Hello all, long time lurker of the boards, first time poster really. And I have some questions, that perhaps someone with more experience than me can help me out with. So I went and got some bonnet stripes for my Space Blue R50, the checkmate ones.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...Image35853.jpg

All is good and well, until I went into the dealer to ask about getting them installed, and got quoted at about $140, that being a low value. To me that was ridiculous, considering the stripes were less than that, so since I usually like doing most of the mods myself, decided to take this upon myself as well.

Problem is, I have no experience with vinyl, and from the looks of these stripes, I will have to remove the front emblem and possibly the windshield washer jets in order to install the stripes.

So here are my annoying n00b questions, and please bare with my lack of knowledge, but:

What is the correct way to install the vinyl? Any ideas on procedures and tools? I tried googling it but no real concrete step by step instructions or tools. What do you recommend?

How do I safely remove the bonnet logo? And will I need to use double sided tape to put it back on? Is it much like de-badging a car?

And lastly, to anyone that maybe has these stripes, on an S or otherwise, is removal of the windshield jets necessary, or can I work around them?

Thank you in advance and I hope someone can help me, I'm planning on doing the stripes this weekend, and will post pictures as soon as I do.

 

You should search this site for the stripe installation thread; there was a good detailed instruction how it's done. But here's how I do it:
1) Position the stripes where you want them and apply some small (1") blue painters tape segments at the edges to define where you want the stripes to be after they're installed. Pay attention to making them symmetrical by measuring with a ruler from features on the bonnet, left and right.
2) Spray on Windex or other type of cleaner to the area where the stripe will be installed, remove the stripe backing and install the stripe. The Windex will let you move the stripe around to correctly postion it.
3) Use a credit card to displace the Windex and adhere the stripe to the bonnet. Work from the center of the stripe out to the edges, both inboard and outboard and front to back. Have a towel handy to collect the Windex as it is forced out from under the stripe.
Taking my time, I think it took about 1/2 hour per stripe preparing, locating, and installing. The important thing is to be liberal with the Windex to make sure you can move the stripe around to get it positioned. I have heard of people puttting on their stripes dry, but I've always been a bit nervous about doing that, especially on the Mini because of the compound contours.

Lastly, I have never done this but there is a thread on this site that suggests using dental floss to remove adhesive backed logos. Put the floss between the body work and the logo you are trying to remove and use a sawing action to pull the floss through the adhesive. After removal, using adhesive remover, GooGone, or something like that to remove the adhesive residue.

 

What ramjet77 posted is a good description. One thing about the bonnet logo: it has a couple of posts on the back that help hold it on and can cause it to be difficult to remove. I'm not sure about removing the washer jets for the installation, since my stripes go outside of them.

If you have some doubts about your ability to install the stripes, find someone in your area that does vehicle graphics. Many of them will do the installation for a lot less money than the dealer. I have a friend who has does vehicle graphics, and he about died laughing when I told him the dealer wanted over $200 to install my two bonnet stripes. He did mine for free, but he told me how much he would have charged for the same job and it was much less than $50 (this was three years ago).