Removing vinyl from paint

HARDTRAILZ

Original poster
Moderator
Nov 18, 2011
49,665
I am taking off my hood stripe and it has become brittle and wants to tear off in little pieces. What is the best way to remove it?

Heard about "erasers" or something that go in a drill.

Heard a heat gun and it will just take forever.

Heard that you can put some chemical on it and will start dissolving it without harming paint?

Heard just to pick at it until off then clean up with goo gone.

Any experiences or suggestions will be appreciated.
 

navigator

Member
Dec 3, 2011
504
a couple of years ago, I had to take a pin stripe off of an 88 Jeep Comanche. I was able to heat it with a hair dryer and peel it off pretty well.

Given the changes in the material and glue who knows if it will work as well for you. I figure it is worth a try.
 

Denali n DOO

Member
May 22, 2012
5,596
Another vote for the hair dryer :thumbsup:, I always have success with the hair dryer (one in the shed and one in garage) and them quite often to remove plate stickers and seasonal stickers off my sled and and off anything else, my son used it on the weekend and took all the stickers off his bike. I wonder if you could put something like armoral vinyl or leather conditioner or your stripe to make it more pliable as you remove it?
 

Blckshdw

Moderator
Nov 20, 2011
10,665
Tampa Bay Area, FL
HARDTRAILZ said:
...
Heard that you can put some chemical on it and will start dissolving it without harming paint?

Rustoleum and 3M both make a decal adhesive remover in a rattle can. I have used the Rustoleum one myself when removing my lift gate LED bar, and some LED strips that used that double sided tape. Spray it on, let it sit for 5 minutes, and it softens the adhesive. I was able to use a plastic trim removal tool to scrape off the adhesive, no harm done to the paint. :twocents:

4
4
 

HARDTRAILZ

Original poster
Moderator
Nov 18, 2011
49,665
Seems that I need to piss off the wife and steal her hair dryer.
 

DDonnie

Member
Mar 26, 2012
2,631
I would think a heat gun and some goof off should do the trick. Heat guns are cheap at harbor freight (10-15 bucks) and work faster than hair dryers. I'm sure the hair dryer will work though...
 

Playsinsnow

Member
Nov 17, 2012
9,727
HARDTRAILZ said:
Seems that I need to piss off the wife and steal her hair dryer.

just take it! Wife dont ask what Im doing anymore when I take her "expensive" hair dryer out to garage. As long as its put back where it belongs (it amazing how she uses my words to me!) I used it for sticker removal to drying the carpets faster when I cleaned em. Quite fancy it is!

Besides, what your's is her's and what's her's is... wait, what,... its not?! How did that happen?!?
:wink:
 

Sir ffeJ

Member
Dec 1, 2011
543
A vote for the 3M adhesive remover. I have used it with great success, when I removed my emblems.
 

NinjuhhNutz

Member
Oct 15, 2012
720
When I was working at the shop, a guy came in with a camaro that looked like a 12 year old had put vinyl all over it. :duh:
He asked us to take it off, so I did. Started out with a heat gun and plastic razor blades (no idea what the technical name for them are, but they AMAZING! Took it slow, and after a minute or two you'll figure out where the sweet spot is with it, and it came right off. I went from 1/4" pieces to it coming off in 6"+ strips.
Worked for me, hope it'll help.
 

DDonnie

Member
Mar 26, 2012
2,631
Sir ffeJ said:
A vote for the 3M adhesive remover. I have used it with great success, when I removed my emblems.

I'm guessing most adhesive remover is the same. I used goof off when i took mine off, worked great.
 

DDonnie

Member
Mar 26, 2012
2,631
NinjuhhNutz said:
When I was working at the shop, a guy came in with a camaro that looked like a 12 year old had put vinyl all over it. :duh:
He asked us to take it off, so I did. Started out with a heat gun and plastic razor blades (no idea what the technical name for them are, but they AMAZING! Took it slow, and after a minute or two you'll figure out where the sweet spot is with it, and it came right off. I went from 1/4" pieces to it coming off in 6"+ strips.
Worked for me, hope it'll help.

Wouldnt a plastic putty knife work? I used a pan scraper from pampered chef with my rear emblem. Worked well but it's essentially just a small putty knife.
 

HARDTRAILZ

Original poster
Moderator
Nov 18, 2011
49,665
DDonnie said:
I would think a heat gun and some goof off should do the trick. Heat guns are cheap at harbor freight (10-15 bucks) and work faster than hair dryers. I'm sure the hair dryer will work though...

Heat gun will fuck up the paint from the research I have been doing.
 

Harpo

Member
Dec 4, 2011
411
Sweden
I used to work with detailing years ago. We often had to remove vinyl from company cars.

We used hot water, absolutley the best choise i think

Advantages are that you get a bigger area warm at the same time and can remove larger bits of vinyl in one sweep.

It is also very mild on the paint.

Often it was very easy to get of, if not we used that same thing you use when you apply the vinyl to peel it off (dont know the name for it, sorry)
 

NinjuhhNutz

Member
Oct 15, 2012
720
Very lightly used the heat gun, enough to heat the vinyl, not hot enough to melt it (ehich would occur before paint damage) hair dryer would work as well. N I guess if you held it on the paint, on high, it may damage it. We never had an issue with it. The hot water idea sounds like it may work just as good. Never thought of that.
 

DARKASS04EXT

Member
Nov 21, 2011
193
do it in a garage if possible (if cold out still), try to lightly heat 1 section at a time. Most times if your able to soften the adhesive w the hair dryer you should be able to gently pull it off. Also, depends on the quality of the vinyl that was used. I found out yrs ago the difference between the different vinyls used. I always use a premium grade vinyl, which wont get as brittle over time as a more inexpensive grade would.

It may take awhile but the hair dryer and patience is prob gonna work the best.
 

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