Adhesive

old sarge

Member
A buddy bought a cop car at an auction. The decals have been removed but left a lot of adhesive behind. The best product I used to was by Klean-Strip,but seems it is no longer sold. 3M woodgrain and stripe remover never impressed me at now $36.00 for a spray can. What do you all recommend ? Thanks .
 
Goof off was removing that black tar like adhesive from old tiles for me, but ever since I tried the 3M adhesive removing wheel 03612 I never went back. Cheaper brands are called rubber erasers to make sure you do not hurt the paint.
 
I used xylol from Ace Hardware to remove glue residue from a wrapped van. Worked well with no paint damage.
 
If you have any PPG DX330 W&G remover laying around it will remove it as well. It has a lot of tolulene and xylene in it. Any of the old "enamel" wax and grease removers will do so as well. But those are so far in the past that more than likely you don't have any of that.

You can also try wetting a rag or shop towel (woven cloth works best) with lacquer and wiping the adhesive. It won't remove it but it does soften it enough that you can then take a razor blade and carefully scrape it off. It will come off easily and ball up. When the lacquer thinner evaporates wipe it again and continue. Just be careful to only scrape the adhesive and not the paint.
Or you can get a an eraser wheel, slow speed in a drill and remove it that way. Astro Pneumatic 400E will fit in a drill and works well. About $9-10 a wheel. Just go real slow with the wheel. The slower you go the better the eraser wheel works. Too fast and you will take the paint off along with the adhesive, especially if it is refinish paint.
 
Just a little extra info to anyone reading this. If you have a decal to remove, especially a large decal the easiest way is to warm it with a heat gun and gradually pull it off. Much of the adhesive will come off with the decal (not all though) sometimes more, sometimes less, but it's the easiest way to remove one. Then remove the remaining adhesive using one of the methods listed above.
 
Yeah, if you aren't pulling most of the glue off with the decal, you're making a lot of work for yourself. We will use the heat lamp to preheat the entire thing, then get on it with a heat gun as well. But it looks from the OP that it was bought that way. Sucks to have to clean up someone else's mess.
 
Just a little extra info to anyone reading this. If you have a decal to remove, especially a large decal the easiest way is to warm it with a heat gun and gradually pull it off. Much of the adhesive will come off with the decal (not all though) sometimes more, sometimes less, but it's the easiest way to remove one. Then remove the remaining adhesive using one of the methods listed above.
That would have been the best way but they always remove the police sticker before auction and leave a ton of glue behind . That is good advice. Thanks.
 
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