Removing Decals

Our club just received our newest 172. The previous owner put a decal
on the door advertising his company and we would like to remove it
without harming the paint. Any suggestions?

wrote in message
oups.com...
Our club just received our newest 172. The previous owner put a decal
on the door advertising his company and we would like to remove it
without harming the paint. Any suggestions?


A heat gun maybe? I used one to get inch-wide tape stripes from an
aircraft. Slow but sure and with care no damage to the paint.

wrote in message
oups.com...
Our club just received our newest 172. The previous owner put a decal
on the door advertising his company and we would like to remove it
without harming the paint. Any suggestions?


Goo Gone® - Sticker Lifter
http://www.organize-everything.com/stickerlifter.html

Rich S.

wrote in message
oups.com...
Our club just received our newest 172. The previous owner put a decal
on the door advertising his company and we would like to remove it
without harming the paint. Any suggestions?


Mineral spirits works well, and won't hurt the paint. It is the primary
ingredient in most of the "tar removal" products sold for cleaning
automobiles.

Someone suggested a heat gun, but those things are very sensitive to proper
use. Hold 'em a little too close or on one spot for a couple seconds too
long and you'll not only bubble the paint, you might even set it on fire...
Try a blow dryer instead.

KB

"Kyle Boatright" wrote

Mineral spirits works well, and won't hurt the paint. It is the primary
ingredient in most of the "tar removal" products sold for cleaning
automobiles.

Some stick-on removers contain mostly naphtha. (commonly know as cigarette
lighter fluid) Try that.

If the sticker has a face that will not peel off, then the solvent can't get
to the glue. Try taping a solvent soaked paper towel over the sticker, and
a piece of plastic on top of that, and let it stew over night. If you can
prick the decal with something like an exact knife, that will also help the
solvent get down to the glue.
--
Jim in NC

On Mon, 8 Aug 2005 19:56:58 -0400, "Kyle Boatright"
wrote:


wrote in message
roups.com...
Our club just received our newest 172. The previous owner put a decal
on the door advertising his company and we would like to remove it
without harming the paint. Any suggestions?

What you refer to as a decal is probably a vinyl graphic. A true decal
is made up of multple layers of silk screened ink with a clear layer
on each side which is printed on a paper that has a water soluble
coating on it. They are soaked in water then slid of the paper onto
the surface to be adorned. The water is squeegeed out from under them
and they adhere thru surface tension. The advise you have received so
far are probably pretty good for removing a vinyl graphic. Sign
companies make solvents to remove the remaining adhesive after they
are peeled of with heat, but mineral spirits might just do the job.
A true decal is a real bitch to get off.

I just noticed that jauns name has been removed from ANN's web site.Is he no
longer writing for zoom? Did he quit? Was he fired? Will he join the ranks of
the zoomed ex employee? We await the answers to this GREAT mystery...well
actually I'm just courious....ahhh frankly I don't give a hoot just wondering
....ehh so what who cares? :-)

Chuck S

ChuckSlusarczyk wrote:
I just noticed that jauns name has been removed from ANN's web site.Is he no
longer writing for zoom? Did he quit? Was he fired? Will he join the ranks of
the zoomed ex employee? We await the answers to this GREAT mystery...well
actually I'm just courious....ahhh frankly I don't give a hoot just wondering
...ehh so what who cares? :-)

Chuck S


Maybe he went to a fat farm so he can lose enough weight to fit into his
BD-5J?

Dan, U.S. Air Force, retired

On Tue, 09 Aug 2005 06:56:03 GMT, Ed Sullivan
wrote:

On Mon, 8 Aug 2005 19:56:58 -0400, "Kyle Boatright"
wrote:


wrote in message
groups.com...
Our club just received our newest 172. The previous owner put a decal
on the door advertising his company and we would like to remove it
without harming the paint. Any suggestions?

What you refer to as a decal is probably a vinyl graphic. A true decal
is made up of multple layers of silk screened ink with a clear layer
on each side which is printed on a paper that has a water soluble
coating on it. They are soaked in water then slid of the paper onto
the surface to be adorned. The water is squeegeed out from under them
and they adhere thru surface tension. The advise you have received so
far are probably pretty good for removing a vinyl graphic. Sign
companies make solvents to remove the remaining adhesive after they
are peeled of with heat, but mineral spirits might just do the job.
A true decal is a real bitch to get off.

*Sometimes* and I emphasize the sometimes, the reverse of the
application will work. A towel soaked in hot water and held firmly in
place over the decal (if it is a true decal) can soften them and they
almost slide off. This usually takes a good half hour to hour of
soaking while keeping the water at least warm. It's an interesting
exercise on vertical surfaces and an exercise in frustration on
overhead surfaces.

I have removed good sized decals this way and I've run into some where
the water soaking didn't do a thing.

Those with adhesive on the backs have been pretty well covered in
other posts.

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com