GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

So I got my rear, faded-to-pink, arrowhead off today and it was very easy. Heated with a hair-dryer, ran fishing line through the adhesive, and cleaned the gunk off with WD-40 and a plastic card.Emboldened, I endeavored to remove the Vent Shades the previous owner added because they were starting to come loose on the ends. Got the drivers' window shade off without a hitch with the hair-dryer and fishing line, but I can't for the life of me get the tape that held it on off.Is there a solvent that will not only remove the sticky, but also sort of dissolve the foamy stuff the tape is made of?

"Goo Gone" is a handy product and is easy to find (Home Depot, Lowe's, ChinaMart, etc.).BTW: I finally removed my faded Pontiac emblem last weekend...just parked in the sun & used some Oral B dental floss. Cougar Vibe

As said already, Goo-Gone or an equivilent adhesive remover. BUT, it will not cut through the sponge. For that only patience and time will do... and perhaps a sore finger(s.)Roll off as much of the left over sponge tape as you can, then use the adhesive remover to penetrate through the backing and adhesive.BTW: Adhesive remover is safer on the paint than is WD-40.

Quote, originally posted by 06pvibe »BTW: Adhesive remover is safer on the paint than is WD-40.Hmmm... I have used WD40 on every car I've owned to remove badges, side moldings, etc. and it has never done anything to the paint. As a matter of fact, it's worked better at removing the adhesive than anything else I've tried. Just my $.02 though.

Quote, originally posted by 06pvibe »As said already, Goo-Gone or an equivilent adhesive remover. +1

Thank you for the advice.It seems like WD-40 has worked better for me in other applications than Goo-Gone, but for getting the sticky from the molding tape off, Goo-Gone was indeed superior.As 06pvibe sort of indicated, I found a solution of 1% adhesive remover to 99% elbow grease is still required to get the spongy off.

I had a hell of a time getting that crap off of mine but Goo Gone finally prevailed. It's good stuff!

If you think that was bad, you should have seen how much elbow grease it took to get the adhesive off my headlights when I removed the first set of burned out RockBlockers... and the "experts" told me, "A little bug and tar remover and it'll come right off." Sure it did!!

Yeah, I removed the side moldings on mine and my mom's Sunfire Sedans . You wanna talk about sore thumbs and fingers ...

+1 more for Goo Gone!!!And best of all it smells like oranges!

Just for the record, and for anyone who may wonder about this and be reading this in the future, I discovered that there is a professional tool for this.I present the 3M Stripe Off Wheel:It's about $30, attaches to a drill, allegedly wipes out pin-stripes, decals and double sided foamy tape, and is (again, allegedly) safe for your paint job. My understanding is that it's still good to have a solvent on hand for clean up, and that a buffing is likely required after use.I'm sticking* with the slow manual removal, but I thought you might like to know this was also available.*no pun intended

WD-40 is also handy at removing spray paint from your car's paint job. Just in case you upset your boyfriend/girlfriend/husband/wife or a wild vandal. I'm just saying LOL

That's exactly why I say it is not completely safe for modern multi-staged paint systems.Pros used WD-40 for years to remove unwanted pinstripes, etc, but it is made from and contains hydrocarbons (hence its Water Displacement, or WD capabilities) which are not exactly easy on base coat/clear coat paint systems... especially when water-based or reduced solvent paint systems are used.Yes, I have used it for this purpose as well like when I did the molding delete on my Mazda, but neutralized it as soon as I was done.I don't know why I didn't think of this before, I have seen those wheels and they are essentially a gum rubber based eraser used for unwanted pencil marks. So if doing the job by hand, go to your local office supply store and buy one of them for a buck and you could use it instead!

That's an excellent idea 06pvibe. However, I can say from very recent experience that those gum erasers will not remove double side sticky foam... nor will Pink Pearls, nor Staedtler white drafting erasers.

Hmmm? Well then perhaps it's a combination of the rubber and the heat built up by the spinning action that does it? I don't know, just a guess. I'll have to try it on my next project... which I hope will be a long time from now.

I've been using isopropyl alcohol 90% for 30+ years on just about everything.Since I worked on office machines it cleaned just about anything in the machine or on the cabinet. I didn't need to carry multiple products. One bottle did it all. Before that I used pure lemon extract because of the high alcohol content.