Botched decals: Help!

C

charlesellis

Active member
I waited two weeks for the paint on the tank to dry. I washed the tank. I read all the advice I could find on the forum. I used the tape hinge method. I put two drops of detergent in a spray bottle of water and lightly wet the surface. I got the long "Farmall Cub" decal to lie flat, but no amount of rubbing could get some spots to adhere. I waited a day and heated the small room to 90 degrees and tried again. Still many spots are not sticking. Any advice? Hair dryer? Start over with new decals?
Charles :cry: :oops:
 
If they are air bubbles poke a small hole in the decal and let the air out. Then it should be OK but you will have to do each one.
 
May be to late for now, but in future, did you have a small squigee to use to get all the air out? Or were you using your hands?

SteveB came over and did mine on my 1st Demo, and hoopefully (if we can talk him into it) will be showing us all once again at Docfest on Demo #2 the technique he uses. he uses a small piece of plastic its a little bigger than a credit card. and then just works it, until smooth.
 
You may not get the spots to stick at this point due to soap residue. When using the soapy water method, you need a small stiff rubber or plastic sqeegie to sqeeze the solution out as you smooth out the decal, start at the center and work out. Try as the previous post suggested, poke them with a pin and try to smooth them out, worth a shot.
 
Another sugestion is to use a hair dryer to put a little heat on it you may get it lay down with the body putty squeege. but my experience leads to think that you will most likley have to start over with a new dacal
 
From my experience with decals. I find they do not really "stick" immediately upon application, some of the smaller letters tend to "float" around a bit. I set them where they belong-walk away. Come back- sometimes 24 hrs. later, and there anchored solid. There must be a film of water underneath that evaporates to complete the adhesion?????? The sticker emblem, which some people call a decal, is more like a bumper sticker. You need a clean wax free surface, they will adhere immediately. Frank
 
I'm thinking they may not be worth saving??

Pretty much a novice, but I have had decent luck with Windex (Clear Vue if you can find it is great) on the hood and going from one corner to the other to the other with the sticker (thumb or squeegee). I use pieces of masking tape for position. The glass cleaner seems to evaporate without any consequence and helps you get the bubbles out before it sets up.

DSCN7569Small.jpg
 
If all else fails and you need to remove the decal, get a can of lighter fluid or buy a quart of Naptha. This is a solvent for most of the adhesives on sticky-back film. Then go to the Feed Store and get a 10~15 cc syringe. Fill the syringe with Naptha. Lift one corner, and squirt a little Naptha under the decal. Keep a steady pull on the film and keep "injecting" Naptha. The adhesive will get gooey and start to release.

When you get done, the painted surface will probably be sticky. Don't panic. Take some paper towel, soaked in Naptha, and wipe off the adhesive. It may take lots of paper towels, but it will work. You may or may not be able to save the decal. But using the Naptha is the best way to preserve your paint job.

Rick (I used to do this for a living) Dulas
 
if the decals were self sticking then you should NOT use any water. all you need is a damp rag. apply the decal from the bottom up rubbing and smoothing the decal as you go.
 
Clark Thompson":2nhubsp2 said:
if the decals were self sticking then you should NOT use any water. all you need is a damp rag. apply the decal from the bottom up rubbing and smoothing the decal as you go.
Click to expand...

I do it the same way we put decals on machines at Cat. Spray the surface down with a bit of soapy water. Remove the backing to expose the sticky back. Apply it to the surface and position it (this is what the soapy water allows). They use a bondo spreader to squeeze out the excess water. They will appear to just stick from the capillary action of the water. But when dry, they are stuck on good. Maybe just because the temp of the decal. May need to be warmer. Try heating it and squeegeeing it down or use a damp rag to push it on.
 
Well, I blew it. I tried a hair dryer, pins, rubber speader. Nothing seemed to get the little dots (not bubbles really) to adhere. So I pulled off the decals, using the hair dryer to soften them. The first one came off easy. But I guess I got into too big of a hurry on the second one, and pulled off some paint. (Should have tried the naptha?) So...It's back to square one, or at best square two.
Charles :oops: :x
 
charlesellis":2aq5wfe5 said:
But I guess I got into too big of a hurry on the second one, and pulled off some paint. (Should have tried the naptha?) So...It's back to square one, or at best square two.
Charles :oops: :x
Click to expand...

The naptha is a solvent for the sticky stuff and not much else. I've used it over all kinds of painted surfaces, ink, vinyl window frames, and on and on. What the naptha actually does is turn the adhesive into a more liquid form. The naptha does not kill the adhesive, it just changes its consistency. The adhesive stuff is still sticky but you can remove the decal without doing any damage to the substrate. Once the decal is removed, you need to clean off the rest of the adhesive from the substrate.

The heat gun also changes the consistency of the adhesive, but usually getting the decal/stuck item hot enough to make the adhesive release also tends to screwup the stuck item and the substrate.

Rick (experience is making the same mistake a second time) Dulas
 
I'm thinking that the detergent type you've used my have played a part.
I've applied factory vinyl striping to my Dodge Charger. It's 3M tape with adhesive and a peal away backing. Should be the same.
In the directions I received they were spicific about using "Dreft baby detergent". A light spray was used of this and I was able to slide the decal where I wanted it. I then squegeed the liquid out starting from the center. I did this first for my Dodge back in '88 and the decals went on perfect and are still perfect. That trick has worked for me great ever since.
As for sticker removal, I use alot of heat from a hair drier and patience. Don't lift the sticker straight up but rather peal it back against itself.
A heat gun works but can lift the paint if your not carefull.
Mike.
 
I used the "hinged" method that George Willer provided us with. I used baby shampoo/soap in a spray bottle set on mist. If you put a little bit of the shampoo (just enought to suds up slightly) it works perfect when you squeegy it all out from under the sticker. As the others have said it give you some room to move the decal around before adhering to the surface. You also have to be really careful when pulling the tape from the decal surface. Be sure to peel or roll it bac against itself rather than pulling straight up. Heres what mine looked like after I got them done. Nothing spectacular but looked good :D :D :D

1011322_012.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top