Fire engine Decals

[MichaelXYZ]

This may be a goofy question but here goes. Our company just changed their name and we have to pull off the existing decals on our rescue rigs and fire engines. Now I know I can get the sticky adhesive residue off with Goo Be Gone, but what about the decal itself. I need to scrape the decals off somehow without scratching the paint.

Have any of you done this, any ideas?

Thanks

[Bones42]

We used Easy Off oven cleaner.

[MichaelXYZ]

Easy Off huh? Does that work for the main decal part or just residue? Is it safe on the paint? How well did it work?

Thanks

[FWDbuff]

you need to be extremely careful- oven cleaner does indeed work, however if you have any existing deep scratches where the cleaner is applied or create any where the cleaner is already sprayed, you can run the risk of it "infecting" the paint and doing more harm than good. Whatever you do, do NOT use a metal-edged blade of any kind to scrape- get a hard rubber spatula-type scraper to do it.

[BoxAlarm187]

We use an eraser wheel at work when we sell our rigs. Although it takes a little while, it does an excellent job.

Here's an idea of another style of wheel at work.

[MichaelXYZ]

That eraser wheel looks good, I wonder if I can find something similar at Home Depot.

Thanks

[slackjawedyokel]

That eraser wheel looks good, I wonder if I can find something similar at Home Depot.

Thanks

Auto parts and auto paint supply stores sell them , you can also get single edged plastic razor blades. Use a hair drier to warm (dont over heat) and try scraping it first.

[firepundit]

Check out the adhesive removers and plastic razors at www.signwarehouse.com

I have used the "Rapid Remover" liquid frequently. It isn't blazing fast but does a very nice job.

[Cap't Disaster]

Try boiling water! Get an electric kettle and pour boiling water over the decal. You may have to boil two or three pots of water depending on the size of the decal or the material used for the decal. If the material has any foil or metal in it, you will need to use more than one pot of water to get the heat through to the adhesive and soften the glue.
It will soften the adhesive enough to release the decal material and there is no chemical involved and you don't run the risk of over heating the paint with a heat gun and blistering the paint. Then you can use one of the mild chemicals mentioned in the other comments to wipe it down and remove any remaining adhesive residue.
I used to have a company vehicle at an auto dealer, and we put company decals on the doors. I had to change vehicles every 6,000 miles and they sold the vehicle as a demo. I took the door decals off like this all the time, it worked very well.

[firepundit]

Try boiling water! Get an electric kettle and pour boiling water over the decal. You may have to boil two or three pots of water depending on the size of the decal or the material used for the decal. If the material has any foil or metal in it, you will need to use more than one pot of water to get the heat through to the adhesive and soften the glue.
It will soften the adhesive enough to release the decal material and there is no chemical involved and you don't run the risk of over heating the paint with a heat gun and blistering the paint. Then you can use one of the mild chemicals mentioned in the other comments to wipe it down and remove any remaining adhesive residue.
I used to have a company vehicle at an auto dealer, and we put company decals on the doors. I had to change vehicles every 6,000 miles and they sold the vehicle as a demo. I took the door decals off like this all the time, it worked very well.

Makes great sense. Heat will release most adhesives. As for the foil, the only material I ever run into with a metallic layer is reflective that uses the glass beads like Scotchlite. Some variations of it can be a real bear to deal with.

For what it is worth, the best adhesive removers for vinyl graphics always seem to be orange based or scented with oranges.

[Bigdaddybwc]

I have used the eraser wheel on several ocasions and it works very well. It is made by 3M and is available at locations that specialize in automotive paint and body work supplies.

[MichaelXYZ]

Well, we tackled one engine so I thought I would pass on how it went. I tried to locate an eraser wheel locally but all I could find was an Astro eraser wheel that had to be attached to an air tool, so I went to plan B.
I bought a bottle of Goo Gone, and two plastic scrapers. I brought a hair dryer and my Cap had a heat gun. The hair dryer just did not get hot enough so glad we had the heat gun. The gun got pretty hot so constant moving of the heat nozzle was needed in order to not damage the paint.
Well the heat gun worked really well on the side doors, the vinyl decals lifted right off and with the goo gone the adhesive residue was removed.
Now the front of the engine was a different story. I am guessing that since the front of the engine got the most sun, the decals were baked right into the paint. Even with the heat gun, the decal was almost part of the paint. It took at least an hour of scrape heat and peel, just to get most of the decal off. We had to resort to a razor blade to meticulously remove the thin layer of decal. It was a real headache. Once the decal was all off and residue removed, the paint had discolored leaving an image of the former decal.
We placed the new decal where the former had been thus covering any signs of sun damage. So all worked out. Now only two more engines and two rescue rigs to go
P.S. I ordered 1 eraser wheel for next time.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

[BoxAlarm187]

Good to hear that it worked out for you.

[uogecko]

Most likely the graphics are vinyl - if you heat them using a hair dryer, they should be very easy to peel off by hand.

[FIREMECH1]

Most likely the graphics are vinyl - if you heat them using a hair dryer, they should be very easy to peel off by hand.

Hair driers do not get hot enough to take off graphics that have been on for over a year. A good 1,500w dual temp heat gun will get them off faster and easier. These will hit close to, or over 1,000 degrees. A hair drier won't even come close to those temps.

FM1

[DeathValleyCap]

Glad to hear it went good for you. We got a new rescue engine 2 years ago now and it came with the incorrect door decal. We used the heat gun, hair dryer dosn't do it, and the wheel eraiser and were very careful as the paint was only a week old.