Removed decals that were laquered... HELP!

[ukzz4iroc]

Hi guys,

I took the stripes and IROC-Z decals off over the weekend. Unfortunately the door decals had been clear coated over and now as you can see, the imprint of the decal is still there. The lettering is now below the level of the rest of the door if that makes sense.

Can I wet sand down that section and will that work? Any advice welcome.

Thanks

[ross-co]

ukzz4iroc said:

Hi guys,

I took the stripes and IROC-Z decals off over the weekend. Unfortunately the door decals had been clear coated over and now as you can see, the imprint of the decal is still there. The lettering is now below the level of the rest of the door if that makes sense.

Can I wet sand down that section and will that work? Any advice welcome.

Thanks

Sorry cant help but to give a bigger pic:

Edited by ross-co on Monday 5th July 13:06

[Robatr0n]

So they've taken the lacquer off of the paintwork?

Had the lettering/decals been stuck to the car since it was brand new?

You can obviously buy vehicle grade graphics nowadays but ultimately all adhesives will eventually become permanent when left to adhere to a surface for long periods of time.

[T_Pot]

by the looks of that, id say thet were not clear coated over, but masked off and the area you now can see where the graphic was, has no new clear coat on it.

cant see that a quick and easy thing to sort without rubbing the panel down and re coating it

[r11co]

Robatr0n said:

So they've taken the lacquer off of the paintwork?

No!

What he said was that the door had been over-sprayed with lacquer, including decals that were already there, meaning that the decals/overspray have been removed at that point leaving the rest of the overspray behind.

Careful use of very fine wet-n-dry over the edges is worth a go because otherwise you are looking at get the whole lacquering done again.

[ukzz4iroc]

r11co said:

Robatr0n said:

So they've taken the lacquer off of the paintwork?

No!

What he said was that the door had been over-sprayed with lacquer, including decals that were already there, meaning that the decals/overspray have been removed at that point leaving the rest of the overspray behind.

Careful use of very fine wet-n-dry over the edges is worth a go because otherwise you are looking at get the whole lacquering done again.

Spot on that man, thanks

Do you think 2000 Wet and Dry? If I can just blend the edges of the remaining lacquer into the areas of letters with no lacquer we should be fine you think?

Thanks again

[SeeFive]

Wooo, careful. I've got some damaged lacquer on the Vette and I certainly ain't touching it!

I think that is going to be very difficult to do without going through the paint. The lacquer is probably harder than the unlacquered paint next to the edge, and you will have trouble removing the edge to an invisible state without touching the unlaquered paint.

I'd have the panel re-done personally, or even with 2000/4000 and soap you could easily thin / go through the adjacent colour, meaning that you will wind up having a new base on that panel, flipped a way up the adjacent panels (to avoid a bad edge-panel colour match) and a re-laquer of all 3/4 panels.

Why don't you pop in to your local paint shop and get a view from them, where they can check the colour codes and feel the edges?

[TallPaul]

A light flat with 2000 and then a good mop will make the lacquer edge less noticeable & if its low down, that may be enough. Obviously you wont make it invisible, you'll need the area repainted for that.

[Robatr0n]

r11co said:

Robatr0n said:

So they've taken the lacquer off of the paintwork?

No!

What he said was that the door had been over-sprayed with lacquer, including decals that were already there, meaning that the decals/overspray have been removed at that point leaving the rest of the overspray behind.

Careful use of very fine wet-n-dry over the edges is worth a go because otherwise you are looking at get the whole lacquering done again.

Ah right, got you.

Yes r11co has the right idea.

[spikeyhead]

The unlaquered red will fade faster than something that fades very fast when the sun shines on it.

[RB Will]

I had the same problem on my Impreza P1. Previous owner had rally graphics on and had a scrape where it was repaired the idiot laquered over the graphics that faded so when I took them off I had to get the rear quarter respreayed.

[ukzz4iroc]

Damn that is bad news but I guess what I was expecting. Thanks guys will get a bodyshop to check it over in due course.

[TallPaul]

spikeyhead said:

The unlaquered red will fade faster than something that fades very fast when the sun shines on it.

Whilst thats very true for unlacquered basecoat, my guess is its factory paint (lacquer) under the transfer, the cars had a few repairs and they've simply left the transfers on & re-lacquered over the top.
I've never repaired an IROC, but I very much doubt it was basecoated, then had transfers stuck on before being clearcoated by the factory. It is possible, but I cant think of a UK manufacturer who would do it, let alone an American one- even motorbikes generally only have the transfers on the fuel tanks lacquered, the rest are applied after paint.

[liner33]

2500 grade wet and dry and then 3000 grade , then machine polish , wouldnt go as hard as 2000 grade

[SeeFive]

liner33 said:

2500 grade wet and dry and then 3000 grade , then machine polish , wouldnt go as hard as 2000 grade

Excuse me for being dumb, as this local repair is not something that I would attempt. Personally, I'd DA the lacquer way back and repaint the whole panel (or to a suitable trim edge), so I do not know the technique for this.

How is the OP going to protect the paint next to the lacquer as he removes the hard edge? I just can't see this working - the different depths of lacquer and thinning of adjacent paint / original lacquer as the edges are rubbed away are going to show as problems in the finished product.

No harm in having a go I guess as it'll end up with a repaint if it goes wrong, and a repaint if he doesn't have a go, but some advice on protecting the adjacent areas not requiring attention with the wet/dry would be good if you know how. I don't I am afraid

[TallPaul]

You'll never flat it back until the edge has dissappeared, as you rightly pointed out, that would expose the underlying basecoat. All the OP can realistically hope for is to give it a light flat & polish to make the edges less noticeable. Or get it painted.

[saladdodger]

wet and dry it with some smooth paper them mop it

[ukzz4iroc]

Guys, this is great stuff. Are we talking a re-paint or re-lacquer?

[Speedracer329]

ukzz4iroc said:

Guys, this is great stuff. Are we talking a re-paint or re-lacquer?

Sorry to say this but it will have to be re painted & then re lacquered. I have a similar problem, a small area of lacquer peel on the bonnet of my XJR, & all the paint shops I contacted told me the same, the whole panel has to be redone from scratch. It might not be as bad as you thought price wise though, I was quoted £240 all in for mine, by a quality paint shop, & its a large panel.

In the meantime I have used a scratch remover compound to flat the edges, it looks better but not great.

[GKP]

What that needs is a 'Z' shaped sticker over the top to cover it up.