Stickers on the HILUX

[malum]

Not really

If you get within 6 inches you can tell there used to be something there the paint isn't faded (or indeed brighter underneath) but ther is a very faint ghost image which may be a residue. I haven't T-cut it which may remove said marks.

Like I said though you need to be close to see it and it looks a damn site better than the stickers

[baw]

eraser wheels

Where can I get eraser wheels from? I've made a fairly thorough search of the web's automotive suppliers with no luck. None of my local stores have even heard of them!

Anybody out there help?

Marcus

[Vagrant No2]

Where can I get eraser wheels from? I've made a fairly thorough search of the web's automotive suppliers with no luck. None of my local stores have even heard of them!

Anybody out there help?

Marcus

Have you tried Brown Bros or Partco ? I know Frosts do them , as I looking at them in the catalogue at the moment www.frost.co.uk , mule skinners

Rick

[baw]

mule skinners

Don't know if it's me being thick but the 'mule skinner' shown in the frost.co.uk website is described as a 'wire brush encased in resin'. I want to remove the stickers from the paintwork not the paintwork from the car!

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction though, I'll try brown bros or partco.

Marcus

[Simon.O.]

One of the local Surfers here swears by boiling water.
"Pete the tart" is him and he rekons it is the quickest way.
Just pour on the boiling water
Whip the sticker off
Rub down the glue with petrol
Give it an nice little polish
Done!!!!
......Robert's ya mothers brother......think about it!!!

[Alun]

So many options!!

If anyone can say they have tried them all and 'x' works best, Ill do that!!

[Scuddy]

I'm in the middle of of the hairdryer and white spirits removal method

I'll soon have a right arm like Schwarznegger if the letter S was anything to go by...(no it's not that reason)

I like the idea of boiling water and petrol

What about just boiling petrol, and cut out another stage???


BOOOOOOOOOOMMM

[baw]

Getting the B£^&(£D stickers off!

Right, I did mine yesterday, and although it took a couple of hours to do one side, I've got a fantastic finish, you'd have to know there were stickers there beforehand to tell. I think when I do the other side I'll be able to get them off in under two hours because I now know how best to do it.

Can I say now that I got all these tips from Surf forum members either by forum or by private posts, so I'm not taking the credit here, just putting it down as, like, a FAQ type of thing.

1) Get two eraser wheels - one for each side. I needed a whole wheel to get one side off, although I have got a lot of sticker area. They are also known as 'caramel wheels', and they look just like the one in the picture at the start of this thread. I got mine from 'Parry's', a motor paint supplier based in Liverpool. These wheels are made of soft rubber and fit in your drill. They will take off the plastic sticker and most of the adhesive, leaving you with only patchy bits of glue to take off. Amazingly this wheel spinning at 4000 rpm rips the sticker off viciously but doesn't even touch the paint. (You might get the occasional scratch caused by tiny bits of grit in the bottom and top edges of the sticker which get picked up by the wheel but in practice it doesn't cause that much of a problem). There will be a yellowish discolouration of the paint (the same colour as the eraser wheel), don't worry this comes off with T-Cut at the end.

Use the utmost caution around door handles, body colour wheel arches, etc as you will take the paint right off and they're black underneath (if you're lucky!) This applies when using the polishing bonnet at the end.

2) Get D-SOLV-IT spray or liquid. This is a citrus formula stain and sticky stuff remover which is available from Screwfix, but I also found that is was available in Tesco's (next to the Stain Devils in store). The tescos version comes in a smaller can so you will probably need two, but it's a spray so easier to apply. (Don't worry if you've too much and have some left over as it can be used to get grease/oil/fat out of clothes before washing). This D-SOLV-IT turns the adhesive into a gel that you scrape off with your nails or a PLASTIC scraper. Don't waste time rubbing with a cloth, this stuff has to be scraped off.

3) Now rinse it all down with water and see what residue is left on the paintwork. Using further applications of D-SOLV-IT and a soft (worn-out) plastic scouring pad (gently), you can safely get all of the rest of the adhesive off.

