whats best way to remove reflective vinyl?

[Robert Lambie]

i feel for you mate… nothing worse 😕

quick tip, never quote on vinyl removal unless you test remove some letters, then, charge by the hour.

most run of mill reflectives are a nightmare. removing the vinyl is the pain. not so much the glue.
wallpaper stripper is a great option and DOES work, but i feel it takes longer. although does the job well…

mbx or wurth stripper are great tools, too be honest they are the festest & best way to remove this stuff. but there are other options.
mbx does the job very well, but i feel the new ribber blades are a bit pricey. they are geared around 6 inch hign text/panels… not much more.
but do well with reflectives too…

3M & I believe Grafytyp too, do a paste on liquid that makes vinyl bubble up/disolve. you then use a stiff squeegee and csrape it off, from there you have glue… lots of ways to rid this, best and cheapest way i know is via “tar & glue remover” but it in most car valet supply centres. very cheap… spread it on, leave 5 mins… spread on more and begin to scrape clean off.

i have a demo on this in demo section. maybe worth a look. 😉

[Paul Goodwin]

Cheers Rob

I did quote him an hourly and didn’t tell him how long it would take, luckily he stayed around for a while and saw how hard it was to remove it 🙂 so no worries there.

The only draw back i have with teh wurth tool is the dust it creates, it’s a nightmare, on normal vinyl i have never had a prob with it, but it just didn’t liek the reflective at all, i had to put too much pressure on it i think which kept breaking the shafts.

I used a wurth glue remover, never had aprob with it before it just didn’t want to touch this stuff 😥

I think i’ll try some of that vinyl remover from 3M or Grafytp, i may be a cheeper option than buying in the machine, and a lot cleaner too i would think.

Thanks for the help, and i’ll keep u informed how i get on.

[Robert Lambie]

thank you for the feedback mate…
im sure grafityps option will be much cheaper than 3M’s but i dont know how much more effective it will be…

as for worth.. im sure i bought some decent wheels from them, kinda cream and about 1 inch wide?

thing is with refelectove to nornal vinyl…
reflective vinyl is a normal vinyl with a coating of glass beads… then a laminate of of clear vinl to hold/protect the glaas balls… obviously this takes a fair but more to drag from a vans surface… hope this helps mate… im sure adhesive, mixed with wurth wheel shoud work well 😉

[Jill Marie Welsh]

Mort,I feel your pain buddy.
I still have a blister from last Thanksgiving when I took reflective off 2 firetruck doors & the back.
Took me 4 hours with a hairdryer, a L’il Chizler, and a spray-can of sticker/graphics remover from the auto parts store.
What a miserable job.
Like Rob sez, I charge by the hour, sometimes the person will pay their own flunky cheaper to do it. I charge $25/hour and I get it for that.
One trick I’ve learned is to layer the reflective on top of regular vynull (cut the exact same size/style) if you are ever doing lettering you know that you’ll have to remove!
Love….Jill

[Paul Goodwin]

Thats a good tip Jill 🙂

Those Wurth wheels Rob, i have lost my confidance in them 🙁 at £17.00 for a pair it’s a lot of money to throw away when they keep breaking, but maybee it’s just that damn reflective thats doing it.

Jill what are tose little chislaers like? can u post a pic of one and i’ll look over here to see if we have something similar. if not u can become a agent for them in teh UK and i’m sure you’ll make a mint if they are as good as u say they are 🙂

[Jill Marie Welsh]

Unfortunately I can’t upload a pic in this forum,
but here is a link that has a picture.

http://www.beacongraphics.com/lil-chizler.html

They are always freebies at trade shows and meets.
Some folks use them to scrape dirty pots & pans too!
Love…..Jill

[Robert Lambie]

yip jill, your right.. in that demo on glue/reflective removal im using a lil chizler too. 😉

[Paul Goodwin]

Can u get them over here Rob ? if so where from? if not Jill u do paypal 🙂

[Peter Normington]

I tried the gel that rob mentioned, its very messy and leaves the glue behind, so for normal vinyl I wouldn’t recommend it, and it didn’t have any effect on the reflective I tried it on as most seem to be foil based.
Peter

[Robert Lambie]

hi peter,
the paste is messy mate, and does leave a paste, glue behind but thats not really the hardest bit to break down. as i feel the tar and glue remover beats the glue pretty well… just depends how stubburn the adhisive is on the job in question i suppose.

reflective isnt foil based, but there is in some, a silver sorta first film…
reflectives have a first layer coloured vinyl, then a layer of tiny glass balls, then a clear laminate. this is why its thicker, blunts cutter blades faster, and when being stripped, delaminates leaving a paste/skin thats hard to move. 😕

i hate the stuff….

mort lil chizlers can be bought in uk, im sure i bought mine from fineline who went bust… im sure someone else is doing them though…. very cheap 😉

[Shane Drew]

Jills advice here is good too.

