Removing vinyl wrap
Discussion
Does anyone have any experience with removing vinyl wrap?
Is it one of those jobs that looks easy, but has some technical know how to prevent issues?
The wrap on the GT in a couple of small places has started to lift. Considering this was done 10 years ago, it still looks great but I've got 3 stone chips on the front exposing the blue underneath.
So I've been for a quote to re-wrap the car and stage 1 is removing the wrap. Something they charge to do, however, this has got me thinking, as long as the wrap was put on for personal choice and not to cover dodgy paintwork, then taking it off might be a relatively cheap solution.
If the paint is no good, then the car is lined up for a new wrap anyway, so I figure its a little bit of a win win.
They can wrap the front and rear bumpers relatively inexpensively so that would also bring the car back to a decent standard.
heres the car
previous colour - looks good right - supplied by original owner who said the paintwork was "ok"..what that means is yet to be determined.
Is it one of those jobs that looks easy, but has some technical know how to prevent issues?
The wrap on the GT in a couple of small places has started to lift. Considering this was done 10 years ago, it still looks great but I've got 3 stone chips on the front exposing the blue underneath.
So I've been for a quote to re-wrap the car and stage 1 is removing the wrap. Something they charge to do, however, this has got me thinking, as long as the wrap was put on for personal choice and not to cover dodgy paintwork, then taking it off might be a relatively cheap solution.
If the paint is no good, then the car is lined up for a new wrap anyway, so I figure its a little bit of a win win.
They can wrap the front and rear bumpers relatively inexpensively so that would also bring the car back to a decent standard.
heres the car
previous colour - looks good right - supplied by original owner who said the paintwork was "ok"..what that means is yet to be determined.
Taken quite a bit of vinyl - signs & wrap - off vans for an old customer of mine a few years ago (& still do to remove decals of various sizes from caravans prior to paint/bodywork)
They used hot water poured over the vinyl & then peeled it away back on itself - not an upwards pull.
I used a hot air gun - paint stripper type - instead of hot water but be careful as if you get it too hot you can damage the paint. I used to hold the gun in my right hand & have my left hand in the area I was warming to give me an indication of when things were getting too warm.
Some vinyls left a sticky residue on the paint & this then needs to be removed. Clutch & brake cleaner has always done the job for me & to date I've never had any paint reaction - but YMMV!
Whilst I appreciate you want to keep costs down by removing it yourself consider that the wrappers have probably removed acres of the stuff so should know what they're doing to minimise any risk to the existing paint.
They used hot water poured over the vinyl & then peeled it away back on itself - not an upwards pull.
I used a hot air gun - paint stripper type - instead of hot water but be careful as if you get it too hot you can damage the paint. I used to hold the gun in my right hand & have my left hand in the area I was warming to give me an indication of when things were getting too warm.
Some vinyls left a sticky residue on the paint & this then needs to be removed. Clutch & brake cleaner has always done the job for me & to date I've never had any paint reaction - but YMMV!
Whilst I appreciate you want to keep costs down by removing it yourself consider that the wrappers have probably removed acres of the stuff so should know what they're doing to minimise any risk to the existing paint.
So I took the rear bumper wrap off to see what I thought of the paint. Its much better than I expected (expected the worse) and it looks pretty much brand new.
that said looks lighter than the photo above of the car, I guess thats a light thing.
It will be going to the wrappers for a new wrap. Yet to have decided on colour, so PH will be consulted in a new thread.
that said looks lighter than the photo above of the car, I guess thats a light thing.
It will be going to the wrappers for a new wrap. Yet to have decided on colour, so PH will be consulted in a new thread.
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