Paint Protector Film Removal: Doors

[TowMeOut]

My '06 Sport has about a 3" wide strip of some kind of film along the bottom of all the doors. It has long since deteriorated to the point of being a web of cracks and lines. I watched a bunch of youtube videos on removing this sort of stuff on motorhomes and the like. I've tried a heat gun and plastic scraper with mixed results. The old top film just came off in tiny chunks.

At this point I think what's left is mostly adhesive. What products/techniques has anyone used to remove the rest of this nasty stuff? I've been using goo-gone adhesive remover with poor results. I'll hit it with a pressure washer too. Any other recommendations on getting this junk off the plastic trim?

This truck hasn't seen wax more than once or twice since I've owned it. Both sides are more trail striping than anything else. I wouldn't care if it were just the cracked tape but now mud sticks to the old adhesive and leaves a brown strip along the bottom of each door. Hopefully if nothing else I can at lease neutralize the adhesive so the gunk stops sticking.

 

[Johns06yota]

My '06 Sport has about a 3" wide strip of some kind of film along the bottom of all the doors. It has long since deteriorated to the point of being a web of cracks and lines. I watched a bunch of youtube videos on removing this sort of stuff on motorhomes and the like. I've tried a heat gun and plastic scraper with mixed results. The old top film just came off in tiny chunks.

At this point I think what's left is mostly adhesive. What products/techniques has anyone used to remove the rest of this nasty stuff? I've been using goo-gone adhesive remover with poor results. I'll hit it with a pressure washer too. Any other recommendations on getting this junk off the plastic trim?

This truck hasn't seen wax more than once or twice since I've owned it. Both sides are more trail striping than anything else. I wouldn't care if it were just the cracked tape but now mud sticks to the old adhesive and leaves a brown strip along the bottom of each door. Hopefully if nothing else I can at lease neutralize the adhesive so the gunk stops sticking.

Ive seen on some videos people will use a 3m eraser wheel. It attaches to your drill and at low rpms will remove adhesive on cars. Things such as emblem adhesive things like that. Im not sure how well it would work for you but its worth a try.

 

[SC_4RunnerSC]

Mineral spirits Or acetone. Those have both worked great for me. I would try mineral spirits first.

 

[Bluesky 07]

Ive seen on some videos people will use a 3m eraser wheel. It attaches to your drill and at low rpms will remove adhesive on cars. Things such as emblem adhesive things like that. Im not sure how well it would work for you but its worth a try.

These work but be very careful. I used one on the residual adhesive after removing my vent visors and stripped the black trim paint here and there. Just a shade too much pressure or the wrong angle and you’re looking at missing paint. It’s also very hard to get every trace of what you’re removing unless it’s something tiny like pinstripes.

 

[ran]

I used Goo-Gone when I badged the rear. About 2 yrs old at that time.
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2007 SE V6

 

[TowMeOut]

I've tried Goo Gone in the past for all kinds of stickers and adhesive residue and it worked great. This stuff is pretty tenacious though. I'm gonna keep trying and loosen up and remove all the top layer, leaving nothing but basic adhesive. Then I can try the gel version and a bit more scraping.

The one YouTube video I found on the subject of the eraser wheels said absolutely don't use it on plastic components. The door bottom panel is just a plastic trim piece so that's kind of a no-go.

Acetone?? Really?? Seems like that would both remove the paint and seriously melt the underlying plastic. Maybe a quick wipe to remove a bit of minor residue but if I go slathering that on the trim I believe it will dissolve way more than adhesive.

 

[TowMeOut]

Ok,

So I picked up some Goo Gone Gel last night along with a 2" wide plastic putty knife. I had high hopes that just a bit of scraping, some Goo Gone, and a bit of blasting with the pressure washer would do the trick. Well, not so much.

Here's the "Before" shot:

Then after a bunch of spraying with the Goo Gone, scraping with the putty knife, and finally more scraping with a Scotch Brite "Dobie" pad. You can kind of see the work in progress.

The finished product on the back door near the fender:

And....my "tools":

I've probably got an hour invested in doing that back door and half the front. At this rate I'll have a good 3 or 4 hours total just getting this crap off. The first photo looks "good" actually because that's after soaking overnight with Goof Off and hitting with the pressure washer. What was there before was kind of a doo-doo brown strip because the mud just stuck like glue (literally) to the exposed adhesive.

The top layer comes off in little flakes, even though it's over 80F outside. I tried some work with the heat gun last night. Since the top layer of film already pulled off the heat just makes this other layer and the adhesive get gummy and sticky but doesn't really come loose. I did get one spot too hot and it jacked up the paint a bit. The rest of my truck has plenty of trail striping and never sees wax but this skidmark along the bottom of the truck just really was bugging me. I've got a lot of work left but it will be much better in the end.

 

[Terminator03]

Not sure if it would help, because I recently learned of their existence and ordered some. Plastic razor blades. I bought a set of 100, with a scraper handle for like $8, or something. I think I got them on eBay, or maybe Amazon. I haven’t tried them yet, but they were designed for exactly this type of job where a steel razor could gouge and damage the paint. They are way harder, and sharper than what you are using so it might be worth a shot. I was struggling with a similar task, and research led me to the plastic razors. You will still need the solvent to loosen the glue obviously, but these will help get all the goo scraped clean at least.