What to do about peeling decal?

Sagecoachdriver wrote:
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What have any of you done to keep your MH looking good?

Store the RV out of the sun when you're not using it. I use an ADCO cover now, but I will build a shelter for my next one. The cover is a pain to use and the sun here eats it every 3 years, but all that solar energy that went into destroying the cover wasn't destroying the decals on my MH.

360,

The best way to remove them is with a eraser wheel. That is what the auto body shops use. Get one of the 3" wheels and use a fast 1/4" drill to power it. A auto parts store that caters to the auto body shops will have them.

Jim

I've been toying with the idea of removing the cracked decals. I also trimmed them with a razor blade a couple of years ago and covered them with Zep when I shined the fiberglass but they have aged considerably since then despite the floor finish. Thought I might take off a few and see how it looks. Was going to try using a heat gun and plastic scraper.

Sun is what kills the decals. Consistent, and frequent use of 303, or something like it, is about all you can do. The dark (red or black) are the most vulnerable. I have wide deep maroon decals on the side of my Freelander - a 2010 I bought two months ago. On one side they are badly cracked; obviously the one parked toward the sun. My IR thermometer measures those decals 20-30 degrees warmer than the white fiberglass!

And don't feel bad about not having full body paint. At the Brooksville, FL FMCA rally a few years ago I encountered a company whose primary business was replacing fiberglass sidewalls cooked by the Florida sun. Those dark brown, or red, or black shiny sidewalls on the big Class A's can reach 140 degrees (why they need 3 A/C's) and are often (burned) toast in as few as 5 years.

Plain white is a great color. Alpha was on to something; just didn't execute.

Anyone know if there are steps to take to prevent the cracking/fading/peeling in teh first place?

We're kicking around the idea of a newer C and would LOVE full body paint, but it is looking like it is outside of our price range. So if we got something newer with decals I would want to do what we could to prolong their life. (and yes, I realize that my cart is way before my horse here, but as long as the topic is active...) :B

On our 24-year-old Winnebago Warrior the decals are all cracked and crazed. But not peeling. I'm not going to fool with them. Not worth the effort on the old beast.

Steve

Have a 36ft DP motorhome. It is 13 years old. In good condition but as you mentioned decals started to deteriorate.

Took it to our local service center (independent) and had him remove all the decals and then paint them back on. I thought cost was reasonable and boy did that sucker look good when he was done. Would do it again in a minute.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

you can always do as some have done, peel them off and call the company and get new ones and re install them. some have gotten free ones and when I called they wanted to charge me. I figured let them peel off.

I don't think there is much you can do. I have trimmed the loose part back with a razor blade. This helps for a while (been a couple of years since I've done it). At some point I'm sure they'll need to be removed completely, but I've been able to delay that, and they still look pretty good.

I don't think there is a easy answer. In my case with our first RV a older class C it had the same issue. The decals were just a series of stripes. I removed them using a decal eraser wheel (see a auto body repair supply store)on a power air tool (a electric drill would work). The remaining shadow was nearly as bad as the decals. I masked and spray painted the stripes back in. BIG JOB but it turned out well.

Jim