Decal Removal
#1
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Decal Removal
Can anyone give me a tip on removal of old decals?
I have ordered repro Columbus fork decals and I am wondering how to remove the old ones without damaging the paint. I know there are bound to be restorers out there that have faced this problem before and have a great solution! Thanks!!
By the way, I'm still scratching my head wondering how this one ended up torn and separated like this. It would seem to me it would have had to have been torn during the initial application and whoever did it just said "screw it" and sent it on down the line?
I have ordered repro Columbus fork decals and I am wondering how to remove the old ones without damaging the paint. I know there are bound to be restorers out there that have faced this problem before and have a great solution! Thanks!!
By the way, I'm still scratching my head wondering how this one ended up torn and separated like this. It would seem to me it would have had to have been torn during the initial application and whoever did it just said "screw it" and sent it on down the line?
#2
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heat gun, or hair dryer, scrape off with an old credit card.
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#4
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I've never wet it. They are very brittle and should flake right off.
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Goo-gone can help if there is adhesive holding it on. That's what I used on mine.
#8
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You'll get plenty of practice removing decals with a Pinarello.
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No. The decals are intentionally fragile to make it difficult to lift them from a legitimate frame and place on a forgery. Unless the builder clear-coated over the decal, it's very easy to sustain the type of damage your picture shows.
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"98% of the bikes I buy are projects".
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In the autobody word there is a drill attachment called an eraser wheel. It's a 4" rubber wheel that is designed to peel back vinyl decals with no damage to paint. The auto store here has them for 13.00 and I'm most likely going to grab one. There are multiple videos on youtube.
#16
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Lighter fluid. Saturate rag, press firmly to decal for ~60 seconds. The decal decomposes to a loose wrinkly mess that can be rubbed right off. Will not hurt paint. Also removes the glue, so bonus. Wash with wet soapy rag.
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I tried this with the decals on my Colnago and they were unaffected. After trying various chemicals with no effect on the hardened varnish transfer decals I grabbed a 13.00 Decal Eraser wheel and chucked it up. Easy schmeezy. Wish I did that at the start.
#19
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I saw you other thread. That thing sounds like a great gadget. Score!
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In the autobody word there is a drill attachment called an eraser wheel. It's a 4" rubber wheel that is designed to peel back vinyl decals with no damage to paint. The auto store here has them for 13.00 and I'm most likely going to grab one. There are multiple videos on youtube.
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You would probably only find lacquer on very old bikes.
I've used a wheel made by 3M to remove the double sided foam tape used to attach emblems and moldings to car bodies. It was a flapper type. It made a hell of a mess. Little pieces of sticky foam were all over me and my garage. I've gone back to mineral spirits and elbow grease. I initially cut off the emblems with a piece of string, but it leaves a lot of foam tape to be removed.
I remove vinyl lettering and stripes with a variable heat gun at the lowest setting.
I've used a wheel made by 3M to remove the double sided foam tape used to attach emblems and moldings to car bodies. It was a flapper type. It made a hell of a mess. Little pieces of sticky foam were all over me and my garage. I've gone back to mineral spirits and elbow grease. I initially cut off the emblems with a piece of string, but it leaves a lot of foam tape to be removed.
I remove vinyl lettering and stripes with a variable heat gun at the lowest setting.
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I thought I'd post the finished result. I put the new fork decals on and then realized that the black background of the originals is now red. No biggie to me, but I did note the difference.
The other thing I wanted to do was remove the seat tube SLX decal from where it currently was located. It was right on top of and colliding with the original Paramount logo. I thought it looked bad in that spot, so I removed it and put the new one down by the bottom bracket on the seat tube. I like this better. The P now looks clean. What are your thoughts?
Thanks!!
The other thing I wanted to do was remove the seat tube SLX decal from where it currently was located. It was right on top of and colliding with the original Paramount logo. I thought it looked bad in that spot, so I removed it and put the new one down by the bottom bracket on the seat tube. I like this better. The P now looks clean. What are your thoughts?
Thanks!!
#24
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Looks better down at the bottom. Where can I find replacement Columbus decals? My Tenax decal near bb bracket is scratched up.