[4dblnkldude]

I recently did this on my 81. And got a small crease in the middle of the tail feathers. I stood back and looked and said " well Ill sleep on it". Woke up and called my body guy and told him to rip it off. I have watched every you tube video on this and still messed it up. The only thing I think I did wrong was it was only 63 degrees in the body shop. Soapy bubble the hood and the back of the sticker, methodically work from the middle out with rubber squeegees. Does anyone have any further tips? These things ain't cheap. Maybe not watch you tube? It is a 79 bird sticker on a 79 shaker hood.

[1965gp]

When I did my 72 (73 bird) which is significantly smaller, I spent a lot of time placing painters tape on the hood for correct placement and focused on starting in the middle working out to the sides like you say. I used baby shampoo in a a spray bottle and used a lot if it. Did you have someone else to help lay it down? That makes a big difference. Doing stripes on my daughter’s car this weekend hoping everything goes smooth.

[TAKerry]

When we (my son and myself) did the hood on my 77 I laid the decal out according to the manual and taped it in place. I then pulled one back and did one half at a time starting in the centre. Being careful not to stretch anything and laying it out smoothly with the provided squeegee. Before proceeding to the other half we made sure all of the air bubbles were gone. Then did the other side. It was mostly uneventful. I had been dreading for months the installation. It looked beautiful when we finished and I had no idea what I was worried about. THEN, that afternoon the entire decal was full of air bubbles!!! I almost yanked it off, but thought better of it. I got what I could squeezed out, even poked a couple of the larger bubbles with a pin to let the water out. I let the car sit out in the sun for a couple of hours for the rest of the week (august), then with the engine heat from below it completely flattened out. With the exception of a very small wrinkle that resulted from my pin puncture squeeze, it is perfect.

Work from the centre out, dont stretch it, and if there are bubbles dont sweat it. They will come out with time and sunshine!

[4dblnkldude]

OK... OK... thanks! Keep em coming if you got them.

[bhill86]

I honestly had similar experiences to the ones above so I’ll only add I also ended up with bubbles and a wrinkle in the tail that surprisingly laid down after some time in the sun. I’ll add some pictures later if you’d like

[bhill86]

Trying to add photos of the tail and bubbles compared to the finished product. I honestly couldn’t believe the tail flattened out.

[4dblnkldude]

Holy smokes Bill. Thank you, I shouldve just left mine on then.

[bhill86]

Yea as I said I was amazed. My dad worked for Jeep in Toledo and one of the many jobs he had over the years was is installing decals including the large “Golden Eagle” on some of the CJs if you’re familiar. He he helped me install the bird and was really upset at how it came out and wanted me to pull it off and he was going to buy me another. I said let’s wait and see and well, you see how it turned out. My only two flaws was a piece of dirt that got stuck under one part and the other was a bubble I tried to squeegee out that I stretched by mistake so there is a small wrinkle there. I doubt most people even notice honestly but of course I know it’s there.

[TAKerry]

Mine looked much worse! I did not take any photos when it happened but it amazed me as well how nice it eventually turned out.
2023-01-08_04-52-20 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr
This is the only pic I could find. I must have a 100 pics of my car but none of the hood itself.

2023-10-31_07-37-56 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr
And this just for kicks, since this was brought up.

[bhill86]

Ha! Very nice. Truth be told by the time I took the picture of the bubbles it had been a day or two. Mine started off worse looking as well. I’ll say it again, I couldn’t believe it ended up the way it did but of course I’m happy it did