How to vinyl wrap a Motorcycle Side Panel

Step 1: Surface must be clean and free from grease.

Step 2: Roll out your wrapping vinyl with the back side facing up and place your side panel on top of it.

Step 3: Now position it so that you have around 50mm-200mm excess vinyl around the panel and cut off the section of vinyl from the roll.

Step 4: Use a clean cloth and surface cleaner/isopropanol alcohol or similar to clean the panel.

Step 5: With the backing card of the vinyl facing up, unpick one corner and hold down the sticky side of the vinyl whilst pulling the backing card away with your other hand. Set the vinyl to the side and discard the backing paper.

Step 6: Place your panel in the middle of your work area or lock It in a vice to hold it in place if easier.

Step 7: Pick up your vinyl and flip it so the adhesive side is facing down. Drape it over your panel and stick down only to the face of the panel. Use the squeegee to press the vinyl firmly onto the middle section of the face but do not press to the edges yet.

Step 8: Now pick up one corner of the vinyl and pull it back about half way on the panel. Now press the squeegee down and slide/push out the air from the middle of the face to the edges as you lower the vinyl.

Step 9: Repeat for all corners.

Step 10: Now prepare your heat gun or hair dryer as you will need this for the edges and corners. Heat will allow the vinyl to stretch and wrap right tight curves and recesses. Although you can reheat the vinyl and stretch multiple times, be careful as it still is possible for the vinyl to rip and tear.

Step 11: Move your attention to one of the sides of the panel. The vinyl might have stuck to the side and look creased but this can be remedied by simply pulling the vinyl away.

Step 12: Heat up this vinyl and ideally with two hands, stretch it down to cover the whole side and squeegee as you go. If you get any creases, simply re-lift the vinyl and squeegee down again. If the creases persist, reheat vinyl and stretch over again.

Step 13: Repeat this all the way round. Please note you will find the corners on the side will be tricky and require lots of heat and stretching to wrap round without creasing it.

Step 14: If you get air bubbles along the way, you can either re-lift the vinyl and squeegee down again or puncture with a sharp blade and tease air out.

Step 15: Once the vinyl has been successfully wrapped around the sides and face of the panel, we can turn our attention to removing the excess vinyl.

Step 16: There are two options with how to remove the excess vinyl. Option 1 – Using a sharp scalpel/knife, carefully cut along the edge of the side panel removing the excess vinyl. Option 2 – Heat the excess vinyl and stretch it round the edge to the under seat of the vinyl and stick down. This way it wraps the edges too.

Step 17: Solid colour vinyl has a durability of up to 12 years and so it’s not necessary to clear coat over the top. You can do so to seal the edge of the vinyl to stop it from ever raising.