Removing Decals

sirrab, Dec 19, 6:40pm
HI,

I have some sign writing (decals) on my vans paintwork. is a type of plastic. how can I remove it without damaging the paint?

Thanks in advance !
saxman99, Dec 19, 6:42pm
Heat it up until it's quite hot and soft with a hairdryer. It should then peel off quite well, so long as it's not too old and brittle. Clean up residue carefully with a little meths.
gunhand, Dec 19, 6:51pm
Caramel wheel and a drill. Not to fast not to slow, keep it moving and it will be all gone in no time. Removed some very old decals just yesterday and didn't put a mark on the paint at all.
sirrab, Dec 19, 8:24pm
thanks for the suggestions !

Will a hair dryer get it hot enough to damage the paint?

It might be too old for that way as its been there 8 years?
thecoolshop, Dec 19, 8:47pm
Hair dryer will get it off. They only go to about 50-60 degrees which is not hot enough to strip paint.
whqqsh, Dec 20, 4:48am
Ive just taken a shitload of pin striping & fake carbon fibre off my bike (from comment before, heat gun would be too hot, hair drier just right) some of it came off clean, other parts left the glue behind but a rag & petrol soon cleaned the residue off
lookoutas, Dec 20, 6:20am
Heat gun only gets as hot as the operators ability.
Bloody sight quicker than using a hair drier!

A caramel wheel is even quicker, by at least 25%. They make a bit of a mess to clean up, but they produce a nice smell.
kazbanz, Dec 20, 7:25am
What he says ^^^^^^^ but like anything don't go mental on one spot or you might burn the paint underneath. Do not EVER be tempted to use a blade
slimdog, Dec 20, 7:51pm
Just a hair dryer or heat gun is half the story. What do you do once its hot and soft, pick it off by hand? Sweet if its new and comes off in one peice. No good if its old and brittle. As above, a metal blade will scratch paint. You need a plastic scraper or some sort. I used to use a wax and grease remover called prepsol for the glue left behind. It evaporated fast, maybe put gladwrap over the top while its working.
mrfxit, Dec 20, 7:58pm
A good steady hand with a stanley knife blade (bare blade) works well for lifting the edge of vinyl stickers so that you can grab the edge & pull it off.
Paper stickers are totally different, they are simply &()&$&*# to get off paint cleanly
morrisman1, Dec 20, 8:17pm
Get the panel warm to touch with a hair dryer. You dont want to concentrate the heat on the vinyl you are peeling off, but rather warm the panel. The vinyl will come off piece of cake in most cases there.
lookoutas, Dec 20, 9:16pm
If any tool you try to use, doesn't work.
Don't blame the tool.

Jeez slimdog - get a caramel wheel. They take the whole lot off in one swoop.
I'll even use one to remove the remaining double sided tape after removing a badge.
The time saved is phenomenal.

I first learnt about them on here, but "oldfartitous" prevented me from trying one until one of the guys was removing a heap of old brittle stuff from a van one day, right when the RA Johnston rep called in. I grabbed a couple of wheels, but he couldn't see how they would work and ignored them (probably coz it was my idea)
Stuff this - I wanted to try them, so gave one a whirl, and couldn't believe the result. When the guy doing the job finally decided that enough time had passed to make it his idea, he used the wheel on the other side, and turned what had taken 4 hours to remove the decals off one side, into less than 1 hour to do the other side.
mad_signtist, Dec 20, 9:57pm
I always use a wall paper steamer. Taken 10 year old signwriting off with ease with one of these bad boys
whqqsh, Dec 21, 3:45am
exactly what I used but I do agree with others you have to be very careful not to get into the paint, thats probably why I had quite a bit of glue residue left to clean off
sirrab, Dec 21, 8:19am
where do you get caramel wheel's something sold by a place like bunnings or do i need to get from a specialist?
grangies, Dec 21, 8:26am
The big wide ones that fit to an MBX tool, work even better. Need an MBX though LOL
zeppelin155, Dec 21, 9:53am
As a Signwriter I deal with this sort of job all the time.
First thing I would do if the vinyl is still in good nick.
Warm the panel with a heat gun (hairdryers don't tend to have enough grunt, but if it's all you've got it should do it).
Gently pull the vinyl from a corner, go slow you want to try to get the glue to come off with the vinyl if you can. Keep the panel warm as you go.
If any glue is left behind use a solvent like Prepsol, IPA or Meths to remove it, Prepsol works best.
If the glue is stubborn soak it a small area at a time in prepsol and use a plastic scraper (we usually use our squeeges) to scrape it off. A little paint thinner with the prepsol should also help.

Failing any of this the next step would be a caramel wheel, you get them from panel beating supply shops.
If you have a wallpaper stripper they work well too.

Personally I would never use a blade or anything sharp, but it's your vehicle so as long as you are careful I guess it would be ok.

Lastly in my experience you can never guarantee there won't be any damage to the paint work, bad repairs or repaints underneath are the biggest issues we usually have when doing removals.
Good Luck (Mr Zeppelin 155)
lookoutas, May 20, 7:18pm
Yeah - really neat when ya pulling it off (the vinyl) and the paint underneath comes off too.

I still say, of any method I've ever used, the caramel wheel is by far the quickest. Once I got over the Oldfartitous bit.