Transform your work ute into a professional mobile billboard with a custom ute tray signage kit, manufactured to suit your tray and supplied ready for DIY installation.
Our ute tray signs are made from 3mm aluminium composite panel (ACP) and printed with high-quality UV-cured inks, then protected with a UV-resistant protective laminate for added durability and protection against Australia’s harsh outdoor conditions. This combination aims to give your signs the most amount of life possible.
Whether you’re a builder, electrician, plumber, landscaper, concreter, carpenter, contractor or other Australian trade business, a professionally branded ute tray is one of the simplest ways to promote your business wherever you work. (and arguably, one of the least costly methods of 24/7 advertising!)
3mm Aluminium Composite Panel — Lightweight, Strong & Easy to Work With
Our ute tray signage is manufactured from 3mm aluminium composite panel, commonly referred to as ACP or aluminium composite sheet, sandwich board, alucobond, ACM, alu-panel, or whatever other nickname you might’ve heard for it!
This substrate consists of two aluminium outer skins bonded to a lightweight polyethylene (PE) core. This composite construction provides an excellent balance between rigidity, weight and workability, and is the very reason why it has become the ultimate substrate choice for Australian signs built to last.
Unlike a solid aluminium plate of comparable thickness, the polyethylene core keeps the panel lightweight while maintaining useful rigidity, making it particularly well suited to vehicle signage.
The panels are also easy to drill, cut and handle, which is important for DIY installation. You can drill your own mounting holes on-site to suit the existing tray structure, brackets or preferred fixing locations. Most of the time it’s as simple as un-doing your ute tray’s brackets, clamping your new signs in place, folding the brackets / arms back up and attaching them OVER the top of the signs. Effectively “sandwiching” them between your ute tray brackets / arms and the tray chassis itself. If you want to see a demonstrative video of how others do this, feel free to give us a call on (07) 5660-6221 and ask!
Why alu-panel works so well for ute tray signs
– 3mm overall thickness for a rigid, professional-looking sign
– Aluminium outer skins provide a durable printable surface
– Lightweight polyethylene core helps reduce unnecessary weight
– Easy to drill and work with using common tools
– Suitable for outdoor exposure and vehicle applications
– Flat & rigid surface produces a clean and professional finish
– Easy to handle during DIY installation
Your custom branded signage is printed using UV-cured inks.
UV-curable inks are cured using ultraviolet light during the printing process, causing the ink to rapidly harden rather than remaining wet or requiring conventional air drying. This produces a durable, immediately highly adhered print suitable for demanding signage applications.
Once printed, the signage receives a UV-protective laminate. The laminate provides an additional physical and UV barrier over the printed surface, helping protect your graphics from sun exposure, weather, abrasion and general outdoor wear.
This combination of UV-cured printing + protective laminate is designed for long-term outdoor use and is particularly important for vehicle signage exposed to Australian sunlight.
How to Measure Your Ute Tray for a Signage Kit
The best way to order a ute tray signage kit is to measure the actual available sign area on your tray.
Measure each panel where you intend to install signage:
Width: Measure the usable horizontal distance between the tray’s structural components, posts, hinges or other obstructions. (this is open to your interpretation as well, as SOME ute trays allow for easier / further disassembly than others.
Height: Measure the usable vertical area available for the sign.
Important: Allow atleast 5mm clearance around hinges, latches, tray doors and moving sections. This allows for movement, expansion and avoids pinching / binding during installation (trust us, that’s not fun!)
If your ute tray has drop-down sides, take particular care when measuring the sign height. You don’t want the signs so tall that it contacts, pinches against or interferes with the tray when the side is folded up or down. (unless you NEVER care to fold your tray down, in which case, the world is your oyster!)
NOTE: It is generally better to leave a small amount of clearance than to make the sign unnecessarily large and risk binding, rubbing or preventing the tray from operating correctly.
If you’re unsure about your measurements, send us photos and dimensions of your tray and we can help you determine a practical sign size. No extra charge, we’re happy to help ensure you get a better outcome.
Save Money with DIY Installation
Our ute tray signage kits are designed with DIY installation in mind.
The ACP panels can be drilled using conventional drill bits, allowing you to position fixing holes to suit your particular tray. (in most cases, people just push self-tapping screws straight through the sign and into the tray behind, which makes for super fast and easy install)
This means you don’t necessarily need to remove your vehicle from service or pay for professional sign installation. You can install the signs yourself at a convenient time, often using basic workshop tools.
