Just thought I would share my experience:

I know that many people on here have/will get graphics on their car for either cosmetic or publicity (rallies and motorsport sponsorship) purposes and then want to take them off.

Some of you will have seen my car (if not look at the avatar picture above) and know that it has graphics on it from REXPO 05 (making them 12 months old).

I have been wanting to remove some of the graphics from my car as I think it's time for a new look. A few months back, I removed some small stickers to see how difficult the process was.

These were on my side skirts, rear quarter panels and windows.
I left the car in the sun for a good hour or so (it was a very warm day 30+ degrees) and let the stickers get warm to soften the glue. I carefully peeled them off in one piece where possible and then gave the area a wipe with some alcohol wipes to remove any residue. As these stickers were quite small (about 30cm in length and 5cm in height) they came off quite easily and left little residue behind.

Yesterday I got the great idea of taking more stickers off. If you look at the avatar pic you will see that I had REXPO in large letters down each side of the car.
I once again let the car sit in the sun for a good hour to assist with the peel. Once the stickers were nice and hot (almost too hot to touch) I began peeling them off. I found that some came off easily and others left all of the adhesive behind. Angle played a big part in the peel with about a 45 degree angle working best and a steady pace.
Some letters came off easily and others were more of a pain.

I also had a go at the bonnet lettering which was smaller and cleaned up with the alcohol wipes leaving no paint damage what so ever.

I started the clean on the sides and went through a whole packet of alcohol wipes and 2cm from each of my fingers from rubbing.

I bit the bullet today and bought some K&H grease and wax remover (another version of prepsol) from Auto 1 for $10. Spray on, allow to penetrate for 10 seconds and then rub with a cloth.
I found that it took 3-4 applications per section to get it pefectly clean. It softens up the adhesive allowing you to scrub it into balls (like lint) and then reapply to remove the balls.
I found that a bit of scrubbing with a slightly rougher rag after the first spray allowed the adhesive to dissolve easier and then allow the product to penetrate better on a second application.

4 hours work and the adhesive is completely gone. All I need to do now is give the evo 4 a good polish.

Despite the graphics being on the car for 12 months and being parked outside when driven to work, the paint does not appear to have faded or discoloured in any way. The cleaning process doesn't look like it has caused any damage (I have looked at it in sunlight and under flouro lights).

If anyone would like more info, please ask away.
Toni

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