What is the best way to remove existing painted graphics ..... chemical or sanding.
Thanks in advance

sanding is generally the best way, there is a trick to it though. Its important to start with a fairly coarse grit to work the surface down evenly. The last couple Cig top guns I did had the standard Imron graphics that needed to be removed. I usually use 80 grit on either my 6 inch or 8 inch gear drive DA, its important to keep the sander flat and let the sander do its job, your goal is to remove paint and not the surrounding or underlying gel. Its takes a soft touch and patience. It also helps to have a new or fairly new backing pad for the da, the flatter this is the better it works. Also try to keep the da as flat as possible, do not rock it up on its edge to speed things up. Once you start to see gel through the stripes you can start to move up in grits to 180 or so in preparation form primer. Are your stripes factory applied?

2000 powerquest

are you sure they are painted? I have a 99 Powerquest that I maintain and the graphics are all in the gel.