hi...when i bought my 300e i opted for the detail stripes on the side of the car...dont know what to call them (racing striped perhaps?) but the question is, now that i am considering to take these adhesive stripes off my car, and thus the clearcoat, whats the best procedure to do so? i'm afraid of accidentally ripping or damaging the clearcoat and/or paint....should i jus wet the car and then pull the stripes off...and then use a adhesive cleaner to remove the leftover adhesive? thanks

How long have the stripes been on the car? Did they go on the car when it was new or used?

Please advise and I'll try to better answer your inquiry.

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Best regards, Michael
'92 500E
'88 300TE

If you are talking about factory or professionally done pin-stripes then I would advise that you leave them be. Even if you removed them without harming the surrounding paint there would still be two strips of color deviation where they were. Why do you want to remove them? Are they coming off on their own? More info needed...

Hope this helps...Lee

Edict:

Again, just an opinion based on experience - I was able to remove the "PORSCHE" adhesive decals from a Porsche 911, which was along the rocker panel under the door, by using a hair drier. You need merely to get the decal very warm, not hot, and the adhesive will soften and you pull off the stripe, slowly and methodically. But you can only do a little at a time, for it will cool again awfully fast, especially if you are doing this outdoors in the winter.

However, be aware, as Michael and Lee implied, that you might have a "print" of the stripe in your clearcoat or paint, expecially if the car and stripe are older than two years or so. All paints fade, some quicker than others (all reds fade infinitely faster than any other color). And the paint under the stripe will not have faded.

But....look at the bright side and make a positive out of a negative; once you remove the pinstriping, you might have a very subtle, slightly different shaded stripe, a slightly darker stripe than the surrounding color. This might be "cool", "sophisticated", "great design element", etc.
Try a small piece, perhaps around the trunk, to see if it will look "bad".......Andras

thanks lee, michael, and andras...in regards to lee and michael's questions, the pin stripes are about 10 years old, having been factory applpied when i bought my car back then...the reason i want to take them off is that i think that the striping, which is gold, is starting to clash with the nautical blue exterior...the striping itself is also getting faded, almost looking white now...another reason for removing the stripes is that i think doing so will give the car a more monochromatic look, since i do have the clear corners and the smoked tailights...the striping is classy i must admit, but for a car i feel is more sporty than a sedanm the striping just ruins the appearance thing....lee, how much will the color deviation be? and assuming i dont care as much about the color differences, what is the best suggestion you have for removing them? andras' suggestions sounds good, but i'm afraid the heat might affect the clearcoat/paint somehow...any suggestions are welcome...thanks again for all the help guys...

ben

Ben: I'm not sure there will be a quantitative answer for your qualitative question. Given that the striping is over 10 years old, there will be a visible "printing" or color change of the blue. Blue is not as volatile a color as red, but you would definitely see that striping was removed. Just how much it will change, how do you define "much"? I assure you it will show.

As to the heat, I did say warm and not hot hair dryer, and that should be okay. Your clear coat gets hotter in the noonday sub than is necessary to remove the pinstriping. And this technique is far better than trying to scrape it off. The problem is that you have to get to the adhes8ive which is separating the color from your clearcoat. Unless you can get some liquid adhesive remover under the color striping, there's no way it will disolve the adhesive.

By the way, if you use the hair dryer, on warm, to soften the adhesive and remove the striping, you will still have to use rubber cement solvent to remove the adhesive residue. There are no easy solutions to your desire.

Again, I would recommend trying a small portion, in an unobstrusive part of the car, to see what works to remove, and to see what the results will be like.....Andras

Ben,

I think some people have misunderstood your issue and assumed that you have the adhesive pinstripes that most cars have today that peels off with a little effort or heat as described above; however, speaking from experience (I also have a monochromatic 300E, all black with smoked hella taillights and clear corners) I believe that your 300E probably has factory painted on pinstripes. What I did will probably make most people here wince and it's not really the best solution but it worked for me (at least for now). I bought some black pinstriping tape from Trak Auto in the two different widths that mine were painted on (on mine the wide stripe was red, the thin stripe white) and basically covered them up. It's unnoticeable from 15 feet but someone looking for it will find it. Regardless, I think it's an improvement in the overall look of the car, since everything is a shade of black, grey, or chrome.

here's a collage of the car taken back before the winter hit:
http://stormworks.max3d.com/collage_1low.jpg

before I get flamed, I know, I know, just because I have AMG wheels doesn't mean I deserve a decklid badge, but hey it looks damn cool. I know I'll have my head handed to me one of these days by a C36 or C43 (I'll just pull over and stop at the mere sight of an E55), but until then I'll just floor it and make people think my car is something other than a plain ol' 1990 300E

that's my two cents (or 10 cents as it turned out)

Chris

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Chris Singh
1983 300D 200k+ (stopped odometer)
1990 300E 123k
1999 E430 12k

http://benz.mp3car.com
http://stormworks.max3d.com

I would probably advise against removal. However, if removal is a "done deal" in your mind here is what I'd recommend. The hair dryer method works well. You will want to have the paint as clean as possible when doing this. Don't worry too much about the heat. As Andras said, noon-day sun and heat soak from the engine/radiator are far worse. (anyone who has felt the hood of a 500E after a spirited drive knows what I mean by "hot hood")

You will have color shift from the areas under the striping, that is a given. The only thing I can recommend is to use something that does remove a bit of paint to try and "blend" the areas a bit. You will not want to remove too much paint, but a small amount will make it somewhat less noticeable. Say 3-4 apply/remove cycles of #9...

One other thing that has not come up yet is to have them professionally removed and the areas touched up by a professional/bodyshop. This may cost a bit, but the results should be better. Yet another undiscussed option would be to restripe with a more suitable color.

If you are removing then do heat the area until you notice the adhesive and striping becoming soft. DO NOT use anything sharp to try and scrape/remove either the strip or adhesive. When you can pinch the strip up and slowly pull by hand you have found a good temp.

Hope this helps...Lee

For whatever it is worth, when my neighbors daughter put adhesive stickers on the paint of his car, he says he used WD40 to dissolve the adhesive left behind after he removed the stickers. He claims it didn't damage the paint. I know that WD40 can be used for spot removal and removing labels from glass, but have never tried it on paint. Good luck.

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JCE
87 300E, 60k miles
Smoke Silver

would one of those automotive tar/wax removers help? i heard that the 3M Adhesive cleaner works well too...any experience comments? thanks guys..

ben

Ben:

Yes, other products will remove the adhesive, but.......FIRST YOU HAVE TO GET TO THE ADHESIVE BY REMOVING THE PINSTRIPING.

Lee alluded to that, I've said it a number of times. But none of the liquidadhesive remover (whatever you use), will work if there is something between your liquid remover and the adhesive. You must remove the pinstripe first.

The heat method works; anything sharp like one-sided razor blades or the like can easily gouge your paint.

WHY NOT TRY A SMALL SECTION TO SEE. It's so easy.....Andras