Decals cracking!

fyrflie wrote:
When I did mine I used a combination of heat gun, plastic razor blades, goo gone and a rubber eraser wheel.
The eraser wheel worked the best and left the least amount of residue behind to deal with.

Remember, you may have some ghosting of the decals left after removal and may not be able to polish that out.

I chose to use the ghost images left as templates and painted the graphics back on using automotive paint.

It is simply a tedious job.

Good luck.

You're correct about the ghosting. We had our decals professional replaced and there are a couple of areas where you can see the ghosting and they had to take the entire finish down and rewax and buff the entire unit. That was the costliest part of the service.

noteven wrote:

mountainkowboy wrote:
Anyone removed the old cracking decals? What gets them off the best?

I am.

I am using a product called VinylOff made by Crystal Tek.

If the decals are not cracked, use normal lift a corner and get as much off by peeling them back on themselves as possible. Then use the product to remove the adhesive. If you apply the product to an old but sound decal it seems to weaken it so it does not peel nice but not enough to scrape nice if that makes sense.

If the decals are cracked, apply the product as per the instructions to the decal. I am using a rag to daub it on and steel razor blades in a scraper to remove the decal material.

I cleaned the area after removal with a rag and alcohol.

I plan to polish the gel coat once I am done removing the decals.

I forgot to mention I will also use the 3M eraser wheel. It is especially handy for small stripes and lettering vs lifting a corner and peeling.

The 3M wheel was going to take many many hours to remove the severly cracked red stripes on my current project. The remover product is working much faster.

Lots of different tools are sometimes needed.

We found that the rubber eraser worked well. Then some 3M Adhesive remover scraped with a plastic gift card, the flexibility of the card works well on fiberglass. To clean up the remaining adhesive, discoloration, and general oxidation, compounding with an appropriate liquid cleaner is necessary. I use a number of products, rubbing compound, 3M Perfect-It, and Meguires 67, which I use the most. Use a rotary buffing machine on fiberglass, I find that the orbitals do not work nearly as well. Gel Coat on fiberglass is different than paint. Get the speed up and watch the heat carefully, keep the machine moving.

Then to clean things up and make the MH look good, I use Meguires 67 which has a wax base as well and it does look good when done. I also use Fast Finish by Meguires, this is an easy to use product that produces a good result. I am experimenting with Meguires Ceramic Hybrid product, but do not feel comfortable using it on the MH with out more experience with it.

If you do not have a good buffing machine, it will take a lot longer and be more difficult to finish the removal.

Best.

Found it...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSzhSks0PG4

and:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8k0_pKfzm3w

Somewhere in the world of you tube is a video of a guy painting OVER the decals. Looked good. Not especially difficult. Blue painters tape and rattle can paint.
I'll look around in my favorites and see if I saved it.

+1 on the rubber eraser wheel. They do a fantastic job and leave virtually no residue. It's what the body shops use.

Heat gun plus a plastic blade scraper should do the trick.

Thanks for the info...I haven't started yet, but it's coming. They just look horrible. I know I'll have ghosting, as said it will give me a template for paint.

When I did mine I used a combination of heat gun, plastic razor blades, goo gone and a rubber eraser wheel.
The eraser wheel worked the best and left the least amount of residue behind to deal with.

Remember, you may have some ghosting of the decals left after removal and may not be able to polish that out.

I chose to use the ghost images left as templates and painted the graphics back on using automotive paint.

It is simply a tedious job.

Good luck.

mountainkowboy wrote:
Anyone removed the old cracking decals? What gets them off the best?

I am.

I am using a product called VinylOff made by Crystal Tek.

If the decals are not cracked, use normal lift a corner and get as much off by peeling them back on themselves as possible. Then use the product to remove the adhesive. If you apply the product to an old but sound decal it seems to weaken it so it does not peel nice but not enough to scrape nice if that makes sense.

If the decals are cracked, apply the product as per the instructions to the decal. I am using a rag to daub it on and steel razor blades in a scraper to remove the decal material.

I cleaned the area after removal with a rag and alcohol.

I plan to polish the gel coat once I am done removing the decals.