Hey guys, Well I've been thinking of going with a stripe kit from BMS for sometime. but I'm a little intimidated by the instal. I've never done anything like this before. Will this overwelm me? Or is it a fairly simple instal? Thanks guys!

 

Ever work on model cars or planes as a kid and put on those water decals? It's like that only much, much bigger.

I'm a dork and break more things than I fix sometimes. It took me a few days and a lot of patience, but it came out great. Keep plenty of the homemade solution around (I think I went through three bottles), work with one piece/section at a time, and take breaks when you get tired.

 

Installing large scale vinyl graphics is pretty simple. After you have measured everything out and made marks as to where the stripes should go. You find a nice shady spot and spritz the application area with "floating" solution. Floating solution is super easy to make. It's half and half water and isopropyl rubbing alcohol. You can also add some regular Windex to the mix to make it a little more slippery. Peel off the backing from the Vinyl and spritz the adhesive side with "float" then position it on the car. Make sure you completely saturate both surfaces so the vinyl will slide around easily. BTW, before you peel the backing off of the vinyl make sure to completely douse your hands with the Float solution. This way the oils on your hands won't transfer to the adhesive.

Next, set the graphic and start squeeging the excess water from the vinyl. Start from the center of the stripe and work out excess water and bubbles to the edges. If you have bubbles take a BRAND NEW razor blade or X-acto knife and make a tiny slit in the bubble use your finger to gently push the air/water out. If you have a section with tons of bubbles peel it back and reapply the "float" solution then squeegee again.

After you have all of the vinyl on the car park it out in the sun for a couple of hours to evaporate the "float" solution out of the vinyl. I usually take a scrap piece of the vinyl backing paper to protect the vinyl while I go over it a second time with the squeegee. you can generally get a little more water out that way.

Have fun. Remember it takes a lot of patience to apply vinyl.

 

Hey Caleb, did a write-up last month when I did mine. It's not a complete step-by-step, but I did go over some issues and offer some tips.

I had zero experience with vinyl, unless you count putting on some MX graphics on my son's KX65 a few years back.

I was going to contract the job out, but found only a couple shops that would do it for around $350 labor. I decided to do the stripes myself, save the $350 and apply it to my Shaker.

Am I glad I went this route? Yes.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Stripes & Shaker project complete

Complete project pics are in my album link in sig.

 

Bill great write up! I'll def be following that when I get the stripes.... one more thing guys, how well do these stripes work with aftermarket hoods? I'm guessing its no dif except for maybe having to cut the vinyl for scoops or what not

 

I had absolutely NO previous vinyl experience and I did mine. Key word = PATIENCE !!
Here are my write-ups too.
ROOF
HOOD
REAR DECK, SPOILER & VALANCE
FRONT BUMPER

The hardest part by far is the Front Bumper Pieces. A blow dryer helps SO much in that area.

An extra set of hands helps tremendously, especially when removing the larger pieces from the backing paper.

Take your time and it will come out great.