4) Rinse and dry the surface.

5) Using T-Cut and a polishing 'bonnet' (soft wool pad on a drill/motor), polish the yellow discolouration off - with a bonnet it's remarkably easy, but this is the most 'risky' part of the whole operation, you can easily burn the paint or create a low spot if you stay in one place too long.

6) Wax on, wax off.

I hope this helps someone, but I can't guarantee that this method will work for your stickers, mine may be a different type (certainly mine were too old and fragile to come off in a lovely big strip with a heat gun or hot water) but this worked a treat on my 1996 3rd gen model. I'll try to post 'before' and 'after' pictures at some stage. Also, I'm afraid I can't take responsibility for your paintwork if you buff your way right through to the inside! At your own risk do you this attempt, Jedi.

[casper]

graphics removal

we recently bought a 91 surf and the graphics were dated i removed em myself, i used to be a vehicle graphics fitter: get a plumbers blow lamp/torch from any diy store put it on the lowest setting and make sure you are outside from about 6 inches sweep the lamp over the graphics briefly about 5 secs max you will notice the graphics will change colour very slightly as they get hot then simply peel away whole strip bit by bit(mine were coming off in tiny little fragments without the blow torch whole thing should take no more than an hour then you need some tar and glue remover not the crap in halfords tho it's diluted...any sign shop will let you have some apply a liberal amount and leave for a couple of mins and then repeat if nec you won't have much to get off cos most of it will come off with the graphics but what you do have left you can simply scrape off it goes like a gel.. obviously it's your car and if you are worried then don't do it but i have taken untold off like this and have never encountered a problem you just have to err on the side of caution when you are heating and don't over do it.

[Mike66]

I think it depends on what stickers you have on your surf.
I had toyota hilux about 2 inches high along mine and yes it did take me two hours to do both sides ,but the results were great. You cant see that i had them on and with mine being a black car they would show more than most.

I used the boiling water and white spirit method first but got fed up with boiling the kettle and not getting a cup of tea !!!! So I used the hairdryer method , this worked about the same.I used white spirit because it doesnt effect the paint work .I think whichever method you choose just take your time ,it isnt something you can rush or something that can be done in twenty mins .If you want it to look good afterwards then expect to spend a good couple of hours doing it.

[ozzy]

hot water pel the sticker off, remove the adhisive with white spirit, worked well with me.

[Bladebabe]

I have read all the above posts but just want to double check on something. I managed to jet wash the decals this morning, made a real mess so carried on until all the gold colour was off. Now I have the backing stuff left. Will the caramel wheel work on this, or should I use the plumbers torch method or just the sticky stuff remover? Thanks in advance!

[marky]

Dont use a flame on it Andrea. Try some sort of thinners or adhesive remover first before using the extreme methods, NAPALM will work but you wont have much SURF left

[malum]

I have read all the above posts but just want to double check on something. I managed to jet wash the decals this morning, made a real mess so carried on until all the gold colour was off. Now I have the backing stuff left. Will the caramel wheel work on this, or should I use the plumbers torch method or just the sticky stuff remover? Thanks in advance!

I used the wheel after remiving the stickers with a jetwash. it's more difficult but it still works fine and pretty fast

[da SLUG man]

hmmm... whatever happened to gemini??....


we made some home made napalm once... obviously not the real thing, but started off with the petrol in a bike pump flame thrower and moved up to nicking oxygen tanks from a place and mixing stuff together... great fun cos barry's dad wouldn't weld our cannon together and ali got done for shooting hares at close range...

and if you're wondering where to get better fuel than petrol... when you are a group of teenagers on a farm then go look in the collection of 48g drums.... a lot are your bog standard oil... but we had a red one with yellow ends that was some sort of aviation fuel... quite think like oil, but burned really well!!... find them and there's always an inch or 2 in the bottom!... chemical ones good too!... but they tend to poison cows when they eat the grass!