So there’s been a few posts, some hints, a lot of procrastination *cough* I mean, jobs with higher priority but ultimately I’ve wanted to play with some vinyl wrap for at least a couple of years. The GSA has a couple of metal panels, one each side of the fuel tank in silver. The silver doesn’t really suit the area with the black and green around it, and through a couple of years of contact with my knees it was starting to discolour. Vinyl was an easy and non-permanent way to try changing it up and if I didn’t like it, I could remove it. Just remember that vinyl has a lifespan, usually around 3-5 years and varies with product.
A few weekends ago, the weather is forecast to be crap so I decide early afternoon Friday that I should have a crack. The only problem is there is zero time to organise vinyl but I knew my boss had some 3M carbon fibre vinyl lying around so I stole some of that and a squeegee.
Vinyl is something most can play with, and it mostly consists of patience and experience. Your first few forays may be a little clumsy, so try for something easier as your first attempt(s). It’s only when you taken a crack at some vinyl you start to have an appreciation for a simple looking panel, yet it isn’t flat in any direction and somehow you have to account for all the curves.
How you deal with the curves and the application will vary with the material you’re working with, but Youtube has some good videos with a 3M professional explaining some tricks and techniques. Vinyl has come a long way and now has channels for air to escape, can stretch and shrink and be re-applied. Carbon fibre is one of the harder materials, being a stiffer material that won’t stretch like the simpler ones. You also need to be careful with it, like gloss and other special finishes not to overheat, otherwise you ruin the finish of the material.
My first foray was with clear protection film. This was easier, cut the shape, soapy water between panel and film and work it until you’ve pushed the water out and the film is adhering to the surface. Then give it 24 hours to set. The first thing I learnt with the carbon one was that the soapy water wasn’t completely necessary unless you needed to move it around, as it wasn’t particularly in the bonding mood with the panel.
Being the middle of winter, the metal panel was cold and the vinyl needed heat to start bonding. The initial attempt to work the material onto the panel with just the squeegee failed as the vinyl lifted immediately and wasn’t conforming to the panel either, which had a convex curve horizontally and vertically (so the 4 corners would need work as the vinyl would bunch). With the approach clearly not working I turned to the heat gun (way more useful than hair driers) and with it set to gentle heat I warmed the vinyl and panel.
This started to yield results, but as mentioned initially, don’t overheat the vinyl. You can overstretch the vinyl, distorting the finish or ripping/tearing the vinyl, or burn the finish. More work and the vinyl started to take the shape of the panel. This is where patience comes in and since I wasn’t in a hurry, the first panel took at least half a day.
When the vinyl cooled it was stiff, but if you had worked it enough and it had taken the new shape then it cooled in that new shape. If you hadn’t worked it enough, it would start to lift and retract to its former shape… and you started working it again. Getting to corners and edges, you need to overcut the vinyl by at least 10mm, if not 25mm, to give it good grip on the other side and to avoid lifting. Practise will tell you how to cut and fold over corners to get the best result, but remember that once you’ve cut something off, you can’t put it back
Generally, you want to use as few pieces as possible for a nice finish - my panels for example were definitely one piece – but if the vinyl can’t stretch as required then additional pieces may be needed.
The one issue with my panels was the imprinted GS logo. My boss suggested I start there, pushing the vinyl in and then working out, but I felt it would distort the vinyl too much elsewhere. I started in the centre and worked out to the edges, and tried pressing the vinyl into the GS, but when the vinyl cooled, it would shrink and lie flat across it instead. You can see the GS slightly in the photo, but I’m not too bothered. If I’d used a more flexible vinyl, then I think I wouldn’t have had any problems.
I left the panels in the warmth of the house for at least 24 hours to allow the vinyl to bond to the panel and as a first attempt with vinyl I’m pretty happy with the result.
Originally Posted by Jane Omorogbe from UK MSN on the KTM990SM
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you can buy a 3m adhesive that helps the vinyl stick alot better 
The carbon fibre had almost no stretch...
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