white99ta

iTrader: (3)

When I bought my car, it had the Trans Am door lettering painted silver, but it was starting to flake. I decided I was going to remove the molding, as well as the lettering, and then replace the lettering with white vinyl decals (no raised lettering). I did this once before on a friend's car, and everything went well, but his were stock and mine had probably been removed at least once (to be painted). So I nail the driver's side lettering with WD-40, wait 60 seconds, and they peel right off. Passenger side, I try the same thing, but the letters won't come off. I end up having to get under each letter with a putty knife and pry them off. Much to my horror, in several small places, the clearcoat, paint, and primer came off with the letter - all the way down to the plastic.

Ugh.

Not a huge deal, I got some touch-up paint from paintscratch, plus the new vinyls will be covering that up anyway. However... some of the adhesive didn't even come off. It's very hard and brittle, and I've tried everything I can think off - goo gone, WD-40, soapy water, paint thinner. I'm scared to try anything more hardcore than that, at risk of screwing up the paint more. I did try putting the heatgun on it for a bit, which made the adhesive soften up a bit, but when I peeled it off, clear and paint came with it (primer stayed, at least).

Anyone have any ideas for how I can get the rest of the adhesive off? If I can get it cleaned up then I'll move along and put the vinyls on. I am planning to have the bumper and right front 1/4 resprayed here in a few months, so if there's no solution (solvent, rather) for the door then I guess I'll be having that resprayed too.

subarubill96

iTrader: (9)

sounds like its time to scuff and shoot that. new paint will fix it but id say its fucked for now

svtaaron

i would try a razor blade and something to lubricate it with such as wax and grease remover. if you are careful i dont see why it wouldnt come off that way, i do it all the time on cars/bikes

good luck

BigBlockCamaro

iTrader: (6)

+2 for a razor blade and something to wet the glue!

white99ta

iTrader: (3)

Sounds like razor blade + lubricant is the way to go then. I've used that before to take decals off, but this damn adhesive just seems to have become one with the paint. It's rock hard, I don't know if the previous owner just slapped super glue on back of the door lettering or what

I'll give it a shot, in the worst case I'd have to get it repainted anyway, so I don't have much to lose. Thanks for the responses.

svtaaron

3M decal and emblem adhesive gets hard and brittle, im sure thats all that it is, which is why i prefer double sided emblem tape. anyway, a razor blade wax and grease remover and some pacience should do it.

Xsta Z 28

iTrader: (2)

Razor blade on PAINT???? Huh??

colby72olds

iTrader: (7)

That's what I say. Try a plastic razor blade first.

torquejunky

iTrader: (10)

As long as you take off a little at a time, starting at the highest point away from the paint, with a razor, you'll be fine. Just be sure when you get down to the last little bit that you hold the blade parallel to the surface so the corners of the blade don't dig into the paint.

Xsta Z 28

iTrader: (2)

Fishing line is supposed to work well to "saw" the emblem off . . . I usually soak theheck out of the adhesive with Goo Gone, and use a plastic blade . . .

white99ta

iTrader: (3)

Where can I get plastic razor blades? Guessing these won't be in the face maintenance section at the local wal-mart. Should I just go to a body shop and ask them?

Tonight after work I'll give it a try with the W&G remover and a plastic razor blade. If I can avoid screwing it up any more it should be salvageable, at least for a few months until I'm ready to get some other paint work done.

Thanks for the help guys!

djsanchez2

iTrader: (14)

Painter's section at any Home Depot/ Lowes etc. for the plastic razors. They should be bright orange too.

eroc022

iTrader: (7)

actually snap on carries a rubber disk that goes on an angle grinder that takes off glue and decals with no harm to the paint.....

TUMBLRws6

iTrader: (1)

just go to a body shop and ask if you could bum some adhiesive remover...you might have to pay for it...but they have it. Takes that gooey crap right off.
as for the paint...sounds like it needs to be repainted (or covered lol)

white99ta

iTrader: (3)

Unfortunately this stuff isn't gooey at all - it's just hard and fixed to the paint. I got some wax and grease remover last night and made sure to keep the surface wet with that, but after an hour or so all I had managed to do was put dents into plastic razor blades and putty knives. That's the worst part of it - after an hour and half I wasn't even making progress, not a single piece had loosened up. This "adhesive" seems like super glue. Out of desperation I used a screwdriver, held it almost parallel to the car and bumped it with my hand to chip pieces off. Not something I really enjoy doing to my car. I ended up with some small scratches were I wasn't careful, but most of the pieces are off now. The glue is clear, whereas on the other side of the car it was the typical black rubbery stuff you find behind the emblems.

It's pretty rough looking right now, even if I cover it with the new decals it will probably bug me until I can get it repainted. Thanks for all the advice, with the kind of adhesive used in this situation I'm not sure if it could have turned out any better.

torquejunky

iTrader: (10)

How deep did you scratch it? You might be able to water sand it with some 1500, 2000 and then buff it out. Even if it's real bad, that will at least soften the edges of the scratches so it's not as visible.

Swiat34

iTrader: (9)

My Trans Am was the same way. The previous owner clearly used Super Glue to glue the emblem back on. Just when I took mine off it didn't take paint, just left all the glue on. Forget the plastic razor, just get a regular one-sided razor blade (I'm sure Walmart will want to make sure you're over 21 since it's ok to cut yourself if you're old enough) and slowly and VERY carefully work it under the glue a little at a time. It all came off mine and after a quick buff and wax, noone would ever know. Oh, I use the fishing line method of removal and I couldn't saw even a little bit without breaking the line, so I tried a plastic putty knife and broke the emblem in a couple pieces getting it off.

Swat

Now back to

white99ta

iTrader: (3)

Well guys, I think all of the glue is off there now. I've put some touch-up paint in the larger dips and it's already starting to look better. Once I get some clear on there and get things smoothed out I think it'll come out OK. There will be vinyl decals covering where the glue was, which will help, but I still would like to have a nice smooth surface to put them on.

I wish I would have known ahead of time it was super glued on there, when I was taking them off I just thought it was tough adhesive. A little forethought would have gone a long way to saving my paint. Special thanks to whichever previous owner thought super glue was safe for automotive finishes.

Anyway, I'm going to get it looking decent for now, enjoy the car a bit (haven't had it a month yet) and maybe in a few months I'll take it in for a respray. Thanks again for all the help/advice.