's write-up. When something on this blog says "we tried this," it means exactly that.

Lee also turns up at Jeep events around the Southeast as an attendee rather than a vendor. No booth, no banner, just a chance to look at other people's builds and talk to owners who are into the same thing.

Editorial standards

Everything published here follows the same rules, and they exist because getting a specification wrong in this trade has consequences for a customer's paint, their money, or their vehicle.

Specifications come from manufacturers. Durability figures, adhesive types, and material ratings are sourced from Orafol, 3M, and the shop's own trade distributors, never from a competitor's marketing page. If a manufacturer's data is unavailable, the number is left out rather than guessed at.
Claims are limited to what the product actually does. No reflective, waterproof, or safety claims are made about products that do not have those properties.
Durability is stated honestly, including when the answer is unflattering. Vinyl lifespan depends on color and climate, so a single blanket number is not quoted.
Origin is stated accurately. Cut and printed decals are made in South Carolina. Tire covers, seat covers, and sunshades are produced by an outside manufacturer, and this site does not claim otherwise.
Fitment is verified against the actual product rather than assumed from a model year.
Facts that change get re-checked and re-dated. Where an article states a number that moves over time, it carries the date it was counted.

If you find something on this site that is wrong, we want to hear about it. Corrections are made to the article itself rather than quietly left in place.