When doing a job with reflective, I always talk the client into a shadow of normal tape. That way, if I have to remove the sign later, I just have to reove the shaow and the reflective will come away on top of that.

I also try and use the new reflectives from Oracal or 3M that don’t just chip. The new ones come away much better with a heat gun, and they will usually come away in larger pieces.

The litl chizler sounds good, but we don’t have them here in oz.

If you guys have access to the new citrus oil based removers, they work a treat in sofening the tape and the glue.

Soak a rag in the stuff, and then liberally apply to the graphic or glue. Leave for 10 minutes, and do again. This will get the glue of with the aid of a plastic squeegee very easilly. The reflective will take a few more ‘soaks’ but it should eventually move the stuff.

As an added bonus the citrus stuff smells ok, is not harsh on the hands, and is environmentally safe – for all the greenies out there 😀

…I charge $40 per hour, because if I am going to have to do such a hard job, someone has to pay! 🙄

[Robert Scullion]

Lil Chislers, these are available from most window film suppliers, Baekert and Vinyl logistics who I use do them.

Baekert – 01905-640400

Hope this helps

Bob

[John Harding]

Recently got a pan scraper in my local Robert Dyas cost £1 i think its same as lil chizler.

John

[Paul Goodwin]

Thanks Bob and John

i’ll look on monday 🙂

[Andy Gorman]

The World’s worst job – stripping reflective. I’ve done a lot of it and have never found any way of making it easy. Some reflectives come off cleanly with the orangey stuff Shane mentioned, some don’t. For the really tough ones, I tease it off by pulling a corner and gently sliding a window scraper underneath. I always have the customer accept all responsibility for any damaged paintwork.

I never apply reflective to a vehicle without laying it on top of a removable vinyl.

[Derek Heron]

has anybody tried using a steamer for removing vinyl
i had a small trailer to do and my heat gun was cream crackered
so i used the steamer on it it worked a treat there was a load of small text and it would curl up the edges
so that i could get a hold of it. the larger stuff came off a treat peeling as you go with the steamer
you need asbestos fingers but it is bearable.
i dont think it is as harsh as a heat gun i am frightened of damaging paint with a heat gun
i also use it for windows to clean em brings off all the grease i still use isopropanol to finish before applying
dont know how it works on reflective etc might be worth a try
all the best
dex

[Paul Goodwin]

Hi Dex

yep tried a steemer, it was better than the heat gun but the vinyl still chiped away and left the backing and glue 🙁 but the steamer was better .

[ian hobbs]

caramel wheel…what body shops have think ive seen one in a certain sign magazine…

i ll get the details later.

[budone]

The MBX tool is well worth the investment, but it will still be long going with it and it will leave dust from the vinyl especially reflective.

For removing glue the best thing i have come across is “Concepts” tar and glue remover wipe it on leave for 2 minutes then wipe off.

[Vale 46]

Without a shadow of a doubt the MBX tool is the way to go. I bought one last year for a very similar job. There was four mobile library buses with a mixture of normal and reflective vinyl on them. All four buses were 7 years old. I went to Sign UK to look at the tool and bought it.

Yes it does create a mess, but providing you own a sweeping brush it is not an issue. The wonderful thing about it is it removes the vinyl and the glue at the same time. We have found a time saving of about 40 – 50 percent on normal vinyl and about 60 – 70 percent on reflective vinyl. The wheels are caramel in colour and smell (lovely) and are basically just like an eraser on the top of a pencil. Consequently they are relatively soft and we find one wheel will do about 2 vans. The library buses used 1 wheel for each vehicle. The wheels cost £12.91 plus VAT each. Personally if it will save at least 4 hours on an 8 hour removal job, I would say they are a bargain. The MBX itself is vastly overpriced when all it is, is a grinder with a special wheel fitment. But thats what comes of producing a tool for a niche market.

The other big difference for me is the type of work. Using the MBX is so easy, peeling vinyl off is a big pain in the behind. It’s comparable to 8 hours of walking up and down the stairs of the empire state building or 4 hours of going up and down in the lift. Both are still boring, but I know which option most would take!

It is a must buy for that job Mort. Trust me, I’m no CMOT Dibbler 😉

[Paul Goodwin]

Thanks for all the replies, i’m going to look into all the options and i’ll let u know how i get on.

Mort