MINI's and vinyl graphics

P

Pandora

New member
I'm detailing a friend's MINI soon and he has the Union Jack on the roof. This is a series of vinyl stickers that seem to have a pretty thick edge to them.



Is it possible to polish the roof with a PC? I plan on using a cutting pad and Menzerna IP, followed with a polishing pad and FP on the body of the car as it's fairly neglected. Will this work on the roof, or will I sling the pride of England straight off? I launched some of my grandma's pinstriping from the fender of her car using a cutting pad last year, so I'd like to avoid this!



I thought of taping off the edges of the decals, but thought this might leave an odd finish when's all said and done. Surely someone has experience with this, or even the racing stripes that I assume are also vinyl. TIA.



Ben
 
I think that as long as you're careful you'll be ok. I'm sure others with more experience with this will be able to help.



BTW, are you on BF.C?
 
Thanks Mongoose. If by BF.C you mean Bimmerforums (BenT) or Bimmerfest (redbread) then I am. If something else, it's still possible as I'm a bit to message boards like the poor guy in Fight Club is to help groups.



Ben
 
I have used #80 on the Union Jack graphic itself, very sowly, with good results by rotary. To get the white area between the vinyl graphics I also used a 4" LC pad attached to a cordless drill. Funny you ask this because I have this car again tomorrow morning, Its a Red Cooper S with a few engine mods, gorgeous and sickly fast for such a small car. I'll be posting pics. I think you'll be safe as long as you work the PC on the pads edge making sure it rotates towards the edge of the graphic. I have had good results polishing the graphic and blank areas separately.
 
The '60's mini I owned had a flag on the roof, it took up most of the available space so I always cleaned it by hand with AIO
 
Thanks all, most of the issue with the roof, specifically the white bits under the vinyl, appears to be light oxidation from neglect, so AIO is an excellent recommendation. I'll try just that with a white pad and see where I stand. I suppose if I need just a touch more, I can try IP with another white pad and very little pressure.



Ben
 
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