Community Forums

Cosmic Flair · 10-24-2016, 10:26 PM

Has anyone successfully removed large decals on a Class A motor home that is 18 years old? How did you do it?

imob · 10-24-2016, 10:42 PM

Any time removing decals heat is your best friend. Heat softens the glue and the vinyl that makes it easier to remove. At that age they are going to break more then peal You will have discoloration underneath, but a straight scrapper knife or plastic scrape blade and follow ul with goo gone and they will come off. What to do with the replacement is the question? Rather then graphics we are thinking of a modern paint job.

imob · 10-24-2016, 11:07 PM

This is what ours looks like today. From a distance it looks good. Up close the graphics are fried. Some on the left side have already been removed. We are looking at paint job options for next year.

Ajayabb · 10-26-2016, 08:43 PM

Try this

AES Industries 51823 4" Smart Eraser Pad with Drill Adapter Arbor (Made in USA)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00488DDB8..._KIweybACFTY0S

MoCoTom · 10-27-2016, 07:05 AM

Like stated above, heat works best for me. I have removed far more than I care to remember over the years (trucks not MH). If you use the heat, try to keep the mojority of your heat to just below/above the decal or the decal itself just stretchs and tears. The part I hate most is removing the glue residue. I use a PPG product (DX330) grease and wax remover that is safe for any surface and lots of terry cloth type rags. The rag's fibers will fill up with the softened glue so you need to keep changing rags. It can be a frustating job so pateince is your freind

69Stang · 10-27-2016, 07:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cosmic Flair

Has anyone successfully removed large decals on a Class A motor home that is 18 years old? How did you do it?

You may want to read this as an alternative.

http://www.irv2.com/forums/f84/paint...ls-261418.html

rick.rutel · 10-27-2016, 06:18 PM

Vinyl-Off by CrystalTek? Green products that work

You won't find anything better. It's expensive, but it works! We took old cracked and faded decals off a 42' 5th wheel and all you really need is patience.

marjoa · 10-27-2016, 07:51 PM

I just finished removing a 12' decal on our living room slide in 1 hour using this:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It was incredibly easy chucked up in a 1/2" electric drill motor. A battery operated drill motor doesn't have the power, lasting time or torque to do the heavy lifting.
Trust me, this 3M product works.

As others have said, you can use heat, but you've really got to be careful because you can damage the gel coat if it gets to hot in an area. The "eraser" I linked to above" you don't have to worry about that.

flywithcoop · 10-28-2016, 08:55 AM

I use lacquer thinner.

Sweetbriar · 10-28-2016, 10:04 AM

Used a heat gun, scraper and thinner on one side of the coach and a 3M eraser wheel on the other. The heat gun method was effective and I didn't have to buy anything just for the project but the eraser wheel was a whole lot easier and quicker. What took a day with heat took about 90 minutes with a wheel.

Fiberglass was pure white under the decal and made an easy outline to follow when I painted. Used Sherman-Williams automotive paint which was pretty easy even in the driveway. Paint cost about $125 for a quart.

Before

After

Only the black decals were sun stroked.

Scarab0088 · 10-28-2016, 12:06 PM

We used a detailer's professional skills...see our signature pics. Three guys working for a day and a half

We watched the whole project...they used 2 techniques and no stripping chemical that could damage anything else if splattered or runned:
-Heat...for the few decals that were not cracked, the adhesive loosened allowing the decal to be peeled off.
-Heat and razor...for most of the decals, physical removal was required or the decal came off in bits.

Then...after decal removal, a single worker was dedicated to removing any and all left-over adhesive with a clear solvent and many, many clean lint-free shop towels. As the newbie worker, we could hear the Forman telling him over and over that the left-over adhesive can become a big mess for rework if not totally and immediately removed.

Finally, being totally stripped of any wax in the process...the whole RV had 4 coats of different wax products applied to protect the gelcoat.

Best luck

DD788Snipe · 11-03-2016, 12:55 PM

The best adhesive remover that is cheap and readly available is WD40 believe it or not. It won't damage paint or gelcoat. I was on a race team for 10 years and we were always having to change decals for different associate sponsors and a rag soaked with WD40 would melt the adhesives then use denatured alcohol or lacquer thinner to clean off the residue. If you are painting that area after besure to get all the WD40 residue off otherwise our paint will fisheye.