I'm in the process of putting on my side stripe and it seems like the stripe are harder to work with than most of the other stripe and stickers I have done in the past. My stripe are Year Ones, that are about 10-12 years old (3M scotchcal film according to the backing) and pretty thin. I'm using a mixture of 1 quart water 10 (or so) drops of regular Dawn and a cap of alcohol mixed together in a squirt bottle. I'm getting a lot of little bubble that don't work out very easy, and the stripe will wrinkle if worked too much. The car is out of the sun. Would the cause of my problems be the:
1) old stripes
2) thin stripes
3) all the above

Just wondering if I should just buy new stripes before doing the other side? FWIW, I have stickered & striped several carts and race trucks and I haven't had this problem before.

Whenever I done stripes/decals that were rather thin on film thickness, micro airbubbles were always bothersome, don't be tempted to pinprick them to bleed them out, and avoid excessive pressure trying to squeege them out as that will wrinkle and tear the film,....just do the best you can, make sure to use filtered or bottled water for your water supply, you'd be surprised at the debri in city/well water(this could be your problem too?, debri to small to see, but visible under the film) either set the car out in the sun for a few days, or carefully use a heatgun to shrink the decal, this will remove micro airbubbles, if that's all they are?, if your water was contaminated with debri, then it's never going away...

No, its water not debris. I used bottled water. I also made sure the panels were cleaned & wiped (2x) and the decals were clean of dust & dirt on both sides prior to touching the car. The tail panel stripes were the same way, but its down to 3-4 small bubbles that will have to be popped.

Depending on how and where the stripes were stored, they can become stiff and brittle. I tried to install a 10 year old R/T stripe on the hood of a Challenger and it had wrinkles and bubbles that were impossible to remove. I had to pull the whole thing off. Newer decals are softer and easier to work with.

Take the car outside and let the sun do the job. Be patient and if you are lucky the mist will evaporate and the decal will level out. That is the best you can do now. If it wont work after a week or so you will have to peel it off and get new stickers...
Good luck!

Don't try to work the bubbles - time is your friend on this one. I did the large hood treatment on a Challenger. I thought I was being really careful, but I ended up with a lot of bubbles. Tried to work a few, got nowhere. So disgusted with everything, I walked away. Looked at it a week later, most were gone. Two weeks later, all the bubbles were gone. I even stretched the vinyl a little when I worked the bubbles. That healed itself as well.

Good Luck