The paint on my truck is original and looks very good thanks to the previous owners care. The only problem is the dealer decal remaining on the tailgate which is in bad shape. My question is how do I safely remove this decal without damaging the original paint? It was suggested by a friend to use a chemical adhesive remover but my experience in the past is it could "stain" my white paint. I have seen decal removers advertised which fit on a drill and use a light abrasive sponge material for removal, are these safe? Anyway tell me of your experiences removing decals /stripes. Thanks for the help.

 

Rubber cement thinner - safe and quick. Just soak it on with a rag, and gently work around the edges until the entire decal is off. From there, use the rag and some more thinner to rub the residue off. You can usually find it with school supplies or at a hardware store.

 

If you can't find rubber cement thinner, you might try goof-off (be gentle though, it'll work on the surrounding paint too).

If it's stubborn, you can gently work at the decal with a plastic putty knife (the cheap 50 cent ones at the hardware store).

Either way, you'll probably need to work it out with some polishing compound when you finish, and then a bit of wax.

 

A steady hand and good blade could work also....Thats what I did to take off the original graphics my truck had on it. took me about 3 hours though...lol well worth it though! (It did take some buffing and waxing though also)

The pic with the graphics isn't my truck, but one exactly like it. The one without the graphics is mine.

 

a heat gun and dental floss, works every time

 

Blackbetty stole my thunder. Works every time.

 

What do you guys recommend for removing things like the F150 badges? They have a thick black foamy stuff holding them on - still heat and dental floss?

And EDubbsMark3 - getting rid of those stickers added about 10k to the resale on your truck! I can't believe how much better it looks without 'em!