Removing vehicle vinyl lettering

[Amy Shelton]

I've read on the internet... use a heat gun, or put the vehicle in the sun, peel, or buy a rubber wheel for a drill to buzz it off.

So far, we used a heat gun and peeled off, then got the remaining glue residue with denatured alcohol. Is that hard on the paint? It is our own vehicle, which we are going to sell. I kind of think the new owners would not want our business name all over it. We have lots of lettering to remove.

I would like to hear any suggestions, of do's and don't's, too!

Thanks in advance,
Amy

[Joe Pelonio]

I always charged twice as much for removal as for installation. Yes, heat gun and peel, hair dryer also works and is safer for your fingers. Denatured alcohol removes any wax and can damage older paint. If it doesn't fade it, then continue using it but wax it after. better to use Rapid Remover by RapidTac, available at sign supplies, but it's about $30/quart so unless you do this often it's expensive. It also works to clean lasered acrylic, but if you use it on Rowmark it will remove the color. Odd, because it's safe for car paint. It will also soften and remove dry latex paint.

[Amy Shelton]

Thanks, Joe! I see our local sign shop carries Rapid Remover. And thanks for the tip for using it on lasered acrylic. Sounds like a good product to have around.

I had seen people on Youtube using Goof Off to remove the adhesive, and that just didn't sound like a good idea for car paint. This is our big Sprinter Van and will take a while to get off, but we'll do it a little at a time. (and get the kids to help!)

[Joe Pelonio]

I had a guy come in and quoted him $250 to remove the lettering from his van. He said that was too much and he would do it himself. Two days later he returned and accepted my price after removing a few letters. Not fun work.

[Ty Williams]

Same way we do it here. Heat it until it'll peel up without wanting to shred, then hit it with Rapid Remover and a microfiber cloth. That's about the only way I know of to get it up reliably without wanting to kill yourself or damaging the paint.

[Amy Shelton]

Thanks, Ty and Joe. We were able to get some of it off without using heat on a hot sunny day, and we used a heat gun on some. The Rapid Remover was the ticket! It's not easy. We used a plastic razor blade and a plastic squeegee to help get the globs of adhesive off. We are waxing it, too, it just needed it. We're putting the van up for sale, and didn't think anyone wanted to buy it with our business info on it!

[Ty Williams]

For future reference, if you still had to really fight the remaining adhesive to get it off, you need to hit with with Rapid Remover again and then wait longer. It'll eventually gel the adhesive and it'll 90% just wipe right off with a tad bit of scrubbing at the worst spots. Don't be afraid to keep it wet with the RR for at least 90 seconds, if not more.