Tank Skins or....

Well I decided to give the Tank Slapper film a try. I ordered a set of those, and figured for the money it would be worth giving a try.

 

Thanks for that. My RWB came with tank slapper's from the po, I have had the bike now almost three years and the edges of the film are getting a little dirty looking so will be replacing soon.
John

 

My tank slapper film arrived today and I put it on. It was more of a PITA than I remember the first time. The sides went on no problem and getting the air bubbles out was easy enough. The bottom of the center film was really frustrating. No matter how much I sprayed it or stretched it and squeegeed it, at least part of the bottom would bubble up and lose contact with the tank. Finally, I decided to heat up the section of the film with a hair dryer and then squeegeed it into place and, voila, it stayed flat! At least for now. The company says that it sets over the next 12 to 24 hours.

So, rigger4343, I say be prepared to add heat if you run into the same problem I did. I like the finished look which is as close to invisible as you can get!

 

That looks pretty good to me. You just did confirm one thing for me.... that the kit comes with what you need to cover the sides and that is what I really wanted. I already have a decent looking tank protector that covers that area where a zipper might rub.

Thanks for the tip on the heat. I have a good solution at work for applying stickers so I think I will use it and little heat on the tuff spots like you suggested.

I was able to buff about 95% of the scratches out of the side of the tank today. I think once the film is on it, the other 5% will disappear.

 

Yeah, I thought it was odd that on their site they didn't specify what the kit included. I read somewhere that it said "most" kits come with three panels so I crossed my fingers and placed the order. Since I went with stomp grips on the sides initially, I couldn't remember if I had received the side panels the first time around.

One cool thing about the tankslapper film is that you can remove it and reapply it whenever you want. I don't know that you'd need to peel it off for any reason other than to replace it but it's good to know that it comes off easily. Just peel a corner up and pull - no heat, no solution. So, I'm not sure what the solution is that you use for stickers but you may want to reconsider if it creates more of an adhesion than what I just described. These films are designed so they can easily be removed, reapplied or replaced.

Let us know how it goes and how you like it in the end.

 

Got the skins in yesterday. Put them on tonight. I only did the ones on the side since I already have a nice tank protector on the center of the tank.



Whole project from start to finish..... 5 minutes !



I wanted to get them on tonight since I figure they will need a day or two to dry out and stick good. I cant even see them on the tank which is something that I like.



Thanks for the tips guys!

 

Great to hear that they went on without a hitch. They hold up nicely. Every so often I'll clean them with a bit of Plexus on a microfiber towel and they clean up well too.