Stain on vinyl decal

zxpwr

New member
Hi guys,

A customer dropped off a Mini Cooper for detailing today and it has those vinyl stripes on the hood. Since it's late, I figured I will work on it a little. So then I finished the engine compartment, when I parked it inside my garage I noticed that the stripes had stains on them which I thought were just dirt early on (see pics). I tried claying, high concentrate of APC.. thinking of using bleach.



I tried searching but could not get an answer, I might not be using the right keywords..



Any of you encountered this kind of stain before? How did you remove them?

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Thanks in advance!



-Leo
 
I will try bleach and if it doesnt work, i will ask if the customer wants it removed... overall the car is in great shape and this vinyl sticker is making it ugly..
 
That's the kind of staining I got on my vinyl stripes (after 2 years). I tried polishes, cleaners, APC-nothing would remove them. Finally I took the vinyl stripes off.
 
As Danase said, try a chemical cleaner first and then a light polish. It should give you an indication if it is coming off.



Thinking outside the box. Try an equal mix of distilled water, vinegar and 3% Hydrogen Peroxide. Again you should know within seconds if it will work.
 
Thanks for the inputs guys!



Danase, any recomendation on chemical polish?



The stain is actually not just on the surface but kind of dyed the vinyl itself. Anyway, I tried bleach and seems to be working. I tried hydrogen peroxide and also benzoyl peroxide, that's right, it's the zit cream. It was actually the only suggestion I got from autopia search results. None of those two worked.



So here's what I did, soaked paper towel with bleach and layed it on vinyl. Let it sit for an hour.



Right side is the one treated with bleach.

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I did the same thing and let sit overnight and it was 10X better this morning, the stain is there but you won't even see it from 3 feet away.
 
When I recommended the water/vinegar/HP they have to be mixed, they don't work alone.



Looks like you found a solution, though I don't know what bleach will do to paint.
 
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