Free shipping on domestic orders over $100! Use Discount Code FREESHIPPING

Decal Installation Tips

Thank you for shopping with us! We know how exciting new decals can be, but we also know that not everyone is an expert at installing them! Below is a brief guide on the best tips and tricks SOR can offer! 

We definitely recommend our SOR Perfect Finish to aid in a clean installation, but the rest still applies.

We also recommend some patience. This can be a difficult process, and some people are better at it than others, but we have installed our kits on hundreds of bodies with varying difficulties, using the exact methods as described below!

Cleaning The Body

Before doing anything else, make sure you start with a clean body. We recommend using an aerosol glass cleaner and some paper towels to clean the surfaces with.

Once done, we recommend using some rubbing alcohol as a last cleaning step to remove any oils you may have left on the body from touching it with your fingers.

Painting the Body

This is not required but definitely recommended. We paint 90% of our own bodies black. This offers realistic panel gaps like you would see on a real vehicle. 

This also eliminates seeing any of the old color showing if you are not using a new, unpainted body. 

Through trial and error as well, we recommend painting the outside of the body. Our vinyl adheres to Lexan paint very well. If you want to go the extra mile here also, you can tape off your windows for the appearance of having black moldings as well. 

Beginning the Installation

We prefer to start with the doors (if applicable, use the side pieces if not). Holding the decal away from the body, determine where it is centered up with the appropriate area of the body that the decal is getting installed on.

For flat surfaces- Once lined up, tack down the center of the decal, starting from the bottom and progressing to the top.

For surfaces with ridges or curves- Once lined up tack down the center of the decal starting from the left and progressing to the right.

Once the center has been tacked down, use your thumb and begin smoothing the vinyl onto the body from the center and working outwards.

Confirm no air bubbles are present. Minor bubbles may dissipate with time, or can be smoothed with your thumb. If you have large bubbles, you may need to carefully peel back the vinyl and reattempt the install. We recommend using a heat gun on LOW settings if you have to do this as the heat applied will help correct any distortion caused by peeling/pulling the decal to re-attempt the install, provided you did not use Perfect Finish and are attempting a dry installation.

If no bubbles are present, move on to the remaining side pieces and repeat until all side pieces have been installed.

The Rest of the Install

After applying the sides, we prefer to do the rest of the wrap using the same techniques as described above.

We generally save the hood and roof for last. This allows you to make small adjustments in positioning so that you can get even gaps.

You may need to trim some areas of your wrap to get the gaps even. Some of the more difficult-to-install pieces we make, are made slightly larger to allow for some margin of error during installation. As a result, you may experience some overlapping pieces upon installation. This can be easily rectified with careful use of a hobby knife. 

Further Support

Still having troubles? No problem! Shoot us an email at support@sorracing.com and we can provide more personalized support!