Painting trailer need HELP!
 

I have a trailer that has vinyl tape stripes on it and for the life of me I cant get them the hell off
Tried paint gun
yeah right, vinyl stripe laughed at the heat gun
Tried sander, that worked but turned it into chewing gum before it wore off and all around the stripe i sanded clear down to bare metal so that is not an option
Is there some sort of solvent or stripper for this vinyl crap that I can spray on there or what not to get it off?
Any help would be appreciated
Get the boat back in 2 weeks and i have hardly done anything to this trailer yet and im running out of time
Thanks
Jason

A great product I have used is 3M Adhesive remover. It is not very damaging to the underlying surface, but it will help you remove the tape. It is available at any Body Shop Supply store, (in yellow pages).

Also, M! Adhesive Remover is stronger stuff. I got my last bottle at Home Depot last year. Much stronger solvent. This will take loosen the stripes, and remove the adhesive, but it may damage the paint under the tape.

Not worried about the paint underneath, can sand it down if gets mushy or lumpy or whatever
Have primer and paint ready to go just cant get this god forsaken stripe off which is screwing me all up at the moment
Ill try that
Home Depot huh? Pass one on way home
called M!
never heard of it
Thanks
Jason

Reflective tape works wonders in covering that crappy little pinstripe up...and makes for a sharp looking trailer which some bonehead is less likely to run into in the dark!

A heat gun should work. Get a razor under the end and get enough tab to pull on while applying heat near where it is separating and gently pull. It should slowly come off where the heat is applied. It goes slow because you are continually heating a new section, but much easier than sanding. The 3m stuff can be had at auto parts stores too. Good stuff but will take a while to get under the pin stripe. It can be used to remove the adhesive after removal so that it doesn't fish eye or load up your sand paper.

Try eazy off ovencleaner with some heat.

jayl13 go to the auto paint store and get a stripe erasier it is a wheel made out of rubber that you put in i die grinder and it burns the stripe and glue right off with out harming the paint underneath. it is designed for taking off stripes and decals good luck.

Use what later said. I think it's made by 3M also. Comes in two sizes, small fits in 3/8 drill and the large will mount on a buffer but you need an adapter for that one. Takes stripes right off though. I have the large one on my buffer and can remove all stripes on just about any boat in under an hour.

My mistake on the keystroke:
M1 Remover. Comes in a can like paint thinner.

Cool, thanks guys
and No the heat gun does NOT work that tape (about inch and half wide) has been on there for 12 years
some is cracked and dryrotted some is fine
it laughed at that heat gun though
probably sat there for 20-25 minutes burning the tape and it would just sort of melt and make a gooey mess , the dry rotted stuff did nothing
I thought maybe the heat gun was not getting real real hot so like an ass I put my hand (with glove on mind you) on the trailer metal, and yeah i could feel the heat and burnt my glove leather
so heat gun is out razor blade, yeah, trailer is 36 feet long, that idea is the absolutely LAST resort when all else fails
That remover stuff Ill pick up today and that rubber eraser thing, that is going to hopefully be #1 choice,
work smart not hard my old man used to say
So that is another thing I can use the air compressor for, and the die grinder for that matter
3m definately comes up with some good ideas in this world
Thanks all for the input, Ill keep you posted with pics too of the progress of this turd
Jason

Jason: You might need to score the stripe to allow the remover to get to the adhesive.

Bowtie, Later: You can use that wheel on a BOAT with out damaging the finish under and around the decal?

Chart

I would think that rubber wheel would screw up the fiberglass.
Maybe im wrong
never used one before but on the steel trailer i cant see it hurting a damn thing
and to boot, im not going to go for the Guiness book of world records nicest trailer award either so it is not THAT important to me if I have a nick here and a ding there on my trailer
As long as it is safe, holds and supports the boat properly and is in no danger of falling apart, I honestly dont give that much of a damn about it :D
yet another trip to Home depot after work LOL
Jason

Jayl13,

Can't be sure that this will help given the age of the adhesive you have to work with but here goes... Naptha, is a clear solvent which will not harm paint or similar finishes... I had a similar experience sever years ago on a Myco I owned, and it took considerable soaking but after several spray applications the stripes did start to come off... Once an edge has lifted spraying the exposed area made the removal process much faster... It voids the adhesive and rolls it from the surface and doesn't hurt plastic, painted surfaces, metal finish or fiberglass... And best of all.... try $7 per gallon at Home Depot or any hardware store...
Great stuff and hope this helps...

Karl

chart there would be no problems with using the rubber wheel on fiber glass, unless of corse you intentionally try to burn the fiber glass sometime if you push real hard and stay in one spot long youy might burn the paint on a car but like i said you have to try. they would work great on a boat. i havent seen the large ones used on a buffer but then i havent looked. we use the smaller one daily. any kind of solvent will may a mess of the vinal long before it takes in off. you might clean it up with solvent once the stripe removed. good luck!

3M eraser wheel is the way to go. I have a bodyshop and use it every time a stripe needs to come off. Good luck spring is here.

Well lets start out by saying that all solvents did not even hurt the vinyl stripe,
damn thing laughed at everything I threw at it, including gasoline.
So, The eraser wheel, I went EVERYWHERE looking for it from Pep boys, National auto, home depot, lowes, sears, sherman williams, MAB paints ect. No one had it.
So I did the only thing left
sanded it and roughed it up, primered it, painted it
Painted the entire trailer with my Campbell Hausfeld paint gun and my woussy little compressor
Other than having to wait for the compressor to fill up here and there (about every 7-8 minutes had to stop for a min and let it catch up) Painting went beautifully.
Very very very impressed with the final results.
Sanding and primering took the longest time (about 7 hrs)
Painting took about 2-2 1/2 hrs total
long day but totally worth it
Now to go to pep boys or something and get some pin striping to cover the old stuff so you dont see it as bad and im golden.
Also going to recarpet the bunks and im going to see if I can find some purple carpet to match the pin striping and color coordinate the whole package (we will see what we can find)
I did appreciate all the advice but that vinyl stripe that was on there, was all dry rotted and cracked and just would not come off no matter what I did, plus with the sander, trying to sand it off just was more of a mess than it was worth, would sand right through the THIN as hell paint and right to bare metal in about 4 second with 220 grit so i said enough is enough
Overall im pleased wiht the results and she looks brand spanking new, now for some carpet and new bolts to hold the bunks down and im all done that project and on to the boat
(if I ever get the damn thing back from the marina GRRRR)
Jason