reflective vinyl removal tips please?

[Andy Gorman]

As much heat as the paint can bear, and a hard plastic squeegee. Sometimes you can tease the vinyl off whilst gently easing it with a window scraper. Different brands behave differently. Avery, for example is a bloody nightmare. Expect some paint damage.

[Richard Urquhart]

andy thanks mate
has any one used GRAFIGEL
Why waste time? When it comes to removal try Grafigel. Fast and effortless, simply apply by brush saving hours of preparation time in removing calendered and cast self adhesive vinyls.

but will it work on reflective

[Peter Normington]

Rich, it does work, it removes the vinyl, unfortunatley it leaves all the adhesive behind, so now you have use glue remover as well. but not just on a bit off remnant glue, but the whole area where the vinyl was. Dont think it works on reflective though. Try a toffee wheel, or jagsigns sell a rotary tool to do the job, expensive, but may do the job for you.

Peter

[John Simpson]

Thinners fetches the adhesive off along with a cheap plastic squeggee.
Just make sure paintwork is sound 1st.

L J

[Peter Normington]

Thinners work,
but be very, very carefull, I would not reccomend them. wrong thinners on certain types of paint = paint stripper.

Peter

[Kev Dunn]

quote Peter Normington:

Thinners work,
but be very, very carefull, I would not reccomend them. wrong thinners on certain types of paint = paint stripper.

Peter

Exactly!!

My Father runs a Spray Painting business and has warned me off thinners.

He allows me to mix a bit with Panel Wipe.

Kev

[Richard Urquhart]

thinners is fine on factory paint but even on 2 pack rework its not recommended
or acrylic

[John Simpson]

obviously we try a bit of thinners on a hidden area of the "factory paint" first. we have just last week had to strip all the reflective stripes off a VW Transporter, all the way around the bottom half & replace with regulation striping. It was nearly impossible to shift all the adhesive so as a last resort tried the thinners that is supplied for thinning screen printers ink.
It worked a treat, no problem at all, messy but quick.

L J

[Richard Urquhart]

hi mate its when its had a local that we didnt see till the thinners makes that sticky mess you know when you look on the cloth and pray you wont see the colour of the vehicle on it !!!
oh what fun 😀 😀

[Stephen Morriss]

I just had to stip a whole sign that was reflective, the best way was a window scrapper (type with a stanley blade), just be carefull not to dig into the paint and get one that has a really shallow angle Harris do a good one.

I also found a hobb scrapper once (never seen one since but it’s got Schott on it) and it has a very thin blade in that bends, it’s really good for removing vinyl from paint work, you just have to go over it with glue remover.

Edit
Just found it on the web here

wow that’s a long address :lol1:

Steve

mod edit – edited the web addy to make it smaller 😉

[Hugh Potter]

Rich, i use a retractable razor blade type thang, available from most vinyl suppliers i would imagine, relatively cheap at only a few quid, excellent on glass, and good on car paint, the blade is useful for either lifting an edge to get you started, or it seems to get tween adhesive and vinyl, leaving just the adhesive to remove,

cast is another matter though !

[Kev Dunn]

I have been using a scraper from Snap-On (tools), They work very well and can get a constant supply of blades.

Kev

[John Simpson]

thanks for the link Steve.
L J

[MartinDenton]

we use a product called multisolve for getting the adhesive off, wipe it on, leave for a couple of minutes and it converts the adhesive to a goo which is easily removed with rags a a scraper blade company called Astral Chemical Solutions (manchester) 0800 975 6677 make it, it pongs but really works! its designed for removing tar and manufactures silicone / wax from cars

scrapper wise I use the thin retractable one you can pick these up on market stools for about a quid each including a set of blades, the blades being thin will bend