GRAPHICS KIT...any tips for applying?

meathead951

Member
Feb 21, 2007
3
0
**** THE GUY WHO ERASED MY OTHER THREADS :pissed: :debil:

Now on with my question......

Does anyone know any tips or tricks on how to apply graphics on a bike???

New or used plastics/better or worse?

ETC...
 

RocketRaccoon

~SPONSOR~
Damn Yankees
Nov 7, 2006
258
0
meathead951 said:
**** THE GUY WHO ERASED MY OTHER THREADS :pissed: :debil:

Now on with my question......

Does anyone know any tips or tricks on how to apply graphics on a bike???

New or used plastics/better or worse?

ETC...

You should probably take a second out of your very busy day and ask yourself why your thread got erased. While your at it...you might want to click on that thing that says "SEARCH" on the toolbar and see what happens. Just for the fun of it why not type in "GRAPHICS APPLY". Something magical will happen and all your questions will be answered. :nod:
 

DannyMoto07

Member
Apr 12, 2007
170
0
New plastics are easier to work with, considering they're unscratched and clean.

Old plastics will need a TON of prep work depending on condition and the ammount of sticker is still left on it.

1. Remove all the old stickers with a razor blade and heat gun. Don't get too close or you're burn through your plastic or set the sticker on fire. A hair-dryer on HI will work just fine. Peel it off evenly and slowly as to not tear the sticker into smaller parts.

2. Clean any/all excess stickum off of the plastic. Orange Clean, Goo Gone, Mineral Spirits, Nail Polish Remove and Rubbing Alcohol will all work just fine for this. Soak the stickum for a while by dabbing your remover onto a paper towel and patting the stickum with it. Do this three or four times within a 5 minute period. Wait another 5-10 minutes and take a sponge, brillow pad or 400 gritt sand-paper, WET IT WITH WATER, and then lightly scrub off the stickum... this may take 4 or 5 tries to get all of it. If your plastics are in good condition and have no scratches in them, skip step 3.

3. If you have deep scratches, in-ground dirt, or tarnished plastics, take some 200gritt sand paper and soak it in soapy water for a couple minutes. Douse the plastic with water and wet-sand the plastic using small circles and even pressure. This will dull your plastics, but don't worry about that yet. After you get the majority of your plastics smooth and clean take some 400gritt sand paper and repeat the same process. Next, get some 2000gritt rubbing compound (even carnuba rubbing compound will work NOT WAX). Apply the compund and rub it in like exactly like the sand paper only press a little harder. After one coat, go over it with a second coat using less pressure.

4. To remove any excess compound/stickum remover, use a paper-towel doused in rubbing alcohol and rub down the plastics. Take a drop of water and drip it onto the plastics... if the water beads up, you still have something on your plastics... the water should flatten out and sheet right off. Continue rubbing it down with alcohol until the water sheets off.

5. Now you can apply your graphics. MAKE SURE YOUR HANDS ARE CLEAN AND FREE OF GREASE/DIRT/WATER. Take one side of the backing off of your sticker and hold it up to the plastic... get it as close as possible and then apply it. Having half of the sticker un-covered will give you a second chance to get it right... plus, if you get one half perfect, the other half will line right up. After you get it lined up where you want it, remove the second backing and slide it in place. If you have excess air-bubbles use a wet squeegie, or a decal-roller and roll out the air-bubbles towards the edges of the stickers... If this doesnt work, take a needle and poke small holes in the air bubble. After the sticker sits flat, you wont even notice them. Just be sure to apply a lot of pressure in these areas so that you seal the hole with the stickum underneith (this way dirt/water wont get under the sticker). A hair-dryer will sometimes work to loosen up the surrounding stickum so that you can push out the bubble.
Another method is to douse the part in soapy water, fully uncover the decal, and then float the decal on the soapy water until it sits where you want it. Then use a squeege or decal roller to finally set the sticker. Either way works well.. the water-float is the easiest, but if you screw up on the squeege/roller part it's not fun.

6. Finally you can use your favorite cleaner/wax over the sticker to keep them protected from future damage.

Done.

Good luck!

Dan
 
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