BDX's side panel vents seems to be almost 1/2 the price of anyone else's vents on the market. Are they any good? I'm looking for something that will not break every time i go for a ride. What are the better vents on the market?
i have the bdx ones on my crossfire. they seem to be pretty good. the reason they are cheaper is because instead of an aluminum or plastic framework, the frame is 3M tape. don't let that fool you, that tape is really good stuff. you better have your next move planned when putting them on.
they stick fast.
you have a couple options as far as the holes go. you can either take a hole saw and cut a few in there, or you can do like i did and cut out all 3 vented area's. it was a pain. i got creative though. i took 3 sheets of paper and taped them together. i laid a vent on top of the paper and traced the outside of it and cut it out. then, i went old school. like elementary school actually. i put the vent down on the table and laid the paper i just cut out on top of it. took some pencil lead and laid it flat on the paper and shaded the paper. this gave me the outlines of the vented area's. see, all that screwing around in elementary school did teach us something.
i then cut out the traced area. i pulled my side panels off the sled and put them on the table. i placed the paper on the panel and located it where i wanted to put the vent. took a sharpie and traced the outline of the vent and the holes i was about to cut.
i then took the heat shield off the can side and the insulation off the clutch side of the panels. i used a cut off wheel to get the holes close, then i used a die grinder to get the radius's of the holes. took a long time, but i was satisfied with the outcome. here's what they look like. oh, and you don't even have to take the decal's off. nice thing about it, if you poke a hole in one, you are only out 60 bucks. who knows, BDX might be nice and just let you buy the side you broke.
. I cant imagine the hood taking as much abuse as the side panels.
