seeing as the garage wasn’t getting any warmer I thought it a good idea to take the tank cover off and bring it into the house to fit the tank pad. I didn’t really want to ride the bike much more without the tank pad as I’d noticed my leathers were rubbing on the tank and dulling it a bit. So I took it off and brought it in and left it to rest on the dining room table along with the tank pad. I probably gave it a couple of hours to acclimatise. Next came to arduous task of lining up the pad. The pad actually comes fitted to a rectangle of card, which is also the sticky protector so it impossible to line it up with this backing on. So I trimmed the excess backing off but not going too close to the pad as I didn’t want to put any scissor nicks in it. Trimming helped but it’s not ideal. I placed the bottom part on the tank taking special care to line it up with the tank striping. Then took the bold step of taking the rest of the backing off. At this point the pad just wants to flop onto the tank, so use gloves to make sure you don’t leave finger prints in the adhesive. I lined the pad up and let it adhere itself slowly from the bottom pushing out any air. There you go tank pad fitted. Please note - you only get one chance to fit it. After it adheres you have no chance of correcting any misalignment. So right first time? Not a chance. I have a slight scrunch on one of the vertebrae very small but it will annoy me for years to come. I have tried the hairdryer to lift a corner but it’s having none of it. Fortuanately I’m happy with its placing I knew it was never going on perfect. As the pad is clear it is possible to see the tiny marks through the pad, I’m hoping the disappear as the pad takes a greater hold on the tank. Just be aware you only get one chance so whatever method you use to align the pad make sure it works. I did clean the tank first with some Meguires stuff to remove the dulling effect the leathers have done. What would I do different? I’d remove a strip of about 1cm of the adhesive backing paper first down the middle and stick that on first to check alignment. Then remove the backing from each side.
Good job @Kevin1 ......unfortunately with it being clear it's difficult to disguise the tiny air bubbles that you wouldn't normally see with a solid colour tank pad. In this picture mine looks like it's almost disappeared. ....which I suppose is the idea. You can still see the tiny bubbles on closer inspection though.....but who cares as it's doing it's job!
And before anyone says it......no it hasn't started to lift!!!! That is a mixture of tiny air bubbles and light reflection from the flash! Cynical bastards !
