Sticker and residue removal

I used gorilla tape to hold a failed awning in place. Once removed, the tape left a terrible amount of residue. I used Tech brake cleaner from Walmart to clean it off. I was apprehensive at first but it cleaned easily with no damage to the fiberglass.

This is a testimonial, not a recommendation.

Another vote for Rapid Remover. I just redid all the graphics on my trailer in 2019. Ten-year old graphics. Heat gun works to remove the graphics. Actually I found the heat gun too hot even on low, tended to make the graphics too soft and tear apart. I used a hair blower on low and it was just right. One quart of Rapid Remover removed the glue residue from the whole trailer with a little left over, some of which I just used to remove glue remaining from a seven-year old clear bra on a car I am getting ready to sell.

I'm going to ask, what kind of stickers do you want to remove? the large decorative decals? or the stickers at the water fill, Power, the one on the front left with tire sizes, weights, etc on it?

If the latter, think twice before you remove them. The manufacturer installed those stickers for a reason, or several reasons. The large one on the front left, with tire sizes, weights, etc, is REQUIRED by Federal DOT, It would be akin to removing the VIN numbers off your car. The one on the power connection is REQUIRED by the National Electric Code. I don't know for sure, but I suspect the one on the water fill is probably required by some plumbing code. The sticker near the propane bottles is, I think, a DOT required sticker, cannot recall for sure. Code compliance is required by the RVIA who issues the serial numbered oval sticker on the outside near the door. Removing the stickers would certainly prevent the trailer from being exported to Canada, but might also cause issues elsewhere. Supposedly a few (vary rare if actually any at all) campgrounds make having the RVIA sticker (and hence the others) a requirement, to weed out the schoolies, ambulance conversions, cargo trailer conversions, etc.

Possibly I am picky about such things, but.... If I encountered a trailer that were missing such stickers, ESPECIALLY the DOT sticker on the front left, and the RVIA sticker, I would walk away from the deal, even if it were being given to me............

They don't put those stickers on there for the fun of it, the manufacturers do it because they have to. If they could not do it, they would not.

Charles

Rapid Remover and an eraser wheel both on amazon. Still a lot of work for 10+ year baked on and pealing decals to get removed.
I removed some of the worst and gave up on the rest for now. Just part of the patina.

time2roll wrote:
Rapid Remover and an eraser wheel both on amazon. Still a lot of work for 10+ year baked on and pealing decals to get removed.
I removed some of the worst and gave up on the rest for now. Just part of the patina.

The advertisements only.

CharlesinGA wrote:
I'm going to ask, what kind of stickers do you want to remove? the large decorative decals? or the stickers at the water fill, Power, the one on the front left with tire sizes, weights, etc on it?

If the latter, think twice before you remove them. The manufacturer installed those stickers for a reason, or several reasons. The large one on the front left, with tire sizes, weights, etc, is REQUIRED by Federal DOT, It would be akin to removing the VIN numbers off your car. The one on the power connection is REQUIRED by the National Electric Code. I don't know for sure, but I suspect the one on the water fill is probably required by some plumbing code. The sticker near the propane bottles is, I think, a DOT required sticker, cannot recall for sure. Code compliance is required by the RVIA who issues the serial numbered oval sticker on the outside near the door. Removing the stickers would certainly prevent the trailer from being exported to Canada, but might also cause issues elsewhere. Supposedly a few (vary rare if actually any at all) campgrounds make having the RVIA sticker (and hence the others) a requirement, to weed out the schoolies, ambulance conversions, cargo trailer conversions, etc.

Possibly I am picky about such things, but.... If I encountered a trailer that were missing such stickers, ESPECIALLY the DOT sticker on the front left, and the RVIA sticker, I would walk away from the deal, even if it were being given to me............

They don't put those stickers on there for the fun of it, the manufacturers do it because they have to. If they could not do it, they would not.

Charles

Don't forget the mattress tags. :R

dedmiston wrote:


Don't forget the mattress tags. :R

Yeah, I'd hate for the helicopters to swoop in as I'm cutting that one off!

First line of the first response hits it pretty good.

Depending on age & material quality the decal will be easy or the other way. A hair dryer or heat gun on low along with patience & a non scratching putty knife of some sort will get the decal off.

The remaining adhesive is the fun part. Yeah, the expensive packaged for the job products work but I like cheap that works. Stuff that might already be laying around. Lacquer thinners dissolve all kinds of things. Acetone is another excellent cleaner that will not harm gelcoat. One more little known cleaner is Naptha. It will remove residue that another cleaner might leave behind.

Finish off with a good marine cleaner wax & the surface should be like new.

Diamond c wrote:
Finger nail polish remover but test I it in a small spot to make sure it only takes off what you want removed

Nail polish remover is nothing but glorified acetone. Try taking her to Lowes next time she needs some. Add some baby oil to it.

See what kind of reaction you get. You might be doing some early season camping.

lwbfl wrote:

Lynnmor wrote:
Warm with a hair dryer and wipe with WD-40. Works well on some adhesives, fair on others.

They are pretty new so the stickers come off easily, just wasn't sure if WD-40 was OK to use on the fiberglass skin. I know it's wonderful on metal bumpers and chrome! I have some marine wax I used on the old camper and I hope it will hide the "dull" spots left behind.

WD-40 works pretty good-- I just removed an old sticker that was on a
boat for 15 years... sprayed it down, let it soak and rubbed with a paper towel and plastic scrapper.... took a few iterations, but it came off cleanly.