Best way to remove stickers from paint? - Page 2

Greg Gay · 03-01-2016, 11:36 AM

I decided to remove the decals from my car over the winter. Some of them have been on there for 10 years or more. I started with Goo Gone and was getting nowhere. I contacted the guy who does the vinyl lettering on our trucks, and he gave me the remainder of a gallon of Rapid Remover from rapidtac.com. He advised me to use it sparingly, and that you need to wait at least a minute for it to work after you apply it. There are also videos on the internet. This stuff works great. It still took close to 8 hours to do both sides of the car (I had a lot of decals on it). You need a plastic scraper, and you don't so much wipe the glue off as scrape it off. Afterwards, I decided that I needed a gallon for future uses. I looked it up on-line and found that it cost $50 to $60 per gallon. Now I know why Kevin said to use it sparingly!

LXguy · 03-03-2016, 02:05 AM

Man, the struggle is real...these have been on the car at least 15 years.

What I started with:

Where I'm at:

So like everything else, I figured out the best way to do it about 3/4 of the way through.

Get a plastic razor and a heat gun. Get the stickers *warm*. You want to make the vinyl flexible---don't melt the glue. Its way better to under apply the heat and try again than it is to get them too hot. Start the plastic razor in a corner, and when you can get a grip, pull the sticker by hand. When you do it right, the stickers pretty much peel right off and don't leave the glue behind.

For the excess glue I am going to try the WD40 suggested above.

Easiest to remove: Hoosier, Moser
Hardest: Cheetah Shifters (also the biggest), Coan converters

Thanks for all the help!

Steve

Ironically, these are supposed to be adverts for the parts companies. The companies that made the difficult stickers (cheap vinyl or really strong glue) are the ones that I now would give second thought about buying their products....haha

03-01-2016, 11:36 AM	#11
Greg Gay Member Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Vermont Posts: 351 Likes: 9 Liked 230 Times in 50 Posts	Re: Best way to remove stickers from paint? I decided to remove the decals from my car over the winter. Some of them have been on there for 10 years or more. I started with Goo Gone and was getting nowhere. I contacted the guy who does the vinyl lettering on our trucks, and he gave me the remainder of a gallon of Rapid Remover from rapidtac.com. He advised me to use it sparingly, and that you need to wait at least a minute for it to work after you apply it. There are also videos on the internet. This stuff works great. It still took close to 8 hours to do both sides of the car (I had a lot of decals on it). You need a plastic scraper, and you don't so much wipe the glue off as scrape it off. Afterwards, I decided that I needed a gallon for future uses. I looked it up on-line and found that it cost $50 to $60 per gallon. Now I know why Kevin said to use it sparingly!

03-03-2016, 02:05 AM	#12
LXguy Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Champaign, IL Posts: 40 Likes: 0 Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: Best way to remove stickers from paint? Man, the struggle is real...these have been on the car at least 15 years. What I started with: Where I'm at: So like everything else, I figured out the best way to do it about 3/4 of the way through. Get a plastic razor and a heat gun. Get the stickers warm. You want to make the vinyl flexible---don't melt the glue. Its way better to under apply the heat and try again than it is to get them too hot. Start the plastic razor in a corner, and when you can get a grip, pull the sticker by hand. When you do it right, the stickers pretty much peel right off and don't leave the glue behind. For the excess glue I am going to try the WD40 suggested above. Easiest to remove: Hoosier, Moser Hardest: Cheetah Shifters (also the biggest), Coan converters Thanks for all the help! Steve Ironically, these are supposed to be adverts for the parts companies. The companies that made the difficult stickers (cheap vinyl or really strong glue) are the ones that I now would give second thought about buying their products....haha