Graphic/decal removal

H

HardcoreHehaw

New member
I will soon be purchasing a new truck and it has some kind of graphic/decals down the sides of it. And i'm not too fond of them. Wow should I go about removing them without causing harm to the paint. And if I do it right will the paint underneath the decal be free of deffects? Here is a picture of it.

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Vinyl decals can probably be removed with a blow dryer or heat gun. Vinyl dealership stickers are often removed that way. You heat up the end of the decal, which loosens the glue underneath, and you slowly pull the decal off from one end to the other, heating the area as you go. You'll probably have some adhesive left over on the paint below, so you'll need something like Klasse AIO to remove that.



I have removed dealership decals before, but never any major decals like that. I'd wait for someone else's opinion before trying my suggestion.
 
Just for future information for myself when I switch colleges over the summer next year, I put a parking sticker thing on my back windshield (didn't want to hurt the paint or cause a non-faded mark :P). Would heat/3m vinyle stripe remover get this off or am I going to have to use something else. Keep in mind this has an actual adhesive holding it on.
 
I think the blow dryer would work fine for that purpose too. I've removed State Parks stickers from my windshield plenty of times with a blow dryer and plastic razor blade. Worked great for the TX inspection sticker that was on the Protege as well.
 
White95Max said:
I think the blow dryer would work fine for that purpose too.
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Basically, when you heat up a sticker that has an adhesive, the heat begins to melt the adhesive and when that begins to happen the sticker should easily peel away. The key is to get it just hot enough. Too much heat can make it a mess, leaving some of the adhesive stuck to the surface.
 
Neothin said:
Just for future information for myself when I switch colleges over the summer next year, I put a parking sticker thing on my back windshield (didn't want to hurt the paint or cause a non-faded mark :P). Would heat/3m vinyle stripe remover get this off or am I going to have to use something else. Keep in mind this has an actual adhesive holding it on.
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On glass i just use a razor blade and some solvent for the glue.
 
so between the heat gun and the 3m solvent i shouldn't have a problem getting the decal off without causing harm to the paint, correct?
 
I would try the blow dryer first.....then the 3m product if the blow dryer fails..which I dout it will.....I would not use a heat gun as they get real hot and can damage the paint...If you have a lot of experiance with a heat gun then good luck to you...



AL
 
You could also use a product like 3M Stripe Off wheel 07499. There are others and they work well.
 
Agree with the blow dryer method and tons of patience. I had a 15pass E350 that I used for my business and had the whole monster vinyled. WHen i went to sell the van, it took me 3 weekends to get the vinyl off. SHould take you a couple of hours. I also used Goo Off adhesive removal (aerosol) version to get the remaining adhesive off. After a pass or two with the PC, 2 years of vinyl had completely disappeared. HAVE FUN!!
 
MachB5 said:
Agree with the blow dryer method and tons of patience.
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This is very true.



In one situation I had removing vinyl striping from a boat with a blow dryer, it only took me about ten minutes to remove the stripes that were on one side of the boat. Of course, they were already warm because they were in sunlight.



The stripes on the other side of the boat, which were not in direct sunlight, were a different story. Because they were not warmed by the sun, removing those stripes required about two hours work.



Since the boat was resting on blocks, I could not turn the boat around, so I just had to take my time until all of the striping was removed.
 
So I should definitely not have a problem since the truck is black and I live in Florida. I can live with them until summer although I probably wony have to.... It was like 74 degrees today and that's only cause it was overcast, so it could have been hotter. Damn global warming.

I don't really care how long it takes i just don't want to have any visible deffects in the paint.



oh and when I said heat gun... yea I meant blow dryer, lol.
 
Actually it might be the other way around. The paint underneath has been shielded from the sun, and may be less faded than the exposed paint. It is not unlikely that you will see a difference between the paint beneath the decals and the paint outside that area.

Once you polish that area, the color should be uniform again.
 
White95Max said:
Actually it might be the other way around. The paint underneath has been shielded from the sun, and may be less faded than the exposed paint. It is not unlikely that you will see a difference between the paint beneath the decals and the paint outside that area.

Once you polish that area, the color should be uniform again.
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Yes, this is true. The stripes in the pic look awful and you are by all rights doing the right thing by trying to ri your car and self from those horrible looking things. A hairdryer and some 3M goo-gone or alike will serve you well. But yes, under the decal areas will appear to be a tad less faded by the sun and all.
 
ohh joy. Well i'm going to get the truck this Saturday and I'll try to get those off whenever i get a free second, then if i don't like what i see i'll post back and ask for some suggestions to make it look good again.



Ohh and conrats White95Max.. 5000 posts, nice.
 
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