removing fairing decal

[rubenastley]

hey guys, in the process of sanding down my fairings for a respray, whats the best way to remove these decals? recommendation on a specific solution to remove it and suitable for ABS plastic? thanks guys

[motthomas]

Gently heat with a hairdryer and peel off by hand would be my method anyway unless someone has something better?

Thinners or rubbing alcohol then to remove any glue residue.

[Two50RR]

steam works well...and if you don have a steam gun.....maybe hot water.......

[5ltr]

(24/11/2011 11:27)rubenastley Wrote:  hey guys, in the process of sanding down my fairings for a respray, whats the best way to remove these decals? recommendation on a specific solution to remove it and suitable for ABS plastic? thanks guys

hot air gun. heat it up a bit peal the edge back then heat a bit more then it should just peel straight off i bought gun from bunnings $20 bucks but i also use mine for window tinting

[vitamine27]

be careful not to heat the plastic above what you can touch, or you'll melt the surface, and use petrol, not thinners to get glue off, it evaporates too quickly, you can use a wipe of it to soften glue if glue is really hard, but petrol will do a better job of removing it

[jester]

Use a heat gun and turps / kero to get the residue off. Thinners will melt your plastic if you rub it. Not sure about petrol. We use kero and turps all the time on abs, acrylic, pvc with no issues. We use it basically to get residue off.

[motthomas]

Ive used standard cellulose thinners loads of times on ABS plastic with no ill effects. All your doing is wetting a cloth with it and rubbing. Its not good for paint sure but your removing that anyway.

[marty_b]

You can buy a drill attachment called a caramel wheel from crash repair suppliers...its what the trade use for removing car badge residue and stickers. It removes the decal but because its a special type of rubber doesnt remove the paint or damage it.

http://www.completepaints.co.nz/product_...e=TLH41000

[TRUMATIXS]

Personally i wouldnt use any thinners or petrol just for a bit of decal glue.
If you want to heat it up with any of the methods above i would be very careful not apply to much heat as this could start to melt or bubble.
It depends how you go about getting the sticker off as to how much residue is left on the fairing..
Sometimes the sticker will peel all the residue off as it comes away. I've used razor blades for the flat part of fairings but careful not to dig the edge of the blade into the paint on the un-even parts.
For the glue i use a product called De-Solv-it works bloody awesome and instead of burning your eyes and nose with other products that give off alot of fumes. De solv it smells like oranges

[rubenastley]

mhmmm how do i go about stickers that have a clear coat over them? sand the coat then remove ?