Snork

My first post on here, so hi to all.

I've removed a few stickers from my new bike (next service due etc) and am left with a bit of a sticky residue. What's the best thing to use to get rid of this residue without damaging the paintwork?

DannoXYZ 

Xylene works pretty well. Don't use anything harsher like lacquer-thinner or acetone, those may soften the paint.

MtbVA

"goof-off" or "goo-gone" both work well and available at hardware store.
If you have any citrus based cleaners laying around the house, that may work also.

neil0502

or WD-40

(no, I'm not in love with the stuff, but for some uses, it really does work )

Grand Bois

In my expreience, all three of the above work. I think that xylene is the main ingredient in Goof-Off. I think that WD-40 works the best, but then you have to clean off the WD-40. That's not a problem on a bike frame, but it can be on other things.

chilly

Wd-40

Old Hammer Boy

A non-chemical way can be a hot air blow dryer. On many stickers it will soften up the adhesive. I also use mineral spirits, and it doesn't harm the finish.

robo

you can actually use cooking oil.. put some on a rag, and rub on the sticky residue. It will start to soften and come off.

seres

Whatever you do use, let the goo soften up before you start rubbing. If not, you may dull or slightly scratch the paint around the goo, and the paint underneath the goo will remain bright.

Snork

Thanks guys, the WD40 worked a treat.

duckliondog

Yeah, xylene would work very well, so would benzene or dioxane. Coincidentally, they also work very well as carcinogens and mutagens. So if you want to take some years off your life along with stickers, this is a good way to go. Can non-scientists even get xylene?
I use lighter fluid for sticker residue. I also use it when my rubber MTB grips get super dirty.

ppc

A simple school rubber eraser (the soft, white kind) works marvels on anything sticky: rub vigorously on the goo, the rubber displaces the goo, peels off, the goo sticks to it and everything goes away. It works on anything, including wallpaper, and doesn't require nasty liquids.

neil0502

Didn't Bugs Bunny ... or Wyle E. Coyote ... or one of those guys ... try to remove his nemesis that way?

duckliondog

Excuse me, I don't see how this makes any sense. I have always understood that in order to remove anything, highly flammable and/or toxic substances were required. Unless this "rubber eraser" thing blows up when you rub it vigorously, I'm not buying it.

tedi k wardhana

wd40, anyone?

ppc

Do you use highly flammable or toxic substances to remove pencil traces from paper?

You're free to try my method. Here's the test procedure: wrap something in duct-tape, leave outdoors under the sun and rain for several days, unwrap soggy sticky duct-tape, clean object by rubbing a soft eraser on it. As I said, you'll probably have to rub vigorously, and you'll probably waste half your eraser on it too, since the whole idea is to make the goo stick to the bits of rubber and flake off, but it'll work eventually, leaving a very clean surface. Off course, on fragile surface, you shouldn't rub too hard, but it's the same idea.

The point of using an eraser is (1) to preserve fragile surfaces, (2) to avoid using nasty carcinogenic petroleum derivates and (3) to ensure said petroleum derivates don't go dissolving or changing the color of whatever I rub them against (bike paint). The trade-off is having to use elbow grease (sometimes plenty of it), and of course wasting an entire eraser on really tough jobs.

Try it, honestly it works

Walkafire

Goo Gone works better then WD40

I had some Glue residue on the rear fender of my Harley... Tried WD40..nothing
GOO GONE worked great.

ppc

Slightly OT, but since many cyclists waste their hard-earned money on these solvents to clean their bike chains...

Goo Gone indeed works great. It is citrus-based (i.e. the solvents are mainly terpenes instead of xylene or toluene) but it certainly isn't harmless. Neither are citrus-based chain cleaners. Terpenes are neither better for your health or for the environment than traditional solvents, just more expensive.

Personally, I've stopped buying anything citrus-based, since they're basically a huge marketting ripoff. Here's a good read on these "green" solvents: https://www.pcimag.com/CDA/ArticleInf...,12107,00.html

cyccommute 

Mineral spirits (also known as paint thinner) will also work. Paint thinner is not the same thing as paint stripper.

Xylene is not classified as a human carcinogen and has been used to replace benzene (a known carcinogen) in numerous applications. It is highly flammable, however.

Don't use ethanol (alcohol) or acetone on adhesives from stickers. It doesn't work very well.

Cyclepath

Maybe, but i'd rather not depend on a PAINT INDUSTRY article & one with only two references at that. It's even wrong about methanol, which has not been made from wood for a long time.