VictoriaRR

...it's not that I don't like them. I think that they look great. I've just been having these fears that if they stay on too long, when I do take them off later on they'll pull the clearcoat off or paint as well. I guess what kinda started this line of thinking was a phone call I made to the guy who did my stripes when I was living in Texas. We were discussing him sending me some stripes to do my GT500 spoiler when it comes in, and I asked him how to remove the stripes from my stock spoiler. He said to do it at an angle, starting from a corner and pulling quickly so that the clearcoat and paint don't stick to the vinyl. That scared the hell out of me. It got me to thinking how hard it would be to do the entire car... fearing what would happen if I screwed up. He used Avery A9 vinyl on my car, which has held up well but does have some spots that won't come off and a few light scratches at the back bumper. He told me it could last up to eight years if cared for properly since Avery A9 is the best or whatever. I *do* have plans to redo my car's look before long... I want to go for more of a Boss 302 look with a single hood stripe and a rear blackout, I just don't know when. I'm kinda thinking now since my new spoiler should be here soon. But I don't know.

So... what do you all think? Should I keep things as they are? Are my worries unfounded? Does anyone have experience with removing vinyl? Is it a hard and scary process?

Thanks.

Mudflap

I've never actually seen vinyl pull up clearcoat and paint before. I've heard this claimed in the past, but I have no evidence of it. IMO, the main negative effect you could have is the paint having faded a bit overall, so when the stripe is removed you'll be able to see a difference. If you keep the car in a garage and it doesn't sit in the sun all the time, you probably won't even have that issue. Also, if the stripes haven't been on there for YEARS, you'll have less of an issue.

Given you want to replace the stock spoiler anyway, that is the perfect place to pull some off as a test. Chances are its not going to come off smoothly, if it does, you're lucky. Usually it'll come off in chunks, tearing into smaller pieces. Try heating it up with a hairdryer first, not TOO hot though. What I do is have someone hold the dryer about a foot or two away and blow it on the vinyl as I try and work it off. If you pull slowly and evenly, sometimes you'll get large pieces off and get lucky.

You might want to have a bottle of Goof Off handy if there is adhesive residue left. You can buy it at Home Depot. Its in a yellow bottle. Be careful with it, and use a SOFT cloth or Viva brand paper towels. You'll want to wax the car after using that stuff. As with anything, test a little bit in an inconspicuous area. I've used it on cars a few times with no damage.

To answer your questions:

Scary? Not really.
Hard? It CAN be a pain in the butt.

MELLOWYELLOW06

Victoria, sorry to go off topic, but are you going tomorrow?

VictoriaRR

No, Mellow. Unfortunately I won't be able to make it this time. Hopefully next time around.

project85

I like the 'Boss 302' idea

mygt500

Victoria- Its not hard at all....very easy. I have not heard of paint being pulled off or clearcoat. I also would not worry about paint fade. Unless you have single stg paint (which you don't) the clearcoat protects the paint underneath it. I have had vinyls in the past on many stangs from the 80's on up and never had an issue with removal. The only thing I have read was a member here (marcuskeeler) had his rocker panel fade stripes applied and when he decided to remove them they must have used a razor to place them on the car as there was a line cut into the clear that was left after removal. PM him for details.

I would use a hair dryer to heat the corner of the stripe up a bit (no need to be hot) and SLOWLY pull the tape stripe off while applying heat to the stripe as you go the length of the stripe. Have someone help you and the trick is to pull at an angle as close to the stripe your pulling off. The heat will help the transfer of the adhesive to stay on the stripe and not the car.

Once removed look over the area and remove any left over tape and or residue with alcohol and then follow with a glaze and a good wax. .................................. DONE!

If I lived close your boyfriend and I could do it in one hour (taking our time) and another 3-4 hrs (I detail on the side for 17 yrs) for the whole car to get a glaze and a wax. I would use a porter cable D/A polisher for any swirls on the surrounding paint but your car appears very well taken care of and the paint color hides many imperfections unlike mine which is black. JMO hope it helps Jason

EDIT- I heard of one guy that had the paint pulled off after he decided that he wanted the stripes removed on the top of the car near the windshield. Mind you this should not happen if the car was primed and painted properly from the factory. If the paint is new and not hardened for a month or so then maybe it could happen but I would not worry unless you see paint flaking already and that's a warranty issue regardless if you had stripes or not.

Legion5

I've seen clearcoat pulled off it's all about HOW you pull the stripes off, not when.

mygt500

I have never had it happen and as I stated my HOW TO works every time.....

Legion5

The most important thing is... if you pull STRAIGHT, your clear coat WILL be destroyed, if you pull at an angle you will be fine.

It's strange but it always happens like this.

nmd55

its sounds like you want to remove the stripes because youre worried about harming the paint, but removing the stripes is what harms the paint. I would just leave them, if the clearcoat is harmed when you decide to remove them, i would use that as an excuse to get painted stripes!