I know a guy who does vinyl and tint for cars. Mostly commercial, but for some beer he'd do my bike.
Go for it! I'd do it for beer too, now that I know how it works. It is not a piece of cake --actually takes as long as painting or maybe even longer.
tips: apply vinyl in the sun on a hot day,
works easiest on flat surfaces, the more rounded it gets the more you have to stretch it.
Irregular surfaces or sharp corners to stretch over (like the fins) prolly not gonna look clean.
You need to cut around head lights and ram air and for that you need a BRAND NEW exacto knife. You have to have the touch to cut it. I never put a single scratch on my bike but I learned frisket cutting in airbrushing years ago. Vinyl is more difficult than that but it can be done----practice first, make cutting guides out of acetate for the ram air, and most importantly, just toss that exacto blade after it has cut 3 or 4 feet. they cost 30 cents, not worth a scratch on the clear coat.
Why does the whole side need to be replaced?
The Gen 1 & 2 has a small piece with the fins. You can replace those for about $90. The rest of the side is another piece and the lower is a third piece.
The Gen 3 has all one piece for the side (right?... looks that way to me). If you wanted to go back to stock after painting the fins you would have to repaint that whole part. Wouldn't be a neat job to just repaint the fins the OEM color. Usually it is cheaper just to replace rather than repaint fairings.
BTW I really like the racing strips on your bike!
Thanks, that really grabbed me from the start. There was a number of double stripe schemes back when the Gen 1 was news. Maybe we will start to see some flashy appearance mods again now that the 14 has a freshened up platform.
* Last updated by: Rook on 1/9/2012 @ 11:14 AM *
08 MIDNIGHT SAPPHIRE BLUE ZX-14 Now Deceased, will be resurected
2024 ZX-14R bran friggin NEW!