Removing decals from cars?

makeorbrake

Can decals be removed from a car without them leaving a lasting mark?

Yeah but you'll need to (machine) polish it i'd guess.

biko

I usually just peel it off while spraying generously with soapy water.
Once off spray with more soapy water and gently wipe off with microfibre towel until everything is gone.

Is it on a window or on the paint?

Gravelly

By decals do you mean vinyl stick-on decals, or badging?

If you are debadging it's just a case of removing the badge - I use a length of fishing line and gently "saw" it over and back behind the badge to cut the glue - warm it with a hairdryer first, polishing the area with some cutting compound afterwards to blend in any fading. I debadge all my cars this way.

If it's vinyl decals, go with what biko says above - you may have to warm the vinyl with a hairdryer or hot air gun (on a low setting!) first, but be careful as this causes some vinyls to separate from the glue, leaving the glue on the paintwork, and this can be very difficult to remove.

makeorbrake

@Gravelly: I'm not 100% sure how you'd class it as I didn't see it at first hand. It was company logo's and stuff - covering parts of the front, back and sides of the car.

I said I'd buy the car off the guy if he could remove without leaving any marks/shadowing. He removed it and sent on video to prove same - so all good.

deandean

Dental floss is good for 'sawing' a badge off.

FrancieBrady

Most vinyl can be removed with heat (like a heat gun or a hairdryer)
Give it a blast so that it doesn't soften too much and remove by peeling.
Vinyl glues can be water based or solvent based. Mostly solvent.
Test a cleaner on any glue residue and remove it.
T-Cut any shadowing.

fancy pigeon

FrancieBrady wrote: »

Most vinyl can be removed with heat (like a heat gun or a hairdryer)
Give it a blast so that it doesn't soften too much and remove by peeling.
Vinyl glues can be water based or solvent based. Mostly solvent.
Test a cleaner on any glue residue and remove it.
T-Cut any shadowing.

+1

Used a heatgun to carefully remove stickers from a boot I transferred over to my car, removed the remaining glue with panel wipe, cleaned it all up then ran a polisher over all of the boot.

No evidence of any sticker whatsoever

makeorbrake

Got stickers off. The only thing remaining is that when the back window fogs up, I can see the trace/outline of a phone number emblazoned across it. Presumably theres some residue remaining ....I've scrubbed the hell out of it - but it remains.

Anyone any ideas how to remove?