Tape pinstripe removal gone wrong...

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Does anyone have experience with tape pinstripe removal? I did it once before on an older car and I was able to easily remove all of the pinstripe with no trouble.

I bought a car recently and noticed the pinstripe is deteriorating on the driver side toward the rear of the car. It has cracks through it and looks thin. So I used the same technique I did last time, hair dryer with a soft plastic scraper to lift the pinstripe. I started on the driver side, the side that had the deterioration toward the rear.

Starting from the front I removed the pinstripe at a good clip and it looked great underneath. As I started to remove the deteriorating pinstripe toward the rear is when things started to go terribly wrong. Every time I would lift the pinstripe, I would see some black under the pinstripe. The car's color is Modern Steel Metallic which is a metallic gray.

This black under the pinstripe is my big issue, I have no idea what it is. As the deterioration increases toward the rear of the car, the amount of black being exposed increases as I remove the pinstripe.

1. Looking at the light the black appears raised but I can't tell if it's just the line the pinstripe makes in the clear coat. It looks like some kind of adhesive but it's as shiny as the clear coat is, no color transfer occurs and acetone does nothing to it. Acetone dissolved the other adhesive toward the front with no problem so I don't see why it wouldn't work here unless this was some extremely hardened adhesive.
2. I tried some SwirlX to see if it was above the paint or something, no color transfer, no difference.
3. Clay bar does nothing as well.
4. I can just barely grab it with my fingernail, slides past it.
5. This car is a 2015, the pinstripes haven't even been on there that long. I've removed pinstripes of this same type from older cars with no issues.

At this point I'm a little upset. If I can't fix this I'll either have to paint over it or get another pinstripe and put pinstripes back on.

I don't see how the tape pinstripe could have damaged the actual paint under the clear without damaging the clear itself since the clear is still there and shiny. I don't even know what this black stuff is. Should I be using something other than acetone?

Here are some pictures of what I'm dealing with. I hope this shows that the black stuff is as shiny as the clear coat and almost uninterrupted when looking at both the black stuff and clear coat. It appears the black stuff is only under the white parts of the pinstripe, because where the pinstripes have cracks, the black stuff also has cracks.
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Originally Posted By: silveravant
I sorry I can't offer any help, but I would never use acetone on the paint of any car.

I want to re-iterate that this was like this before I used the acetone. I only use the acetone to remove the sticky adhesive faster, rubbing alcohol works just as well.

Just peeling the pinstripe off produces the result shown above, before I even touch it with acetone or alcohol.
 
It almost looks like hardened adhesive. Perhaps a body shop would have some ideas on how to remove it.
 
Originally Posted By: Snagglefoot
Try the "Pin Stripe" remover at the auto stores. It's probably acetone, or toluene or some combination but hey, they say it removes pin stripes.

The closest thing I could find is 3M adhesive remover. Should I try that?

I wonder if I should try a rubber eraser wheel.
 
Toluene would be first start really should mot use acetone as some one that uses thousands of gallons of it you don’t won’t to start it maybe MEK
 
goo gone? its citrus based iirc so no paint damage.

maybe try wd-40.. wont damage paint
 
Ordered an eraser wheel. I think it needs some mechanical action, I need something to grip the black stuff and if it is above surface, pull it off. Lord help me if this goes wrong rofl.

I will post an update when I use it, even if it's a fail of epic proportions.
 
Stop with the solvents, soon you will find one that works perfectly and the paint will be gone or softened.
The 3M stuff is okay but use a wheel to remove stripes and adhesive. When you use these keep it moving and don't let it sit in one spot and heat the paint.

You can get these at any autobody supply store, once its all gone a light buff will make it flawless.

https://www.amazon.com/3M-Stripe-Wheel-D...YYQQ5RMHGAAFDGC

Edit: I see you already ordered one before I posted this.
 
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Originally Posted By: NoNameJoe
Ordered an eraser wheel. I think it needs some mechanical action, I need something to grip the black stuff and if it is above surface, pull it off. Lord help me if this goes wrong rofl.

I will post an update when I use it, even if it's a fail of epic proportions.


I would still try some goo gone.. I've taken off gorilla tape residue that was years old in seconds..

I would apply with a microfiber rag let it soak in for 30seconds or so then see what happens with a little rubbing action.. possibly switching to a soapy rag.
 
Originally Posted By: Rand
goo gone? its citrus based iirc so no paint damage.

maybe try wd-40.. wont damage paint


+1

Kerosene is the natural adhesive solvent for many adhesives. WD-40 is a good substitute. Goo-Gone is good.

No Acetone - it'll kill the paint. Over time it will start to fade/haze where ever you used it ...

3M makes a decal remover disc that will help. Be gentle ...
 
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I removed an old 1969 Dodge SuperBee bumble bee stripe from the rear (6" wide) just using baby oil + rubbing alcohol, and a hair dryer. Once done, you could barely tell it was there. A body shop finished by buffing it out for me....looked perfect. It took me several hours, and it came off in varying sizes and chunks. A lot is dependent on how long it has been on the car, if it's baked on hard, etc.
 
