Removing vinyl wrap that has been installed for 6+ years
Discussion
I'm in the process of getting my car ready to be sold. It has had a vinyl wrap on it since early 2010, which has been pretty robust but has come away in places. I thought it would be better to get it removed as it would involve less work or suspicion about the paintwork underneath.
I took it to a local sign writing place that seemed confident that it would come off and quoted me a cash price, based on a day of labour.
As it turned out I got a call early in the afternoon to let me know there was no chance it would be ready, and that the vinyl was just coming off in very small pieces leaving the glue residue on the paint. The guy sounded genuinely exasperated on the phone, and on the verge of giving up on the job. I've got no reason to believe they aren't competent enough to remove it properly.
The latest is that he has planned to put the car in an bodyshop oven - and is going to let me know how that goes.
Assuming the worst happens and it makes no difference, what options have I got here? I honestly don't have the time to spend every weekend for the next X months with a heat gun trying to do it myself.
I took it to a local sign writing place that seemed confident that it would come off and quoted me a cash price, based on a day of labour.
As it turned out I got a call early in the afternoon to let me know there was no chance it would be ready, and that the vinyl was just coming off in very small pieces leaving the glue residue on the paint. The guy sounded genuinely exasperated on the phone, and on the verge of giving up on the job. I've got no reason to believe they aren't competent enough to remove it properly.
The latest is that he has planned to put the car in an bodyshop oven - and is going to let me know how that goes.
Assuming the worst happens and it makes no difference, what options have I got here? I honestly don't have the time to spend every weekend for the next X months with a heat gun trying to do it myself.
Tar and glue remover, and lots of it.
Also above, the paint will most likely need to be machine polished afterwards. I'd imagine the sign writers may have caused some marring in the removal of the wrap - it's just one of those things. On the plus side, it'd make the car looks a lot fresher and more appealing to potential buyers too
Also above, the paint will most likely need to be machine polished afterwards. I'd imagine the sign writers may have caused some marring in the removal of the wrap - it's just one of those things. On the plus side, it'd make the car looks a lot fresher and more appealing to potential buyers too
No..As it turned out the sign writing company gave up after having only removed a tiny amount of the wrap. Warming the whole car up in the oven didn't work (though I don't know how hot the oven was). To be fair to them I have no reason to suspect they aren't trying, because they didn't even ask for any money when I collected the car.
It's oddly frustrating that a decent quality vinyl that has been on the car for over 6 years is proving harder to remove than a crappy one that probably would've sloughed off the car of its own accord years ago.
I bought a car which had the bonnet wrapped. The wrap had been on the car for 5+ years but the car had been garaged so it looked fine. Having owned the car for a few months and it being parked outside, I noticed the wrap had started to perish.
So I did some reading up, a bit of heat and peel it off seemed the gist of it so I set to work. Well this is what it looked like after about an hour of trying....
The wrap was coming off but leaving a thick layer of glue behind! I spent literally hours trying to get it off as gently as possible but no luck. In the end a mate came over who does smart repairs and suggested a caramel wheel. I'd never heard of one but basically a big pencil erase on a drill bit, used to remove glue residue from badges, trim etc.
That didn't go too well as the bonnet had been painted so was a bit softer than anticipated and a strip of lacquer came off with the glue. To be fair I'd resigned myself to having to get the bonnet painted as I couldn't see a non-harsh way of removing the wrap.
In the end my local bodyshop had to use strong thinners to remove it and I had the bonnet repainted.
I love the idea of a wrap, a nice change of colour, paint sitting protected underneath but this is one of the reasons I'd never have it done!
So I did some reading up, a bit of heat and peel it off seemed the gist of it so I set to work. Well this is what it looked like after about an hour of trying....
The wrap was coming off but leaving a thick layer of glue behind! I spent literally hours trying to get it off as gently as possible but no luck. In the end a mate came over who does smart repairs and suggested a caramel wheel. I'd never heard of one but basically a big pencil erase on a drill bit, used to remove glue residue from badges, trim etc.
That didn't go too well as the bonnet had been painted so was a bit softer than anticipated and a strip of lacquer came off with the glue. To be fair I'd resigned myself to having to get the bonnet painted as I couldn't see a non-harsh way of removing the wrap.
In the end my local bodyshop had to use strong thinners to remove it and I had the bonnet repainted.
I love the idea of a wrap, a nice change of colour, paint sitting protected underneath but this is one of the reasons I'd never have it done!
Thought I'd give an update for anyone else having this problem.
Ended up taking it to a local place that deals with prepping ex-fleet vehicles for sale. They told me that they had a steamer that they were confident would do the job. Roughly 30 minutes later they'd removed more from one of the rear quarters than the guy with a heat gun had managed in a day.
It is still leaving some of the glue behind but nothing a machine polish won't fix.
So - steam thingies are very effective with years-old vinyl wraps.
EDIT: A machine polish after using adhesive remover obviously.
Ended up taking it to a local place that deals with prepping ex-fleet vehicles for sale. They told me that they had a steamer that they were confident would do the job. Roughly 30 minutes later they'd removed more from one of the rear quarters than the guy with a heat gun had managed in a day.
It is still leaving some of the glue behind but nothing a machine polish won't fix.
So - steam thingies are very effective with years-old vinyl wraps.
EDIT: A machine polish after using adhesive remover obviously.
Edited by Durzel on Monday 23 January 15:12
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