The exact fixing method will depend on your tray construction. Common approaches include bolts, screws, rivets or other suitable mechanical fasteners. We include strips of commercial-grade EXTREME strength VHB double sided tape on the rear of your signs – this helps your ute tray signs remain solid and affixed in the spaces BETWEEN fixings. This also helps avoid vibration / rattling of the signs on your tray. It’s a subtle touch, but helps immensely with a more premium finished product. Because no one wants to be heard rattling up to the job site!
Already Have a Trailer? Create a Matching Signage Package
If you operate a ute and trailer, we can create a coordinated signage package so your entire setup has a consistent professional appearance. See our “box trailer signage kits” available also ready to order online, also FREE delivery on those kits Australia wide!
This package will help create a uniform appearance for your business ensuring that it all matches:
– Business colours
– Logo and contact information
– Fonts, graphics and overall branding
A particularly effective finishing touch is adding magnetic vehicle door signs to the front doors of the ute.
This creates a much more complete branded vehicle without permanently applying vinyl graphics to the vehicle itself.
The result is a fully coordinated ute + tray + trailer branding package that can be installed yourself, without vehicle downtime or the cost of having a professional signwriter install everything.
Artwork — AI, Canva & Existing Designs Accepted
You don’t need to be a professional graphic designer to order a ute tray signage kit. We understand as a small business the need to minimise costs and recognise the vast array of tools available at our disposal now to help with artwork generation, and we don’t shy away from people utilising these tools.
We can work with a range of artwork formats, including:
– ChatGPT & other AI generated artworks
– Canva designs
– Print-ready PDF files
– Existing logos and branding
– Other common artwork formats
– Raw Adobe Illustrator Files
If you’ve used an AI image generator to create a logo, illustration, background or concept for your signage, we can help optimise, clean up or fine-tune the artwork for real-world print production where required.
AI-generated artwork can sometimes contain issues that aren’t obvious on screen—such as low resolution, incorrect dimensions, transparency problems, unwanted artefacts or unsuitable colour construction. We have experience in identifying these issues and are here to help prepare your self-generated artworks for production.
Don’t have finished artwork? That’s okay. Contact us before ordering and we can discuss what is required to turn your idea into a suitable signage design.
Production & Turnaround Time
Once your order is received, production can generally begin within 24 hours when suitable print-ready artwork has been supplied.
Our typical workflow & total turnaround is approximately 3–4 working days which entails:
→ Order Submitted
→ Artwork/Pre-production
→ Approval of Artwork Proof by you
→ Print Production
→ UV Protective Lamination
→ Finishing + Trimming
→ Packaging and Dispatch
This is an approximate production timeframe and may vary during periods of high demand or where artwork requires additional preparation or approval. We always say, give us a friendly call either before, during or after your order just to check-in and ask for an honest estimation at that time for turnaround of your order.
Once your signs are dispatched, delivery time depends on your location and the carrier network.
Free Delivery Australia-Wide
Delivery is free Australia-wide on our ute tray signage kits.
We commonly use express freight carriers depending on the destination, service availability and size of the shipment.
Because large rigid signs need to travel through a freight network, we have extensive experience and take particular care with our packaging. Signs are prepared with edge and corner protection, securely packaged and appropriately marked FRAGILE for handling with care, before dispatch.
The aim is to ensure your finished signs arrive in the same condition they left our production facility. Our success rate for packages arriving to their destination in the same health they left us, is extremely high and we’re extremely proud of that. We regularly even send SINGULAR lightweight corflute signs across the entire country, and due to our care and extra efforts with packaging, they too regularly make it to their destination safe & sound.
Made for Australian Work Utes & Trade Vehicles
Ute tray signage is an effective form of vehicle advertising for Australian trades and businesses because your branding travels with you.
A branded tray can help customers identify your business while you’re:
→ Travelling between jobs
→ Parked at a customer’s property
→ Working on construction sites
→ Driving through your local area
→ Parked outside a business or development
→ Transporting equipment between jobs
Your ute is already out on the road every day – professional signage simply turns that existing travel into another opportunity for local business advertising and brand exposure.
What You Receive in Your Ute Tray Sign Kit on Arrival:
Your finished ute tray signage kit includes custom-printed 3mm aluminium composite signs, produced to your selected dimensions and artwork, ready for install with pre-mounted VHB double sided tape strips.
Each sign is:
Designed → Printed → UV cured → Laminated → Finished → Protected → Packaged → Dispatched
The result is a lightweight, rigid and professionally finished custom ute tray sign kit, ready for you to install.
Any more questions? Give us a call today on (07) 5660-6221!
