Hey everyone,
Just wanted to mention that I tackled My front fairing removal and replacement today, and it went very well. It is absolutely true that you need to start at the top and work down from there. For those that have never attempted it, you need to go slow, since if the panel is resisting removal, you have probably missed a fastener.
I needed to remove EVERYTHING to get the front side panel and front headlight surround changed. I was going to take pictures and create a tutorial, but lacked the energy to do all the assembling of photos after the job was done. For information purposes, here is the order in which I removed panels to totally strip down the front of the bike:
1) windshield- 4 screws, plus 2 hidden under the trim piece.
2) black trim piece directly under the windshield- 2 screws and 2 push pins at the top
3) black trim on the top of the tank- 3 screws
4) the left and right top trims which hold the glovebox on the 2010 and up models- 3 screws and you have already removed the push pins at the top. Dont forget there is 1 screw at the bottom of the glovebox and 3 connectors to disconnect.
5) the battery cover- 1 screw and pull from the bottom to release the friction fit fastener.
6) the left and right rear fairings- 4 screws at the rear, 2 screws at the bottom of the front fairing beside the exhaust pipes. pull the back of the panel out first and it should come out easily. Note that the front section of this fairing goes underneath the front fairing so be gentle.
7)front side fairings- 2 screws on the outside and one pushpin underneath the front headlight assembly. There are also the 3 pushpins at the bottom where the 2 front fairings meet.
Now you should have enough removed that you can change your coolant. if its dark green or brownish, it needs to be changed! I did mine today while I was at it.
I also did the removal of the front headlight surround, but I won't get into it since, there really isn't a reason to remove it unless the part is damaged, which mine was.
Hope this helps for those that want to tackle it.
