Diamond shield question, but first, is it Diamond Shield

[brandss]

First question is if anyone can confirm that our 14 bus has Diamond Shield or some other brand.

Second question is I want to remove a middle section on the front of our coach, roughly 20 inches by 48 inches, the top part of the slide for the genny. How much of a job is this, do you recommend this as a diy, and how long do you think this will take. I have plenty of time, we are full time in a campground in KY through March, and have time to do this. Biggest thing is I don't want to screw up the paint job. I watched the videos from ugly shield and plan to buy their "juice" to remove the shield.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[jkorn]

My 14 bus has a sticker that says it’s Diamond Shield

Sorry no help on removal. Did you call Tiffin?

Jeff

[luvlabs]

Yes, it is Diamond Shield unless a previous owner replaced it with something else. The Diamond Shield sticker is normally placed under the passenger side mirror.

You can remove it yourself but it may not be fun. First thing to do is park the coach facing into the sun and let the area get good and warm. Then see if you can get a corner up and start peeling. Is there a reason you need to remove it?

[brandss]

Originally Posted by luvlabs

Yes, it is Diamond Shield unless a previous owner replaced it with something else. The Diamond Shield sticker is normally placed under the passenger side mirror.

You can remove it yourself but it may not be fun. First thing to do is park the coach facing into the sun and let the area get good and warm. Then see if you can get a corner up and start peeling. Is there a reason you need to remove it?

Thanks for the replies, I finally noticed the sticker saying it's diamond shield. The only reason I want to remove it is because there are two area about three inches apart where something hit and created two spots about the size of a quarter. The area collects dirt and looks like crud. I went through the tiffin tour and talked to a gent applying diamond shield to a new coach and asked if I could just repair the two areas and he said no.

It's not a huge issue but its really the only flaw on the coach other than the aluminum part of the rock guard which I am replacing.

[Pigman1]

You'll learn to hate the stuff soon enough. We had a 2008 Bus that I peeled myself. We found when you get a rock hit that damages the paint under the DS, there's nothing you can do with it. I can fix paint chips, but not with DS over it, so I peeled it. A tough, finger cramping job that leaves glue behind and in many cases peels the paint as well as the DS. Some people have had a bit of success using plastic razor blades and some sort of adhesive remover from 3M, I believe. WHen I ordered the 2013 I specified NO DIAMOND SHIELD. Of course it came through with the junk on, but in this case Tiffin peeled it all and fixed the paint damage. As was said above, park it in the sun, peel slowly and in small pieces and prepare for pant damage.

[macbob]

Use a Teflon razor and heat gun to scrape it off. Good luck!! Be ready to have a paint shop to touch up the scratches. My wife tried it and after one hour and a very small section she gave up. Took it to a company that removes decals etc. they started at the bottom and called me right away--"the paint is coming off" We finally went to Red Bay for some other work; Diamond Shield rep removed it. It was on a 2007 Bus The newer Diamond Shield has a lifetime warranty--it is non-pourus

[Norm Mac]

Originally Posted by brandss

Second question is I want to remove a middle section on the front of our coach, roughly 20 inches by 48 inches, the top part of the slide for the genny. How much of a job is this, do you recommend this as a diy, and how long do you think this will take. I have plenty of time, we are full time in a campground in KY through March, and have time to do this. Biggest thing is I don't want to screw up the paint job. I watched the videos from ugly shield and plan to buy their "juice" to remove the shield.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

There are several different issues at play here...
DiamondShield like any decal material gradually ages out and most people here are trying to remove it after it has begun deteriorating. The newer DiamondShield is supposed to last much longer than the old version before degrading. The advantage for you is that your material is about 4 years old which is well within the normal life of the product and should be MUCH easier to remove than others have experienced.
The "Juices" are generally adhesive softeners that penetrate through the outer decal surface to the adhesive to help it release from the vehicle. The downside is that softer adhesive is messier and more difficult to clean up after. The upside is it may reduce your chance of paint failure.
Paint failure is not the fault of the DiamondShield. The vehicle paint is going to stay with the surface that has the strongest bond. This should be the fiberglass vehicle surface but frequently it is not usually due to insufficient surface prep before painting or not allowing paint to fully cure before DiamondShield is installed.


The biggest advantage you have is the age of your DiamondShield. I needed to remove a large portion of our DiamondShield at the 2 year mark due to impact damage from flying lawn furniture (story for another time). I was able to cleanly remove by parking in the sun and just peeling away the decal, no juice, no special tools, and best of all no paint damage.
Unfortunately the only way you are going to know about potential paint damage is AFTER you have damaged the paint.
Good Luck
BTW, if you are wondering why this explanation is so long, it is because I was in the vehicle decal business my whole adult life.

[brandss]

Originally Posted by Norm Mac

There are several different issues at play here...
DiamondShield like any decal material gradually ages out and most people here are trying to remove it after it has begun deteriorating. The newer DiamondShield is supposed to last much longer than the old version before degrading. The advantage for you is that your material is about 4 years old which is well within the normal life of the product and should be MUCH easier to remove than others have experienced.
The "Juices" are generally adhesive softeners that penetrate through the outer decal surface to the adhesive to help it release from the vehicle. The downside is that softer adhesive is messier and more difficult to clean up after. The upside is it may reduce your chance of paint failure.
Paint failure is not the fault of the DiamondShield. The vehicle paint is going to stay with the surface that has the strongest bond. This should be the fiberglass vehicle surface but frequently it is not usually due to insufficient surface prep before painting or not allowing paint to fully cure before DiamondShield is installed.


The biggest advantage you have is the age of your DiamondShield. I needed to remove a large portion of our DiamondShield at the 2 year mark due to impact damage from flying lawn furniture (story for another time). I was able to cleanly remove by parking in the sun and just peeling away the decal, no juice, no special tools, and best of all no paint damage.
Unfortunately the only way you are going to know about potential paint damage is AFTER you have damaged the paint.
Good Luck
BTW, if you are wondering why this explanation is so long, it is because I was in the vehicle decal business my whole adult life.

Thanks for taking the time to reply. Like what you are saying and hope to give it a go this Spring on a warm day. I'm planning for the worst but hoping for the best. I can tell you that the diamond shield looks darn good on the rest of the front, so, we will see. Thanks again for the response.

[goseejoe]

It is a nasty job but with a bit of patience doable without paint damage.
We did ours this year and what ended up the best method was heat the area with a Wagner wallpaper steamer. 30 seconds or so and the film softened up enough to be removed with a plastic razor blade. Buy a box of blades; they dull quickly. Heat guns will bubble the paint.
Plastic blades and steamer both found on Amazon.
Goo Gone in a spray bottle then to remove the adhesive. It takes time and a sunny day helps.