Wife wants our horse trailer acid washed for her birthday. That's not as big of a job, as I thought it would be. Stupid me decided that it would look a 1000 times better if I removed the pinstripes, and dot tape, before acid washing, and then reapply. They are pretty funky, and it will look like new money if I ever get the old off. One pinstripe, came right off. just as easy as you please. The other ( a different color) not so easy at all. The DOT tape, is leaning towards impossible. I don't have a heat gun, but I burnt up my daughters hair dryer last night trying that. I read that there is some kind of wheel that goes on a drill, that will get it off. Any suggestions?
Removing DOT tape and pinstripes
- Thread starter Bigfoot
- Start date
M-5
Well-known member
BF, you can purchase a heatgun for about 10bucks at harbor freight. they work well. if you get the reflective separated from the paper/glue side you can soak in mineral spirits and use a plastic scraper.
pricefarm
Well-known member
Not sure where u get the wheel u are talking about but I have used one years a ago when I was a teenager working at a used car lot. Best I can rember it was made out of rubber. It worked very good. I removed a lot of pin striping with it but it wouldn't last to long it would wear down. I bet auto zone are somewhere like that would have them.
M-5
Well-known member
the absolute best residue remover I have found is chem tool -( parts washer fluid.)
Kell-inKY
Well-known member
Reflective is a nightmare, hair dryer will not get hot enough for that stuff. On really large graphics you use a propane weed burner believe it or not. If you can get the top layer off, the adhesive will be much worse than other decals too. If it's bad enough I cut it off with a razor scraper, this will slightly scratch the surface even if you are careful.
I do not know if the Adhesive Eraser Tool will work on reflective but it might be worth a shot, I usually just grunt it out and heat the crap out of it, the eraser tool our distributor sells is different than this but you will probably only have access to the 3M style. I am sure it will mar the surface of the aluminum slightly, as you are finding out though, this will quickly become acceptable........
[youtube]https://youtu.be/HHKN5_UfDik[/youtube]
I do not know if the Adhesive Eraser Tool will work on reflective but it might be worth a shot, I usually just grunt it out and heat the crap out of it, the eraser tool our distributor sells is different than this but you will probably only have access to the 3M style. I am sure it will mar the surface of the aluminum slightly, as you are finding out though, this will quickly become acceptable........
[youtube]https://youtu.be/HHKN5_UfDik[/youtube]
I'm kinda stuck between a rock, and a hard place now. It's what she asked for, for her birthday. It's been years since she asked for something. I done started the job now. Admittedly, I haven't made it very far, but I'm not in a position to give up. I'm a little leary of the wheel, on the skins. I doubt it would do much to hurt the aluminum panels.
lavacarancher
Well-known member
Big, that rubber wheel folks are talking about is made by a company called Cratex. It is some sort of rubber impregnated with an abrasive. You can get them in different grits but the only ones I've seen or used are pretty small like for a Dremel tool. You could spend a week and a day using a Dremel. If I was doing this job I'd stick to the solvents and/or heat. I think Kell spelled it out pretty good.
On a whim, I ran in an auto paint place yesterday. they had a pinstripe eraser wheel. It was like $9. They had a more industrial looking choice, for $42. Even though I'm a tight wad, I went with the $42. I would have given anything to try it yesterday evening, but I was too busy. Its not looking like I will get to play with it until Monday. The guy said he thought it would get the DOT tape as well.
rnh2
Well-known member
Have you priced the dot tape? Might want to before you remove the old I hear it's pricey
I'm posting this, in case some poor soul ever undertakes the monumental task of a big pinstripe job. I have no idea the name of this wheel. It wasn't even in a box. It takes pinstripes of with zero effort. I did one side of a 30' trailer in half an hour. I'd have died of old age getting them off with all the other methods I used. It seems to be the consistency of a pencil eraser. Doesn't harm the finish on painted surfaces.
rnh2
Well-known member
I'll tell our fire chief about online deals. Every time we tape fire truck we yell ouch! But anything to do with fighting fires is too high
