Vinyl wrap

jmar

Be good or be good at it.
Has anyone here done a vinyl wrap on there bike. I'm thinking about it on my sl.
 
I vinyl wrapped my tank and tail section a couple years ago. It held pretty well and was pretty durable. I pulled it off and replaced it with paint last year because I wanted a most specific color.

I worked at a sign shop, so I had a lot of experience wrapping vinyl. It was not easy by any means. I ended up installing the vinyl on the tank in 3 sections... so I had 2 seams running the whole length of the tank.

I show how I did it in this thread: http://kzrider.com/forum/11-projects/421861-79-kz400-cafe
 
Ok cool yea my pant job is beat and it's not original. I have wrap turn tables I customized my turntables I'm a dj so I under stand how the vinyl wrap works. Just was curious on durability and longevity. Every thing I read say the 3M stuff is real durable. I'm wanting kind of a unique look thinking about bush metal blue vinyl also using some pieces from honda repsol graphics kit. Kinda going for a modern vintage supermoto tracker look on my SL350
 
I have a buddy who has a wrap on his Aventador. It's held up very well. Easy to change if you want to asbwell.
 
I have the 3M black on the roof of my GTI and it has held up very well for a cpl of yrs...it has dulled out but can be rubbed out to a decent shine...
 
Thanks for the info guys yea i am going to wrap it with the 3M vinyl just trying to pick a color now. Stuck between the dark gray matte or the brush metal blue. Just on tank side covers and headlight bucket then i have some honda repsol cbr graphics im going to work with.
 
I just picked up the brushed steel for my tank. The stuff looks awesome in person. I'm impressed at the way it mimics texture and reflectivity. The 3M scotchprint is supposed to be easier to lay. My only gripe is that the company I bought it from sent me the 16" x 60" piece with the brush grain going horizontally instead of from top of tank to bottom. Thats not the fault of the vinyl tho...
 
JMar said:
Thanks for the info guys yea i am going to wrap it with the 3M vinyl just trying to pick a color now. Stuck between the dark gray matte or the brush metal blue. Just on tank side covers and headlight bucket then i have some honda repsol cbr graphics im going to work with.
Blue looks great.

Screenshot_2013-09-02-18-14-25_1_zps24f1b988.jpg
 
Does anybody have any pointers to lay this stuff? Ive done thick vinyl before, but it is VERY forgiving. My plan was to bondo the small dings in my tank today, and wrap tomorrow. I was reading online and 3M recommends that you do NOT apply water to the surface before laying the vinyl. Also they said not to use a torch, but to use a heat gun. Anybody have any other tips?
 
I've always used water, even with 3m stuff. Hmm... don't know why they'd say that. Those window tint installation kits they sell at autozone or o'reilly's work good for applying vinyl.
 
No problem. I have wrapped my turn tables with the carbon fiber 3m vinyl to customize them and i was also told not to use water its not a window tint. Clean the surface with rubbing alcohol then apply the vinyl in small sections working out the wrinkles with a heat gun pulling in different directions for curved surfaces. I use a hair drier but the turn tables were flat so it laid real easy. The material is easy to work with once you heat it up just takes time to smooth out the wrinkles. I decided on the brush metal blue would look kinda unique on an old Sl.
 
Oh no doubt. The blue will look nice for sure. I'm always a fan of a nice, glassy finish paint job, but I think the wrap will get me through the fall so that I can paint this winter. I've been so stoked to ride I'm about to take my 550 out with primer and bondo...
 
This seems like a good option. I'll keep an eye on the topic and if it goes well for you, I might try this on my gas tank :D
 
Update: As it turns out, it's very difficult to lay this stuff on rounded surfaces (at least for me)...all I've managed to do successfully is waste vinyl...lol
 
pictures? I was thinking of doing a carbon fiber. maybe i will the the sign company do it so i cant waste it LOL
 
Beaner242 said:
pictures? I was thinking of doing a carbon fiber. maybe i will the the sign company do it so i cant waste it LOL

Here's a picture of the one piece I managed to not screw up. I don't know how else to say it other than that this stuff really mimics metal in a convincing way. At least to the mostly untrained eye...or at least my eyes...
 

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There is/was an AMA pro team that used to wrap their tanks and fairings and seats. I have no idea if they are still around, but they were Safety First and back in the mid 200s, they had a team based out of Chicago and all their bodywork was vinyl wrapped for a couple of seasons.

So it can be done, but I have no idea how they did it or who supplied the wrap. When I googled them, all I got was their Black and White scheme and no shots of the wrap turned up yet. I think that Jordan/National Guard team also uses wrap. Theirs is from Designstar3 according to http://23race.com/superbike.html

The web site http://www.designstar3.com/services/large-format-printing/ doesn't tell you much but might be a start for your search.

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Well haven't got any where on the bike yet after getting a few different color samples pieces of vinyl i
decided on a color. I also been looking into plasti dip the anthracite metallic gray just up in the air on the project.
 
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