Graphics bubbles

You give your plastic a good clean? Metho and a clean cloth.

Slight mist and slightly warmed graphics with your Missus' (or yours) hair dryer. A cloth on your thumb and work the air out with the water. No cards or squeegees, that shit will scrape.

everything sounds good until the no squeegee part. we ship every package out of the warehouse with a squeegee to keep the installation easier. no problems of that yet...

d

I agree they're good, I just don't think they're foolproof, especially on curved surfaces, and for a perfectionist like myself or a business I avoid it, less chance of someone being upset through mis-use!

Take your squeegee and put (tape) a soft cloth over the end of it. You'll get the squeegee benefit and the cloth will stop the scratches. My buddy who has a graphic shop does exactly this and puts graphics on bubble free and scratch free every time. Best of both worlds!

Shane

Mreh, cloth on my finger works just fine... Horses for courses though!

for sure graphics are hard to do at least in my opinion. when i do i spray the sticker with some water but dont over due it cause this will cause more bubbles. once thats done and the graphics are situated you can start pushing/rubbing out the water from under the graphics, if you cant get the bubbles out just take a razor or a pin and make a small incision or hole to let the air / water escape , after that i let them sit in the sun for a while maybe an hour or two to let the water escape and let them set. After this some of the corners may peel up. This is where i take a lighter to it. but remember dont go over board you dont want to burn the sticker. just apply pressure till it sticks for a second and give it a quick once over with the lighter. This helps the graphic stick and almost shrivel up onto the plastic. After this just go and try to get any water / air bubble out with the needle / razor. you dont want to push them out the sides as this will reverse the lighter work you just did. After all thats done just dont disturb them. Oh and btw you can also use a hair dryer instead of a lighter if it can get hot enough. Ive also heard of people put the plastic into the oven for a while at a low heat. I have not done this as it seems a little overkill and knowing me i would probably screw it up. Thats what i do and it seems to work pretty good but i dont do it enough to get it absolutely perfect every time. If its that big of a deal to you i would get a professional do it, in my opinion its a dirtbike and your gonna scratch it and fall on it and its probably gonna stay perfect until the first time you ride. No one notices the scratches / bubbles anyway when your racing

Website is down....

Also, I am going to have to agree wit Crush. NO squeeguee. I am a perfectionist when it comes to applying graphics and I just align the holes then start sticking it down. Then I work from the flattest portion and use my thumb to push it out and into the curves. The adhesive on a lot of brands is so good that you can typically lift the graphic back up a few times and get it to apply. Depending on the bike, I do occasionally throw a little heat to them so they don't lift back up on their own. The KX rear fender was a pain to get around the exhaust side.

You can use a pin to poke a hole in the 'bubble'...then it should lay flat after you let the air out of it.

You have to be patient and use a heat gun or Hairdryer.

But here is a simple trick if you start on one and work all the way through the graphics might need to make to much changes. Usually shrouds are curved as the number plates.

I cut the paper in the back somewhere in the middle and start working from the middle.
this leads into that the curves you have to work through are not that huge its 1/2.

While applying I use a credit card or something else to wipe over the graphics.

Works for me.
Usually there are some smaller bubbles.
I use a needle and let the air release with a heat gun the result will be perfect.

Buy a heat gun for 20$ at Harbor Freight and you will be fine.
I would not recommend putting the plastics into the oven.
Plastic when gets real worm intend to change the shape if it gets to warm.

An example for applying graphics with now bubbles.
I just used a cutter, heat gun, a old credit card and 2 hours of my time.