|
|
|
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Stubborn Adhesive
The Xpel headlight film that came with my CDI became discolored to I removed it. Film came off fine in one piece. But there's some adhesive residue that is proving to be particularly difficult to remove. Xpel says to use thumb and maybe some alcohol or other adhesive remover, but that's not working.
Any thoughts as to what method and/or solvent to use?
__________________
14 E250 Bluetec 4Matic "Sinclair", Palladium Silver on Black, 154k miles 06 E320 CDI "Rutherford", Black on Tan, 172k mi, Stage 1 tune, tuned TCU 91 300D "Otis", Smoke Silver, 142k mi, wastegate conversion 19 Honda CR-V EX 61k mi Fourteen other MB's owned and sold 1961 Very Tolerant Wife |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
Give ammonia a try.
__________________
“Whatever story you're telling, it will be more interesting if, at the end you add, "and then everything burst into flames.” ― Brian P. Cleary, You Oughta Know By Now |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
WD 40? High detergent soap such as Ivory liquid? Neither of those are solvents but as a sticky material is moved around both those products will keep it from sticking again.
Sometimes the simplest things turn out to be good solutions to removing sticky stuff. My final go to for a solvent is acetone. It's not something that should be used without a trial area that you're ready to sacrifice for the cause.
__________________
84 300SD 85 380SE 83 528e 95 318ic |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
Lighter fluid works well on removing adhesives from plastics.
__________________
78 W116 300SD 'Desert Rose' new as of 01/26/2014 79 W116 300SD 'Stormcloud' RIP 04/11/2022 |
#5
|
||||
|
||||
PB Blaster is also effective as an alternative. Something most people have laying around too.
__________________
BENZ THERE DONE THAThttp://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/...c/progress.gif 15 VW Passat TDI 00 E420 98 E300 DT 97 E420 Donor Car - NEED PARTS? PM ME! 97 S500 97 E300D 86 Holden Jackaroo Turbo D 86 300SDL (o\|/o) |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
Quote:
__________________
96 E300d |
#7
|
|||
|
|||
Are you using 91% or more alcohol?
The rest of that stuff is water. Useless on the headlights. I would go ahead and try the 91%, or 99% isopropanol if you can find it local. It will strip paint! But your headlights should have a polycarbonate cover. Isopropanol should clean it.
Unfortunately, some "fixes" written by manufacturers do not include the years of exposure to weather, heat/cooling cycles and a myriad of chemicals. Perhaps you may end up buffing the area with some auto lamp buffing compound. snapped_bolt
__________________
'81 240D For now, a good place to borrow new parts '80 300TD Probably will be put back into service! '79 240D BACK IN SERVICE SINCE 09/16; limited use, oil leak. Guide pin r/sealed/replaced. Still a leak. Front crank seal.... |
#8
|
|||
|
|||
Goo Gone is the best I've found for removing residual adhesive. Also, it won't harm the plastic as many harsher chemicals will, including anything with alcohol. I've used it to remove a myriad of unknown sticky substances from equipment previously installed in retail locations. For really difficult areas, saturate a piece of paper towel and place it on the surface to prolong contact time.
Larger quantities of Goo Gone are available at Lowe's and Home Depot.
__________________
Sam 84 300SD 350K+ miles ( Blue Belle ) |
#9
|
|||
|
|||
If I'm not mistaken, that's a water based adhesive. If the lens is glass, try hot water and a brillo pad.
|
#10
|
||||
|
||||
I may get flamed for this (literally ) but I've been using small amounts of unleaded gasoline on a paper towel to wipe off glue residue. It works so well I rarely use isopropanol anymore. I have a tiny bottle I collect from draining the float bowl on my dirtbike after I ride it.
If you do this use a tiny amount that you could manage if it goes up in flames. Lighter fluid is naphtha which is similar to unleaded gas. Keep a fire extinguisher handy. No open sparks or flames.
__________________
79 300TD “Old Smokey” AKA “The Mistake” (SOLD) 82 240D stick shift 335k miles (SOLD) 82 300SD 300k miles 85 300D Turbodiesel 170k miles |
#11
|
||||
|
||||
Transmission fluid.
Sixto 98 E320s sedan and wagon |
#12
|
||||
|
||||
IF (God Forbid) the Mirror Finish of the Lens is Harmed...
Rust Oleum's
"Wipe New" WILL RESTORE them to Crystal Clarity. 'Did an old set of VW Golf Lights on Friday (They Were Yellow with UV Damage) And they looked "Factory Fresh" in about 45 Minutes. BUT YOU MUST FOLLOW ALL THE DIRECTIONS ! [As in a Beautiful Paint Job,Prep work is 80 %]
__________________
'84 300SD sold 124.128 |
#13
|
|||
|
|||
3M makes a specialty adhesive remover.
But have you tried Goof Off. (NOT OOPS.. too powerful) Turpentine. |
#14
|
||||
|
||||
Quote:
Do a search for cleaning Lexan and polycarbonate. It should hopefully tell you what not to use, but ignore the posts in forums - they tend to suggest products that ignore the effect they will have on the Polycarbonate/Lexan. This is from one hit: Quote:
Finally, using your thumb as Xpel suggests "may" work better if you lightly warm up the surface with a hairdryer or maybe even just leave car in direct sunlight.
__________________
Graham 85 300D,72 350SL, 98 E320, Outback 2.5 Last edited by Graham; 07-24-2017 at 06:18 PM. |
#15
|
||||
|
||||
Remember the secret to adhesive removal is you have to break the bond between the adhesive and substrate.
Then you have to keep the adhesive dissolved in the solvent, and then get all the adhesive-laden solvent removed before it evaporates and re-deposits the adhesive back on the substrate. All while using a solvent that does not damage the substrate, or react with the adhesive.
__________________
The OM 642/722.9 powered family Still going strong 2014 ML350 Bluetec (wife's DD) 2013 E350 Bluetec (my DD) both my kids cars went to junkyard in 2023 2008 ML320 CDI (Older son’s DD) fatal transmission failure, water soaked/fried rear SAM, numerous other issues, just too far gone to save (165k miles) 2008 E320 Bluetec (Younger son's DD) injector failed open and diluted oil with diesel, spun main bearings (240k miles) 1998 E300DT sold to TimFreeh 1987 300TD sold to vstech |
Bookmarks |
|
|