I've owned this 4runner for about 2 years now and did nothing to it. Bought it from the dealer as a one owner dealership serviced vehicle and has the rare 4th gen 3rd row seat! I gotta say, this thing has been reliable as I remember my old Toyota trucks and am happy I went with it.

With its age and still lower mileage, I decided to keep it around as a perfect vehicle to play around with (toytec lift on the way). It's a v6 sr5, with chrome trim and a damn factory pin stripe. It's reliable but kinda ugly. So I started with changing all that.

I ordered the color match handles, front grill, and rear handle cover. Went on easy and looks great! The pin stripe removal, not so much. I for whatever reason assumed it was a sticker type stripe... wrong. Once I realized it was painted, I started looking around...

I saw posts for lacquer thinner and stove cleaner to remove the stripes, so I gave it a try. Keep in mind the thing has it scratches and fading due to its age and is far from perfect, so if i messed it up I have little to lose.

Anyhow, I'm not sure if its age or if this was the strongest pin stripe known to man, but it took all day and a lot of elbow grease to get off. I am happier with what the outcome is as well as there are no gouges our anything, but in some spots you can tell where I had to rub a little more and in other spots you can see where the underlying paint was protected from sun wear.

I have 1d4 silver and am hoping a light spray of color match paint will finish the job. I'd rather not go a full on repaint route as I know more trail riding and scratches will come, just want to keep it half decent.

Any suggestions or questions on how I accomplished this, by all means. Thanks!

In the future 3M makes a wheel you put on a drill to remove decals and pinstripes. You do have to be very careful using it on plastics (bumpers, trim, etc.) but it makes the job very efficient. Not sure how it would do on painted pin stripes but worth a shot.

In regard to what to do now. Do not spray paint anything. You cannot blend single stage spray bombs with your existing basecoat/clearcoat. Your best bet is to get a polishing compound on a DA polisher and buff out the scratches. If you don't have a DA you can get kits for your drill on amazon that work really well. I got a 3" kit with a ton of pieces for like 15 bucks. I used it to get all the gelcoat on my boat back to shiny.

There really isn't anything you can do about the UV fade. The best bet is to polish the entire car so the clear coat is all the best it can be. Coat it with wax after to protect it.

Yup, I actually tried that first because I assumed they were decals. Unfortunately, it had no affect on the painted stripes