How to Remove Decals & Bumper Stickers



How to Remove Decals & Bumper Stickers

Learning how to remove decals and bumper stickers from the exterior of your vehicle isn't all that hard to do. Let's start with a few simple tips and if those don't work, there's even more ways to tackle removing those decals and bumper stickers. The first tip starts with heading to the bathroom. Not to use it, silly. But to grab the hair dryer that almost every household accomodates. Now run the hair dryer w/ an extension cord out to the vehicle and slowly heat the decal or bumper sticker. Keep the hair dryer moving so you don't overheat the vehicle's finish. Using your finger, slowly peel back the bumper sticker or decal and it should peel right off with most of the glue attaching it. If some of the glue remains, take some 3M Scratch Remover and buff out the rest of the glue.
Now if that doesn't work, you can try a heavy rubbing compound, but you need to be careful that you don't buff through the paint or clearcoat of the car or truck in question. Easy does it and it should come off. If worse comes to worse and the decal or bumper sticker is stubborn, you may need to wet sand the area. At this point, you may want to let a body shop take over. You could damage your car or truck exterior if you don't do the job correctly. The last thing you want to do when removing decals and stickers is have to have an auto body shop do a spot paint job on your vehicle.

A few other things to try for removing decals and bumper stickers:

  • WD-40
  • Goo-Gone
  • Acetone - Use with extreme caution!