Graphic Images - Installation
Installing a graphic kit is a "bolt-on" mod any ATV owner can do. The process just requires a little patience and some solid preparation. In this post, we'll walk you through the installation of our Danger UK Graphics kit on the TPR project YFZ450R.
The real work begins with your preparation. The graphic kit you're about to install needs to be flexible, so the best way to prep the kit is to leave it in the hot sun for at least 15 to 30 minutes. We left our kit in its white shipping envelope and set it on the hood of our hauler while we prepped the quad.
Spray a generous amount of brake cleaner or contact cleaner on a rag and wipe down the plastics to prepare them for the new graphic kit. Be careful not to touch painted parts or to spray the cleaner on the bike, as these cleaners will remove paint.
Your kit should be warm and flexible by the time you've finished prepping the quad. Now it's time to start installing it. Here's where patience comes into play.
Be sure to line the kit up a few times before you start removing the backing and affixing the graphics to the plastic. Just remove a little of the backing at a time and gradually peel it back as you press the graphics onto the plastic. A squeegie or credit card wrapped in a towel will apply sufficient pressure to work the kit on and keep air bubbles from forming beneath the vinyl kit.
You'll need a hard, flat tool to use in applying the kit to make sure no air bubbles form beneath the vinyl graphics. My wife's cleaning scraper for her pizza stone worked perfectly. If you use a similar kitchen utensil be sure to wash it when you're done!
As you're applying the graphics, you're going to come across some spots where the kit just doesn't line up perfectly or may be a little too large to fit in some spots. Our Danger UK Graphic kit was practically perfect, but there were a few small spots where we had to make an adjustment by trimming the kit slightly. The most obvious was the right-side gas tank panel, where the kit was a little too long and covered up the hole for accesing the stock rear shock compression adjusters.
If you have to trim your kit, use a sharp razor blade and put a piece of cardboard behind the vinyl so you don't cut into your plastic and leave a mark.
The last piece of advice has to do with air bubbles. On a quad like the YFZ450R, you're not going to be able to eliminate every air bubble. The YFZR just has too many bends, curves and lines in the plastic to adhere a graphic kit with absolutely no bubbles. If you have to leave a few, go back after you've installed the whole kit and use a sharp needle or safety pin to put a small hole where the bubble is. The hole should let the air out and let the kit adhere to the plastic.
The kit made a huge improvement on the TPR project YFZ450R. After several rides, the black plastic on the stock YFZR rear fenders started to wear and scratch to the point that it looked like a 20-year-old quad. The graphic kit covered up the scratches and gave the overall quad a brand new look again.
The carbon-fiber print background of the Danger UK Graphic kit blended nicely with the stock YFZR plastics, especially around the tank and mid section of the quad. The graphic color scheme also fit nicely with the quad's black and blue theme.
Installing graphics on an ATV are much more difficult compared to a dirt bike, which has fewer body panels that are primarily flat with almost no curves, ridges or separate lines. Our Danger UK Graphic kit fit on the front of our project YFZR perfectly despite all the different cuts and ridges in the stock nose plastic.
For more tips on installing ATV parts, check out our How-To page at the top of the site.
The link knuckle, shown to the left, simply rotates back and out of the way so the stock shock can drop out through the swingarm. You have to remove the link arm, shown at right.
