SPedelty

650c Spin carbon tri spoke wheel with aluminum braking surface that is covered, in it's entirety, with white 3M reflective tape. Was covered by a friend who then sold the wheel to me and I am looking to get the wheel painted and want the tape off.

How should I go about doing this? What off the shelf products are safe for use on the carbon as well as the aluminum braking surface? The stickers are at the point where you can get flakes off of the reflecting layer(the upper layer, sticky part on the wheel side is still there) by picking at it, but it's not efficient by any means and would take many, many hours. If I remove the hub, would something like an acetone bath be safe? I know Sheldon Brown uses acetone for removing stickers on carbon, but an acetone bath is an extreme. What can I use that will still protect the clear coat?

Any help would be great. I may send this to JB and have them do the whole process, but I'd like to be able to at least strip it first before they paint it.

Thanks.

cyccommute 

Do not use acetone. Particularly, DO NOT use an acetone bath. Enough acetone to cover a wheel would be a huge amount of acetone. Acetone is highly flammable and highly volatile. That means, in science speak, that it evaporates quickly and will go BOOOM!!! when it finds an ignition source. Plus, as I've said ad infinitum, it is completely ineffective on the adhesive. It's not that great on the carbon or the epoxy that holds it together.

Mineral spirits on a rag in small amounts (wear nitrile gloves) and lots of elbow grease will get it off. This will take a while but just stick with it. You might soften the tape with a heat gun but be gentle with it.

And do all your work outside or with good ventilation. Mineral spirits are just slightly less flammable than acetone.