• I want to thank all the members that have upgraded your accounts. I truly appreciate your support of the site monetarily. Supporting the site keeps this site up and running as a lot of work daily goes on behind the scenes. Click to Support Signs101 ...

removal of mylar decals....pure hell

gabagoo

gabagoo

New Member
I need to know outside of heat gun, steamer, vinyl zapper...just how to remove mylar decals. I do work on a fleet of cabs and many of them are coming over from a different company and we have to remove these 12" x 18" clear decals... I thought I had seen it all, but these are by far the worse I have experienced. The vinyl zapper doesn't seem to be able to remove them easily..it more or less seems to spread the glue around and even though it is removing the mylar, the process is slower than heat gun, which is tedious in itself..... I don't know how many more of these are coming in but I want to be able to handle them professionally. is there a liquid I could spread on them to loosen them up first?
 
petepaz

petepaz

New Member
my experience with mylar is it just sucks to remove. what i have done is once the mylar is off just remove the glue with solvents (adhesive remover or goof off) i haven't found any easy way just a lot of elbow grease and paper towels. once the glue softens a little you can scrape it with a plastic scraper. good luck
 
Gino

Gino

Premium Subscriber
Tape it off and use a flame thrower on it. Then repaint it.

Nothing makes the removal of mylar easy. A customer of ours, when we took it over about 30 some years ago had silk screened clear mylar decals on all his trucks, equipment, trailers and whatnot. It was such a nightmare, we eventually talked him into just letting them on and lettering trucks and stuff as it came in new. Deal was, we did all of his vehicles that were less than 4 years old, which was about 150 or 175 at the time and let the rest go. In fact, we just lettered 5 trucks between yesterday and today for him. In fact, he changed his logo again about 15 years ago. He's very particular about appearance. Pays well and we'll do anything for him, but peel mylar........
 
gabagoo

gabagoo

New Member
I almost completely used a zapper wheel on 1 12" x 18" . bad enough you cant see it, and then repeated times of running rapid remover and then finding more and more areas that were not removed. I have it at a point where I am just putting the new lettering on and I don't give a $%^% if there is still left over mylar at this point. I charge by the hour for this, plus the wheel plus the remover and I am at 2 hours...so about $200.00 to remove.

I am telling the client that I am not doing any more of these re and re vehicles, he can put a mag over them for all I care.
 
gabagoo

gabagoo

New Member
Malkin said:
http://www.amazon.com/3M-08908-Woodgrain-Adhesive-Remover/dp/B000PENLSE

This stuff is nasty and does a real fine job at softening old vinyl for easier removal. Haven't tried it on mylar, but could be worth trying.
I notice a tendency for it to also soften the paint....
Click to expand...


Maybe, but it is an adhesive remover and you have to be careful with them. I have a can of zip adhesive remover and I think it is basically oven cleaner and would never spray it anywhere near a vehicle. The stuff actually starts bubbling away when it hits the surface.... works great on raw steel or aluminum...but car paint worries me
 
Malkin

Malkin

New Member
I agree it probably would be too aggressive. My only experience with it was while removing ancient vinyl from a painted oil tank on a delivery truck, and the guy already had some and suggested I use it. Did a good job revitalizing the vinyl, nearly fell off in fact. Since it also seemed to soften up the paint I elected to not use it for anyone else unless it was bare metal.
 
kheebl

kheebl

Member
Have you tried this 3m general purpose adhesive remover? I have used it on paint many times and it has never damaged it at all. it even says so right in the product description. I have not tried it on a mylar decal but it would probably work for you.

"Finding an inexpensive solvent that will remove pesky smudges without damaging the paint underneath can be difficult and expensive. Our 3M 08984 solvent has a VOC content of 6.8 pounds per gallon. Its Composite Partial Pressure is 4.81 mmHg. Clean many adhesive types, bugs, overspray, silicone, waxes, tars, greases and oils without elbow grease.Adhesives can stick on painted surfaces or fabrics for months. Use 3M adhesive cleaner 08984 to remove slick oils and grease from your aircraft quickly. When bugs get stuck during flight or driving, they may be difficult to wipe off. Cut cleaning time in half with our 3M general purpose adhesive cleaner. This solvent will not harm most cured automotive paint, fabrics or vinyl when applied properly. Wipe even the toughest stains away with ease using our 3M 08984 cleaner. The adhesive-cleaning solvent is affordable and easy to use, a great addition for any garage or hangar."

http://www.skygeek.com/051135-08984...aign=froogle&gclid=CPe9kd6mgMMCFSYSMwod8koAsQ
 
Pat Whatley

Pat Whatley

New Member
kheebl said:
Have you tried this 3m general purpose adhesive remover?
Click to expand...

That stuff is useless. I tried it once in an emergency when I'd run out of Rapid Remover and I'd probably had better results with just soapy water. It wouldn't soften the adhesive at all. Rapid Remover the next day stripped it all in minutes.
 
Jillbeans

Jillbeans

New Member
Like an idiot, I put mylar on my old Silverado. It was such a monumental PITA to remove!
I ended up (after picking off the mylar in tiny shreds) having to use turpentine as an aid.
That took the clear coat off of my truck!
The 3M stuff sucks out loud, Goo Gone did nothing, and I think I was out of Rapid Remover at the time.
That would be my first choice.
Good luck.
Love....Jill
 
E

Eatachair

Soft squeegee
Use a heat gun. You want to heat up enough to make the glue soft. Using a plastic rasor or hard plastic scrapper. Get under a corner ( start at bottom) and go either left or right. Don't try to get all you can ... just about 1/3 of the width of the blade. It takes a while but it is easier. Keep going like your trying to' cut ' only the glue while pulling the plastic off.

its difficult to balance heating/ scrap. Once you get into a rhythm it does go pretty quick. To get the glue off I use Big Orange Gel from ZEP.

Just the the way I do it. I remove nasty old reflective the same way.

good luck
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top