Vinyl Lettering Removal?

[Cody]

<font color=e87400>Anyone have any suggestions on removing some old vinyl lettering. The surface is aluminum & it appears to to be painted. There's some oxidation as well.

This is for a trailer I own, I just bought yesterday, so I can get aggerssive on it however I'm hoping I can get this off without too much difficulty & get it lettered for me asap. As a last resort I will either repaint it or just re-skin the thing completely.

Thanks
Cody
</font>

 

[onecallpowerw]

Blow Dryer at the highest setting, use a exacta knife, and once hot, peal starting with the bottom right corner and peel up. After you have removed all lettering, spray on a degreaser, let stand two minutes and pressure wash off. Degreaser has to be at 100%.

Hope this helps

 

[Larry L.]

Will agree with the blow dryer(heat gun),exacta knife and peal but not the degreaser.At 100% some degreasers will streak or remove the paint,Alcohol in a spray bottle would be my choice for removing the glue like sticky stuf,let dwell a second or two wipe off.

 

[klean_freak]

there is this stuff i found at flea market i think it is called goof or something it will peal them off once you let it soak they will peel them selves off.

any glue remover should work too but as for oxidation WAX of some sort i dont know.

 

[njpull]

Blow dryers get real hot... I've had good luck with a hand held steamer. I don't have to worry about burning my fingers and I can use a plastic squeege to lift the edges. If the piece is over 4 inches wide, try slitting it into strips.

 

[onecallpowerw]

GOOF OFF

Purchase at your local Lowes or HD. Some paint stores carry it also.

 

[Scott Stone]

Doesn't goof off have MEK in it? The times I have used it it has damaged the paint underneath.

At a good autobody store they have a wheel that you put on a drill that will strip the decals off. It is pretty amazing because it leaves the paint untouched, and I do not know how it works.
Another option is to hire a professional witha hot water rig to get under a corner of the decal and work it off.

Scott Stone

 

[Dan Flynn]

I did my trailer when I moved to Texas with my hot machine. It took a few hours, but worked fine.

The wheel from the hardware store sounds pretty interesting.

Have a safe and happy 4th weekend

 

[Tim Lynch]

I have this on my truck and move DeckRefinishing to Smaller text and Gutter Cleaning to larger during the season. My sign guy uses anything with orange citrus in it. It works great does not harm anything and works fast.

They also sell a stronger citrus based cleaning at sign stores and craft stores.

In case your still working on it.

 

[Cody]

<font color=e87400>LOL Scott, Yeah, I guess I'll have to get the yellow pages out & call a pressure washing contractor eh.

I haven't messed with this thing yet, I'm waiting for the urge to hit me. I'll probably try all of the above to see which gets the job done better. I suppose I'll have to try the good ole test patches in not so obvious areas to see what happens. In lieu of a hair dryer I do you think a heat gun would be too hot?

Also Tim, Is that Citrus Based Cleaner ok on paint finishes? I tried some concentrate Citrus cleaner once on my Airboat rudders & it dulled them down some, I had to buff it out to get em shiney again, could have just been a fluke but I've been leary ever since.

Also Onecall you say to let a degreaser dwell for a couple minutes, would that be on a dry surface or wet it first? I'm with bigboy on this about using it, seems like it could be a problem, however I don't use degreasers on surfaces like this so I really don't know, can you elaborate on this a little?

Scott, someone else told me about that wheel gizmo, they called it an eraser, I'm going to pick one up so I can try it too. I'm definately liiking for the easiest method possible since there is alot of lettering to remove & I am a in reality a pretty lazy individual when I'm not getting paid

Thanks Cody

When I get to this I'll post back the results of the methods applied </font>

 

[Larry L.]

do you think a heat gun would be too hot?

It depends on the "would" as to the "be",the old saying when useing hot heat the closer you get the hotter it gets.If they are a vinyl lettering business in your area givem a call and ask how they remove,while ya at it get a quote on cutting new lettering.

happy 4th

 

[Tim Lynch]

Cody

The Citrus he uses is ordanary home owner style. It does not hurt my truck paint at all in fact it's not a bad cleaner and shines up the area.

I helped him last time we did it spring, we sprayed the letters and nick one corner and start peeling if needed we spray a fine mist under the letter as your peeling. Once the letters are off we spray any glue stick-um left over and wipe with a clean cloth and we are done and prepped for the new letter to go on.

One thing! My letters only stay on the truck for a maX of 6 Months before I swap out the lettering sizes. Older the tuffer it will be but this is a proven technique.

Here is an excerp from a pro sgin stripping site.

Vinyl Pitfalls
Of course, even if you are aware of and have prepared for the challenges involved in stripping vinyl, there are still some pitfalls that can snare you. The biggest time waster is removing the adhesive residue that is often left behind when the graphics are very old. Removing the residue then requires a special solution and an extra step in the process.

“There’s no wonder product out there,†says Stapleton. “I’ve tried a lot of different things and they all pretty much work the same.â€

Stapleton uses a adhesive remover by 3M. Barbaria’s shop uses Rapid Remover. And Akers’ franchisees use a couple of different products, such as Goo Gone and Goof Off.

“I would start with alcohol, then move to Goo Gone, which is a citrus-based product, then Goof Off, which is used for removing paint from floors,†says Akers. Some sign makers have even gone as far as trying WD-40 with little success.

Here's the website I found it on.
http://www.signindustry.com/vinyl/articles/2002-03-14-JL-StrippingVinyl.php3

Looks like it could be a profitable biz after reading the complete article. LOL

Good luck
Tim

 

[onecallpowerw]

Degreaser

A good one for lettering would be a degreaser called Purple Power. You can purchase this at your local walmart for about $5.00. Once you have removed the lettering you will have the residue for the sticker. Spray the purple power on with a sprayer, let stand for maybe 2 minutes and wash away. I am assuming this is an aluminum siding trailer. If so, you will not even know the lettering was ever there and you will not damage the finish.

I will put it to you this way....I remove lettering for Chet's Auto body all the time. And we have never had a problem. I only mentioned goof off because another post was wondering what it was called. But it works well in removing the sticker residue. But it can damage the finish..

 

[P Austin]

Vinyl Lettering Removal

I had lettering on an old truck about three years ago and used a citrus based cleaner. - not goof off but similar in the winter. I started off with a heat gun to heat the lettering so it could be paeled, then the keep the surface warm while ai did it. This worked great, but the surface under the lettering looked like brend new due to the fading of the exposed paint around the lettering. I was able to buff with a buffing compound and blent the area to look OK, but not perfect. If you are going to have it painted, then this wont matter as a deglosser will be used or even 500 to 1000 grit sanding paper for paint prep.

I didn't read all of the responces, I am sure some one has said just what I said already. Just felt like typing a response.

Paul Austin
KNP Wash It
West Michigan Area

 

[klean_freak]

BE CAREFUL with the purple stuff it will remove the letering off your license plate tags, the plasitic chrome on your grills, and what ever else is in the way if you do not dilute it!!

 

[Walt Graner]

Heat gun and your finger nail should come right off. You could also use a heat lamp and let it shine on the side for a while. Big orange a Zep product is what the City of Austin uses to do all their squad cars. Now you safety nazis will love this, my old sign guy uses a little lighter fluid and a rag for the sticky glue it also works, also flamable.

 

[kuuya1]

How to remove vinyl lettering...

Using a hair blower is quite fine...however a cheap heat gun will do the job much better...I dont know If the degreaser will work that well but just walk into any sign shop and purchase the "Little Pink Scrapper" and some "Rapid Removal" and that should do the Job.