Tacky Car Stuff (removing it)
filed in Misc Car Questions
Question: What is a ‘good’ way to remove dealer advertisements from one’s car? >Can they be softened with some thinner (gas?) without damaging car?
the method i used was to heat up the offending sticker with a blow dryer and gently peel the sticker/placard off. any remaining residue can be removed with bug/tar remover or any other similar product.
i believe that best results are obtained if this is done soon after the sticker was applied (i.e., do it as soon as you take delivery).
Answer: Car bras are not nearly as tacky as some of the things I have seen people do to their cars. Not that I think car bras are the greatest thing in the universe, but I’ve seen worse. Examples: (1) Those fins stuck on the back of just about any car. Normally black whale fins that come off of cars like the Porshe 911. When you can see the glue marks, that’s even worse!
(2) The skirtings along the bottom of the cars that don’t normally come with skirtings. I’ve seen a VW rabbit (hardtop) with enough skirtings on it that made it look, truly, like the bok it really is.
(3) Those boomerang shaped antennas that go normally on limosines, but are on things like the Nissan Maxima, Chevy Nova (old), etc. Yeech!
(4) Mag rims and wheels on cars that normally take bicycle tires.
(5) Those bubble windows for people who just need to have the window open, but don’t want to get their hair messed up!
That’s just a small selection.. there’s a whole world out there! Most of the sticker types come off easily with a little heat. I use a hair dryer or just hot water to soften the adhesive. Even the chrome lettering comes off easily in most cases. This works BEST if you do it RIGHT AWAY if you are picking up a new car. Once the stickers become one with the finish they do not come off as easily. If you get the chrome lettering type, BE SURE that no holes have been drilled in car before prying the thing off. If there is any adhesive residue left, it can be removed with a mild solvent (check what’s safe on your paint!) like bug-n-tar remover, enamel reducer (be careful), etc.
The worst removal job I ever saw was one done on a work associate’s (then new) 1976 Corvette. He had picked it up on a Friday nite and was called in to work (with the rest of us) to tackle a problem early Saturday. His wife was hot to wash the new car and he wanted to get the dealer sticker (a great big Chevy bow-tie in the middle of the plastic rear bumper) off as soon as possible. I remember him talking to his wife on the phone and trying to explain to her the best way to get it off. He told her to try to peel off the label by curling back at the corners and pulling. If she had anyproblems he told her to try using a nail (gesturing in the air with his FINGERnail) to get the last bits of the sticker off. You can guess the rest. She found a nice sixteen-penny sinker and proceeded to rasp thru the paint AND into the plastic. He ended up covering up the scratches with an EVEN BIGGER iridescent Chevy bow-tie sticker that he picked up at the local speed shop.
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