Remove unwanted decals and stickers

[shoutforjoy]

Here goes my first attenpt at a 'how to' guide. I enlisted the help of a glamorous assistent (aka teenage daughter after extra pocket money). Please let us know what you think.

When we bought our latest mini she had a horrendous stripe decal running the length of the car - across the centre of the bonnet, roof and boot. You can see what the mini looked like with the stripe in place here: autominiregister.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=project&action=display&thread=662

Needless to say we set about removing the stripe.


1: remove the trim as necessary. We had to remove the bumpers, grill, wipers, boot lock, number plate and number plate light.


2: Using a hairdryer warm the decal that you want to remove. This will make the decal more flexible and soften the adhesive holding it in place.


3: Begin to lift the decal. If you are struggling to get it to lift use a soft point (like a wooden cocktail stick) that will not damage the paintwork underneath.


4: Continue to warm the decal using the hairdryer as you remove it.


5: When it is removed you will see some residue of the adhesive that held the decal in place.


6: Remove this residue using a cloth soaked in white spirit.


7: Finally, wash the paintwork using warm, soapy water.

You may find that there is a "ghost" stripe or other faint marks left on your paintwork, where the exposed paintwork has faded more than the paintwork covered by the decal. This can be removed using a cutting compound (T-cut, G3 or similar). We are planning to use cutting compound to restore all of the paintwork on the mini as the next stage of our makeover.

And lastly, a cautionary note. You may find that the decal was hiding something nasty. Spot the filler in this picture!

[clambod]

A job well done. Not a 5 minute job, having to remove all the bits and then put them back on. Which was the hardest bit to remove, the roof?

[(minisniper)]

Great "how to" guide. I hope some of our members find it useful and I'm glad to hear it come off ok.

[shoutforjoy]

No, it wasn't a five minute job. It took the two of us from 10am until 6:30pm (with refreshment breaks). Still it's done now

We've not put all the trim bits back on yet - we'll do it after we've cut the paintwork later in the week. One of the bolts holding the bumper on sheared off so I need to sort that too.

The bigger decals were much harder to remove, so the roof was the worst. But the biggest problem was cleaning off the adhesive residue. On the roof we soon had aching arms and resorted to using steps so we could lean over and reach better.

[clambod]

Taking off all the bits just to get at the decals would take a while. I'll bet you were glad when it was done!

[joyal14]

That’s a nice share and truly very informative. I want to remove my car wrap to get the new vehicle wraps on it. I didn’t want to pay to remove that so found this post very useful. I will surely try this method on this weekend.

[notamini]

Something you might consider instead of spirits is a product called Goo Gone. It is orange oil based and appears to be paint friendly. Soap and water removes it but it is also kind to your hands. (Smells good too)
I use it all the time on my job to remove unwanted stickers and shipping labels.

Mark

[notamini]

It looks like this


It is available here in North America at hardware stores like Home Depot.

[g1drp]

Jun 15, 2017 12:25:27 GMT notamini said:

It looks like this


It is available here in North America at hardware stores like Home Depot.

We got ours from Amazon UK, and it does the job well.