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Mazda Exterior \  Sticker removal tip

Sticker removal tip

Mazda Exterior Mazda Tech
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replies 21
following 14
 
1hotdawg   +1y
Use a pressure washer I never thought ti would work, but it honeslty made light work of it in most areas. As you can see in my sig, I've got the big SE-5 stickers. I tried Goo Gone, Goo Gone sticker removal, and some other sticker removal spray. Even gas! I was using a razor blade and it took a long time just to get the rear quarter done. Yet, with the 1400psi pressure washer it only took about 30 minutes to do the truck! I've still got the sticker glue on there, but going to local paint shop today to see what I can get from them to remove the glue the easiest way. Btw knocked off 3 small chips of paint lol...no biggy, paint's not perfect anyway...so be warned that it is possible. Only real prob spot, which is where the paint came off, is the ex cab panel on the driver's side. I think that area had been damaged before and repainted, hence the sticker is a lil newer or something, cuz that sucker didn't wanna come off. Only the dark areas of it came off, so I may end up blading the rest of it off.
hocbj23   +1y
3M makes an eraser wheel that will take any sticker off.Use on your drill , move it around a lot so paint doesnt get hot and it works like a charm.BJ
1hotdawg   +1y
Yeah I know about it, but can't find one locally Just left the paint shop and got a remover spray...that he says definitely works and the local guys use it...so I'm gonna work with it later this evening or tomorrow...dang 95+ degrees today. Stuff cost $11 for one spray can lol.
hocbj23   +1y
If u want one,I can get my paint guy to get u one and I will send to u if u pay for it and postage.Let me know.BJ
1hotdawg   +1y
Thanks for the offer. Does it remove the glue too? I'll try what I bought and update.
1hotdawg   +1y
Alright lol, this stuff made my paint soft in that area with part of the sticker still on it, and well, my plastic putty knife would flex too much and when it did, it would get down into the paint. So I've called the place again and specifically asked about the 3M discs. They don't carry the 3M due to price, but he does carry the same thing in an (I think he said) AES brand for about $15, so I'm gonna go get one after work, and try it this evening.
1hotdawg   +1y
Just bought my wheel for $12
1hotdawg   +1y
Uggg I'm tired now....and I smell rubber! lol, I only have the passenger door left to do, figured I'd take a short break. Back 2 work I go.

Oh yeah, the wheel works great...not as easy as the pressure washer, but it's doing a clean job fully. Now if only I can get the old white paint to look as good as the "hidden" white paint I'll be set
speedster93b   +1y
those wheels work bitchin'
1hotdawg   +1y
The 3M Stripe Eraser, (the tool mentioned above) that goes on your drill, is the absolute best way. It's hard to crew up with it honestly. Use a regular drill that runs about 1200-1300 rpm and it'll take you about an hour to remove the decals like mines below. Just so you know, lol, there would have been no peeling of my decals possible, they were all cracked up.

Here's what I started with:


By geraldf at 2007-06-24

Now to try the first thing, I bought some goo gone, tried it by itself and a pocket knife lol. Realized this was gonna take forever I bought some straight razors. It worked, left the glue, but did remove sticker easier. Still I realized it would take forever! So called a buddy who is prepping his for paint and asked how he removed his, he said he used a pressure washer. I thought this was too good to be true! Tried it, it did a good job at removing the sticker plastic, but it too left the glue. But in 30 min we have all the stickers removed

Well, I had to get the glue removed so I tried a plethora of things:

Goo Gone stick remover, A spray stuff called Stick Shock, a lil gas just to try it...I was getting desperate. Called the paint shop, and asked him, he gave me some vinyl sticker remover. I didn't hardly work either. Between all this and using a plastic putty knife, I damaged a previously repainted area a bit. This was our worst spot, where even the power washer didn't take off the sticker, but it did remove a few spots of paint! So I've got to touch up this spot with some touch up paint for now:



I did use the wheel here too and it did not harm the paint anymore at all. All damage was from the PW and other chemicals...with the plastic putty knife. And btw, I DID NOT use the gas here. When I got the spray stuff from the paint shop, they warned me that gas and fuel type chemicals can soften the paint...funny thing, so did the spray he gave me

Anywho, once I bought my wheel for $13 I put it on the drill and went to work figuring out how to use it lol. Once I got it right, man she knocked it out just like erasing pencil off paper.

Once the glue and stickers were removed, of course the paint there was nice and white, while the rest of the truck had brown stain crap from road grime and stuff over the years. I mean really, if you'd see it up close you would have thought the truck had a yellowish antique white on it....more yellow brown than white Plus it had various spots where the black from the trim had left runs that an ordinary wash just would not remove. So I went back to the paint shop and asked for a good paint cleaner/restorer. I told him I wanted to do it by hand cuz I don't have a buffer. So he grabbed some stuff, we went out to the truck and he tried it on a small spot. To both our amazement the dirt came off rather easily.

So I bought the stuff, it's call "3M Finesse It II Metal Finishing. It's just like waxing...actually it is a "polishing wax" it says on the bottle But for another $15 this stuff worked wonders and I've got over half a bottle left

After all my trial and error, I suggest using the 3M Stripe Eraser or equivalent...mine was AES brand...they'll save you time and paint. I had no bubbling or anything like that, only prob I had was on the driver's door where the lower body "crease" is, I kinda rubbed the paint a lil much and almost to the bare metal...but most people won't notice it lol.

Here's my finished product after 3 days of being weathered again: