SR5 Sticker Removal

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Date: Sat, 22 Feb 1997 08:44:35 -0700
From: nickkrest@batnet.com (Nick Krest)
Subject: Sticker removal
To: Toy4x4@tlca.org

Rogers_Jared  wrote:

        "Ugh!

        "The other night I tried removing the
        "decorative stripe" on my truck and
        ended up chipping the paint in several
        places. Also, the sticker left this
        awful sticky junk all over the paint
        that is impossible to get off. The
        stickers only came about halfway off
        ... the rest seems to be a permanant
        fixture on my truck. It really looks
        bad now. I took it to the body shop and
        they want $200 take the stripe off and
        buff the paint to match the color on
        the rest of my truck.

        "I should have left it on!"

To get the rest of the goop off, buy SEVERAL sink scouring pads at the drug
store. These are not the Scotchbrite type (abrasive), but have a foam
center surrounded by a soft nylon net material (like a dryer laundry bag).
Also get a large can of Goof-Off or Goo-Gone (yellow and red metal can) and
some latex household gloves so your hands don't get the tingles from all
the chemicals they would normally absorb.

Put the Goof-Off or Goo-Gone on the scouring pad liberally, and start
scrubbing, my friend. It's even better if you can do a "Tom Sawyer's fence"
thing and convince your friends that it's fun. Try to keep the Goof-Off or
Goo-Gone off of rubber or plastic surfaces.

After you're done, wash your truck thoroughly several times to get all the
Goof-Off or Goo-Gone off. Head on down to the auto parts store and get a
bottle of Cutter or Color-back. This is a wax that will cut all the
oxidized paint off. If you have a red truck and it's been out in the sun a
lot, you will have to do several applications.

After the cutter, get a good wax and wax that sucker up.

Congratulations! You saved $200 and got really tired hands and arms in the
process, but you did it yourself.

 - Nick

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Date: Sat, 22 Feb 1997 18:17:36 -0800
From: David Asencio 
Subject: Sticker removal
To: RogersJ@tpd.eds.com, toy4x4@tlca.org, toyota@btoy1.rochester.NY.US

I removed the stickers the first day I got my truck home. The steps and
conditions were as follows:
1) I let the truck sit out in the hot Texas sun.
2) used a hair dryer to heat the sticker. VERY  slowly I peeled back the
sticker from the front of the truck to the rear. Section by section. (I spent
two days on it!)
3) Used "goo gone" (bought it in a supermarket, basically an mild adhesive
remove) to remove the remaining adhesive. This stuff, a clean rag(s) and a lot
of elbow grease took the adhesive right off.

Results: Looks GREAT! 

1995 4runner - 4WD,V6 
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Date: Sun, 23 Feb 1997 15:02:25 +0000
From: "Mike Williams" 
Subject: sticker removal
To: Toy4x4@tlca.org

On 23 Feb 97 , Jack Alford  wrote:

> Rogers_Jared  wrote:
> 
> >The other night I tried removing the "decorative stripe" on my truck and 
> >ended up chipping the paint in several places. Also, the sticker left this 
> >awful sticky junk all over the paint that is impossible to get off. The 
> >stickers only came about halfway off... 
> 
> I'd start out with a trip to the carwash and let the high pressure from
> the wand strip whatever's left of the stickers off that it could. Then
> get a can of 3M Adhesive remover and wipe it on whatevers left then
> peel or scrap off with your fingernail whatevers left. It could or
> could not take a while depending upon how heat baked on the stickers
> are ... good luck.
> 
One suggestion I would make is to use a hair dryer to soften up the 
bond between the decals and the paint after visiting the carwash.  
After heating up the decals, they pull off relatively easily.  I 
heat up and pull a small section of decal free at a time. 

Then as Jack suggects use the 3M Adhesive remover.  I have used the 
3M Adhesive Remover  to remove the "gummy" residue left after pulling 
the heated decals off. 

 3M Adhesive Remover is a specialty product that you will not find at 
your local Wal-Mart, but instead visit your local auto paint supply 
house.  The 3M Adhesive Remover really does the trick and is safe on 
paint. 

 I have used this method successfully on three different vehicles.

      Mike Williams
======+++++++++++++======
     mwill@ctos.com
  ===++++++++++++++===

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Date: Mon, 24 Feb 97 08:18:00 CST
From: Rogers_Jared 
Subject: Sticker removal
To: Toyota4x4 

>I think this summer were gonna do some paintin...  We
>checked locally, and they want 800 just to paint over the stripe.  Ouch.
>I can't believe how cheap paint jobs are down south (well, like in
>washington and idaho anyway).  The other day I saw an add for a 200
>paintjob. 

The body shop is only charging me $200 to get the stripe off and fix the 
paint chips. It could have been worse, so I'm not upset. To repaint the whole 
truck would have cost me $1800. Yeeeeeowww!

Jared

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Date: Mon, 24 Feb 1997 09:55:56 -0800
From: dicker@flash.net (Keith Dicker)
Subject: Sticker removal
To: toy4x4@tlca.org

        I removed the stripes from my '94runner a couple of weeks ago. No
problem!
Use a blow drier to heat the sticker as you peel it up.
Use Acetone to remove the glue. You can also use 3M adhesive remover.
        I used a combination of both, the acetone to "loosen" the glue and
the adhesive
remover to get it away from the truck. The acetone tends to create gooey
balls that roll around still stuck to the paint. The adhesive remover is
slightly
oily so the gooey balls lift off the paint. neither chemical had any affect
on the paint.
A good wash and wax made the truck look great.
Keith

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Date: Mon, 24 Feb 97 12:40:00 CST
From: Rogers_Jared 
Subject: Sticker removal
To: Toy4x4@tlca.org, Toyota 

>I removed the stripes from my '94runner a couple of weeks ago. No
>problem! Use a blow drier to heat the sticker as you peel it up.
>Use Acetone to remove the glue. You can also use 3M adhesive remover.

This may have worked great on your three-year-old 4runner. However, my truck 
is eight years old. The sticker has been baking into the paint in the hot 100 
degree plus Texas sun. I tried the 3m stripe remover, 3m adhesive remover, 
heat gun, etc... they didn't help much. I'll be interested to see what the 
body shop can do.

I'm sure glad the previous owner had the stripes removed from my 4runner 
before I bought it. I think it looks better stripe-less, anyway.

Jared
1989 Toyota 4x4 DX X-CAB V6
1990 Toyota Celica GT-S
1991 Toyota 4runner SR5 4WD V6

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Date: Mon, 24 Feb 1997 13:12:20 -0600
From: dicker@flash.net (Keith Dicker) (by way of Jack Alford )
Subject: Sticker removal
To: toy4x4@tlca.org

        I removed the stripes from my '94runner a couple of weeks ago. No
problem!
Use a blow drier to heat the sticker as you peel it up.
Use Acetone to remove the glue. You can also use 3M adhesive remover.
        I used a combination of both, the acetone to "loosen" the glue and
the adhesive
remover to get it away from the truck. The acetone tends to create gooey
balls that roll around still stuck to the paint. The adhesive remover is
slightly
oily so the gooey balls lift off the paint. neither chemical had any affect
on the paint.
A good wash and wax made the truck look great.
Keith

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Date: Mon, 24 Feb 1997 17:13:53 -0500 (EST)
From: DRM033@aol.com
Subject: Sticker removal
To: Toy4x4@tlca.org

In a message dated 97-02-24 17:00:14 EST, you write:

> 
>  I'm sure glad the previous owner had the stripes removed from my 4runner 
>  before I bought it. I think it looks better stripe-less, anyway.
>  
>  Jared

The previous owner removed the stripes from my truck, but  "ghost"
impressions of the stripes are still there.  He also removed the Toyota
lettering across the tailgate, but the ghost impression they left looks
pretty cool.  I am glad they are gone though, 'cause I really don't care for
stickers of any kind.  I have a stack of assorted manufacturer stickers that
came with the products and they will probably never get stuck to anything.

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Date: Mon, 24 Feb 1997 09:04:18 -0500
From: Michael Greenway 
Subject: stripe removal
To: toy4x4@tlca.org

I removed my stripes using trail 12 @ Telico OHV area. This works great
for the sides but I still have the hood stripes. Oh well. Anyway all joking
aside use heat gun to soften them up. WD40 will remove the adhesive.

Michael Greenway TLCA#3000
76 FJ40, 81 mini, 86 4-Runner

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Date: Mon, 24 Feb 1997 16:58:03 -0500 (EST)
From: DRM033@aol.com
Subject: stripe removal
To: Toy4x4@tlca.org

In a message dated 97-02-24 09:04:18 EST, you write:

> I removed my stripes using trail 12 @ Telico OHV area. 

>  Michael Greenway TLCA#3000
>  76 FJ40, 81 mini, 86 4-Runner

Hey, In '95 I left some blue paint up there on the way up to the pad.  I also
picked up some one elses white paint from a tree.  Anybody claim it?

David
DRM033@aol.com

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Date: Mon, 24 Feb 1997 16:07:48 -0600
From: Jack Alford 
Subject: stripe removal
To: Toy4x4@tlca.org

>> I removed my stripes using trail 12 @ Telico OHV area. 
>
>>  Michael Greenway TLCA#3000
>>  76 FJ40, 81 mini, 86 4-Runner
>
>Hey, In '95 I left some blue paint up there on the way up to the pad.  I also
>picked up some one elses white paint from a tree.  Anybody claim it?

Wasn't me, I left my white paint on the top of trail #2 ...

 -----------------------------------------------------------------
 Jack Alford              Off-Road.com - The best dirt on the net!
 jalford@off-road.com              http://www.off-road.com/
 Decatur, AL

             '86 Xcab Toyota Pickup -  33x12.50 BFG MT
         Solid Front Axle - Marlin Crawler - ARB's - 4.88's
         SFWDA  -  TLCA #3415  -  Rocket City Rock Crawlers

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Date: Mon, 9 Mar 1998 09:55:53 +1000
From: "Chris Senungetuk" 
Subject: Body Decals: report
To: "toyota list" 

>What is the best way to remove all the stickers from my
truck including
the glue, without harming the paint?

Thanks to all the tips on this thread, I finally dove in
this weekend to do something I have wanted to do for a long
time. Now that I've been through it, here's a couple of
watch-outs:

The consensus is to use a heat gun or hair dryer to help
peel off the decals. Then use a solvent to remove the glue.
Sounds easy. Took me a while, close to an hour. Please
don't hurry this job.

First, do not let the paint overheat! Hot paint is very
easy to chip and gouge. Resist the temptation to keep the
heat on to make the job quicker. Just go slow. Less heat is
better than more heat.

Second, the pros say fingernails are the best and I agree.
Someone mentioned a bondo scraper, great idea, wish I had
one of those at the time. Don't even think about using
metal or anything else that's harder than paint. Again,
don't scratch the paint. 

Lastly, on the solvent. I had a bottle of Goof Off that
worked out pretty well. Be patient, because Toyota used The
Stickiest Stuff On Earth (tm). This part took me the
longest. Also, have lots of rags, because they load up real
quick and you end up pushing the stuff around and that just
takes longer.

I really like the plain look. I'd like to go no chrome. So
far I painted the Toyota and V6 emblems on the grill black
and now the tailgate. Anyone else into low-key?

Chris "yeah, I know it's just for looks" Senungetuk

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Date: Sun, 08 Mar 1998 18:05:05 -0800
From: Jim Brink 
Subject: Body Decals: report
To: Toy4x4@tlca.org

Chris Senungetuk wrote:
  Be patient, because Toyota used The
> Stickiest Stuff On Earth (tm). 

This is the same substance that Toyota uses to retain the plastic vapor
shield in between the door panel and door shell.  :-)

- -- 

Jim Brink, Toyota/ASE Certified Technician      1986 Toyota Std. Bed 4WD
Manhattan Beach, CA                             32x11.50/15 BFG M/Ts
ToyTech@Off-Road.com
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