Pinstripe removal is not fun!

[Raymond]

That's how far we got before we quit.

This is on my girlfriend's '02 Honda Accord coupe. We finished the entire passenger rear quarter panel, and half of the passenger front fender.

This stuff does not want to come off! We did it on a hot, sunny Florida day... armed with a diluted off-brand version of Simple Green and a few strong fingernails. I used Bug and Tar remover followed by Scratch X to remove the left over sticky stuff.

I did some searching on the forums and found out about plastic razor blades, which I went out and bought one of at the local Ace Hardware. Tried it out and it works about the same as our fingernails did, just minus the pain in our fingers, so I guess we'll use this instead.

All I can say is that pinstripe removal is not easy and not fun - so I suggest whoever considers doing this has a lot of patience LOL.

Do you think using a hair dryer could possibly heat up the stripes more than the sun can, making it slightly easier/faster to remove these things? The worst part about all this is that the car has a dual pinstripe so it's like we're removing twice as much as we should be.

(edit: and yes, we're going to be removing the black "door guards" on the sides of the doors as well, they stand out like a sore thumb on this car)

[Forever New]

Re: Pinstripe removal is not fun!

I removed the pin stripes off of an 1989 Toyota MR2. Super pain in the @#$. I used plastic razor blades and it took about 6 hours and a lot of "passion" as they say on this board

[Raymond]

Re: Pinstripe removal is not fun!

I removed the pin stripes off of an 1989 Toyota MR2. Super pain in the @#$. I used plastic razor blades and it took about 6 hours and a lot of "passion" as they say on this board

haha wow! Talk about coincidence, I've got an '88 MR2 myself, learned how to drive in it actually.



Three-tone paint job, clearcoat failure on the roof/rear engine lid/trunk, a few minor rust spots... and two lines of those pinstripes you probably removed... car's in pretty good condition otherwise. Only has 68k miles on it!

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Pinstripe removal is not fun!

3M makes some kind of rubber buffing wheel/pad that fits on a rotary buffer that's supposed to remove pinstripes without hurting the paint.

Never used one before but have seen them advertised.

[BlueZero]

Re: Pinstripe removal is not fun!

Is it coming off just leaving the residue? If so your new best friend is 3M adhesive remover. It comes in a red and white can. I removed the factory pin stripe from a 3 year old full size truck. It was a pain in the butt but once I used the adhesive remover it went pretty good. Make sure to follow the directions on the can. It was a black truck and parking in the sun seemed to help soften it up too.

[bookeem]

Re: Pinstripe removal is not fun!

the eraser wheel ftw....zip it right off..

[rebelde33]

Re: Pinstripe removal is not fun!

I removed the pinstripes on my 08 Toyota Corolla and it was not fun to say the least. It takes a lot of patience and what I found helped was that it was in the sun for a while so that made it easier but if the surface is cold you will want to give up.

[Raymond]

Re: Pinstripe removal is not fun!

Yeah, I saw that rubber 3M wheel when I did my searching as well... not sure where I could buy one locally.

And yeah, the stripes are coming off, it's just taking forever because they are old and brittle, so it's not like we can peel up entire sections at a time, it's more like chip after chip of pinstripe.

The sticky stuff really isn't the problem. That comes off fairly easy, it's the actual striping that's hard to get off.

[Forever New]

Re: Pinstripe removal is not fun!

thats awsome, my g/f and I both own MR2s, she has the black 89 i was talking about and I have a 91.

[Raymond]

Re: Pinstripe removal is not fun!

Just thought I'd update this thread with my progress and a few tips/tricks...

Today we finally got time to work on the car some more and I managed to knock out the entire one side of the car by myself in about 2 hours. I used a hair dryer on it's highest settings (very hot), which heated up the glue, and a plastic razor blade to scrape the stripes (it has dual pinstripes, twice as much work) off. Then I used "Goo Gone" to remove the sticky stuff left over. You can't tell the stripes were ever there now, like seriously... not at all.

My previous process of using my fingernails to scrape it off bit-by-bit, then diluted simple green to get some of the sticky stuff off, then Scratch-X to get rid of what I could get off... was a MUCH slower process and still left some stuck-on goo behind. I went over the quarter panel again with the "Goo Gone" and now it looks perfect.

In other news, we also lowered the car last week. It was amazing how hard it was to work on that car, but I managed to get it done in her driveway using my tools and a rented spring compressor. The springs settled down and the car has a great stance now, so once I get the rest of the striping and the door guards off the car, I'm going to wash/wax it and get a photoshoot going.

Here's some pictures of the car after we lowered it, before the springs settled, and after the only pinstripes we had removed were the same as before...













We're definitley enjoying working on this car together and watching it progress. It's come quite a ways from when we first started on it, bone stock.

[J. A. Michaels]

Re: Pinstripe removal is not fun!

Raymond, Glad you found a process that works for you. In general I am not a huge fan of lowering ones car. I am a old man. lol However your Honda looks good. Way to go.

[CarbonBlack]

Re: Pinstripe removal is not fun!

friday I am doing this to a eclipse!
thanks for the write up, it will help ALOT

[Raymond]

Re: Pinstripe removal is not fun!

Raymond, Glad you found a process that works for you. In general I am not a huge fan of lowering ones car. I am a old man. lol However your Honda looks good. Way to go.

haha yeah I can understand that, our parents said the same thing (not to lower our cars), but what do they know?

friday I am doing this to a eclipse!
thanks for the write up, it will help ALOT

Glad I could help man. Like I said, pick up a 99cents plastic razor blade (putty knife) from a hardware store and use that so you won't kill your fingers, use the hair dryer to heat it up sections at a time and scrape away. A lot of dirt that's stuck around the edges of the glue will still be sticky so use the "Goo Gone" and a damp rag to get those off, wearing rubber gloves while you do it because that "Goo Gone" tends to take the skin right off my fingers. LOL

[Superior Shine]

Re: Pinstripe removal is not fun!

I just returned from two weeks in Miami and the weather right now isn't hot enough (it's beautiful though - no rain!)

You need to get pinstripes HOT! I use a heat gun. I also have the 3m wheel. It works great to.

[navyblue2000]

Re: Pinstripe removal is not fun!

Wow, Joe, you said exactly what I was going to say!

I took RACING STRIPES off a Z28 that I owned - I bought it that way, I didn't put them on. A heat gun (LOL code name for hair dryer) + automotive formula goo gone was the recipe I needed! Came up in no time!