Best ways to remove decalling?

L

LeadingEdgeDetail

New member
Just thought I would post this up, not a ton of information out there :)



I'm able to capture a fairly large account ( 15-30 door decal removals) plus a bunch of detailing, but the detailing I'm fine with...



I did 16 Decal removals yesterday, took nearly 8 hours, and I couldn't even get half of them off! It was the damned paper-backed stickers that stumped me... Vinyl and adhesive is fine, but what the heck do I use to remove paper and adhesive?



Hopefully something decently quick and not too dangerous!



I've been using a heatgun and a plastic scraper, but it really marrs the finish badly, and I don't want to have to deal with that if I don't have to!



Thanks for any tips
 
I used a product this past weekend, its called DIF and it can be found at wal-mart. Its normal use is to help remove wall-paper by breaking down the adhesive backing. I don't know if it would be safe for paint, but it said it doesn't have any harsh chemicals ... just special "enzymes" :nixweiss



If it were me, that would be my first try. If nothing else, I'm sure Stoner's Tarminator would work well.
 
WD-40 and a plastic razor blade. The WD-40 will break down the adhesive and soak through the paper decal/stickers. It might take more than one application but I've had pretty good luck using it on stuff like that.
 
Stumpy....I used this stuff ...it was a citrus adhesive remover..I got it from work....will try to get the name of it..was in a spray can...it was called Orange (something)...not found in stores..was industrial supply...or Janitorial...



And I sprayed paper bumper stickers with it and let it dwell a minute or two....and the sticker came right off...the good part about it ..was it was paint safe....



this stuff even took off wax staining....Dam..I wish I knew the name...we do not have it in work now..they are trying a new product..but not as good as the other one...I may have the empty can in garage..I looked it up online way back and did find it at a janitorial supply house..and was not expensive...was in cans or gallons...



but this stuff was great...was non hazardous..bio degradable...non toxic...never harmed any auto paint for me...even cleaned brake dust real good...



I will try to find out and let you know



Al
 
Yeah, people whose opinions I respect claim that the decal-removal wheels from 3M and Wurth work great.



When I ran into an incredibly tenacious paper-backed decal, I used 3M Adhesive Remover. Worked, with no scraping/marring, but it took a while. I'd tried citrus-based adhesive removers but they didn't get that one off :nixweiss
 
Accumulator said:
Yeah, people whose opinions I respect claim that the decal-removal wheels from 3M and Wurth work great.



When I ran into an incredibly tenacious paper-backed decal, I used 3M Adhesive Remover. Worked, with no scraping/marring, but it took a while. I'd tried citrus-based adhesive removers but they didn't get that one off :nixweiss
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We used to use those 3M wheels daily when I worked for a custom boat trailer manufacturer. All of the repair and warranty jobs had to be totally stripped to bare paint before painting. Those wheels work pretty good but I did burn through a lot of paint using them. Since the trailer was getting resprayed I did not care though.



The 3M adhesive remover or WD-40 with a plastic blade also works great.
 
definately look into the wurth tool. i work at a sign shop and for those really old and hard decals to take off, this is the only way to go.

heres a link to their site http://www.wurthusa.com/project/en/leftnavi/catalog/product.php?path=09.0151.jpg

use that tool with the earser attatchment.



i recently detailed a commercial painters van. i used to wheel to remove all the old graphics, old dirty sap, and all of the paint that got spilled and flung onto the van.

this tool gets off really stuck on stuff, stuff that chemical cleaners couldn't touch and i'm talking about industrial strength stuff. it can really be a detailers best friend when all else fails.





just a word of caution, don't run the wheel any higher than 80psi, when its higher than that i noticed that it can yellow around where the decal was, but i think that might of been because it was single stage white paint. anyway after a good polish there wasn't a trace of it.
 
Danase said:
We used to use those 3M wheels daily when I worked for a custom boat trailer manufacturer. All of the repair and warranty jobs had to be totally stripped to bare paint before painting. Those wheels work pretty good but I did burn through a lot of paint using them. Since the trailer was getting resprayed I did not care though.
Click to expand...



The 3m wheels work literally like magic. I bought a conversion van with some terrible stripping. I tried various methods/chemicals, they all took forever. I broke down and got the wheel and it worked great. I'd say easily 20 to 1 timesaver. The instructions mention certain paint types that it will damage. No additional damage whatsoever to the Ford paint. There was some damage from the sticker adhesive eating...yes eating through the paint. I'm sure there may have been slight marring but the paint was rough before I did any work to it.
 
yakky said:
The 3m wheels work literally like magic. I bought a conversion van with some terrible stripping. I tried various methods/chemicals, they all took forever. I broke down and got the wheel and it worked great. I'd say easily 20 to 1 timesaver. The instructions mention certain paint types that it will damage. No additional damage whatsoever to the Ford paint. There was some damage from the sticker adhesive eating...yes eating through the paint. I'm sure there may have been slight marring but the paint was rough before I did any work to it.
Click to expand...



Yes, I too have had good luck with the 3M wheel, but I only used them when I was doing "side" work at a body shop. Surfaces that weren't being repainted needed to be buffered afterward...and at something like $25/wheel, it is expensive (I burned through a few of 'em); but hey, time IS money.
 
I've used the Wurth wheel on tons of big decal removal jobs and it worked great. I've also taken vehicles to a friend's body shop and let it sit under a heat lamp for a while. This eliminates the need for a heat gun and saves your finger nails. Plus you can get a good sun tan and the same time.....
 
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