Yeah, the stripe wheel. I used the similar 3m eraser wheel because i didn't know they had a stripe wheel. That also worked.
 
Originally Posted By: NoNameJoe
Ordered an eraser wheel. I think it needs some mechanical action, I need something to grip the black stuff and if it is above surface, pull it off.


It needs to spin very fast, several 1000 rpm's

a regular drill isn't fast enough
 
Originally Posted By: Trav
Stop with the solvents, soon you will find one that works perfectly and the paint will be gone or softened.
The 3M stuff is okay but use a wheel to remove stripes and adhesive. When you use these keep it moving and don't let it sit in one spot and heat the paint.

What does it feel like when you put it against the paint? Because the eraser wheel grips the paint right? So do you have to hold the drill really tight to prevent it from flying around?

Originally Posted By: 69GTX
I removed an old 1969 Dodge SuperBee bumble bee stripe from the rear (6" wide) just using baby oil + rubbing alcohol, and a hair dryer. Once done, you could barely tell it was there. A body shop finished by buffing it out for me....looked perfect. It took me several hours, and it came off in varying sizes and chunks. A lot is dependent on how long it has been on the car, if it's baked on hard, etc.

That's the method I use (minus the baby oil). It worked last time, not sure why it dealt me a blow this time. Last time I buy a car with pinstriping, I thought I'd just be able to remove it.

Originally Posted By: Rand
Originally Posted By: NoNameJoe
Ordered an eraser wheel. I think it needs some mechanical action, I need something to grip the black stuff and if it is above surface, pull it off. Lord help me if this goes wrong rofl.

I will post an update when I use it, even if it's a fail of epic proportions.


I would still try some goo gone.. I've taken off gorilla tape residue that was years old in seconds..

I would apply with a microfiber rag let it soak in for 30seconds or so then see what happens with a little rubbing action.. possibly switching to a soapy rag.

Why not, I'll go buy a little bit and try since I have to wait for the wheel anyway.

Originally Posted By: Linctex
Originally Posted By: NoNameJoe
Ordered an eraser wheel. I think it needs some mechanical action, I need something to grip the black stuff and if it is above surface, pull it off.


It needs to spin very fast, several 1000 rpm's

a regular drill isn't fast enough

The one I bought says max 4000rpm, should operate between 1500-3000 and works with any electric drill. My electric drill goes up to 2500rpm We'll see how it goes.

Is acetone really that bad? This is the first time I've ever touched acetone to car paint (I usually only go as far as rubbing alcohol) but I felt like I had no choice because the adhesive was taking forever to come off with alcohol unlike the last pinstriping job I removed. It seemed like it did nothing to the paint except remove the adhesive. Of course I spot tested first.
 
I run it at about 2500 rpm on the cordless and it does a good job. You will feel it pulling when you touch it to the paint, don't let it sit there move it down the stripe slowly and start over if necessary.
Acetone and other strong solvents eg lacquer thinner, toluene, MEK, etc are very bad for the paint, they have limited uses in refinishing but not on paint that is not going to be refinished.
 
So here's an update.

I got the eraser wheel, used it on the remaining pinstripe on driver side and all of the pinstripe I didn't touch on passenger side. Zipped them all off really easily, turned out great (aside from some minor hazing left on the clear which I buffed out).

The passenger side is perfect now, no black marks.

The driver side though, the eraser wheel couldn't remove the black marks.

As I removed more of the pinstripe toward the rear of the driver side, the black became darker and darker. Toward the taillight it's so prominent and dark that a flashlight reflects differently off of it and edges clearly show.

To be honest what it looks like is that there used to be a black pinstripe and someone painted over it toward the front of the car. This would explain why the black mark starts to fade in (as shown in the pictures) until it becomes progressively darker and more prominent toward the rear. Since the black pinstripe is not visible forward the driver side door, I'm thinking there was a collision there and they blended backward to match.

What doesn't make sense to me though is:
1. Why would someone paint over the pinstripe instead of removing it first before painting?
2. Why would someone then re-apply pinstripe, not only that, the same exact pinstripe (this pinstripe is very specific, it has the H logo for Honda). Yes, the black mark is even in the shape of that H logo.
3. The black pinstripe has the same lines and cracks that the white pinstripe has in the pictures above. If someone put a white pinstripe over the black, how did they get these to match?

Maybe it's still something from the white pinstripe. But whatever it is, I can't appear to remove it and I'm out of options. My only option at this point is to just buy new pinstripes and apply them. What a let down, this sucks.
 
Its possible the black was painted on stripes that they covered. If so it may take a careful light sanding with 2000 or 3000 and water then buffing to remove them.
If you are not comfortable with this go to a body shop and let them look at it. I think you may have softened the other side that came off with the wheel with the solvents you used.
 
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