Hows th'Effen-eff-effen-eff-eff does ya git ole bumperstickers off?

[struggle4progress]

I had six on my car, all of which are way out of date and ought to be removed for various other reasons I won't enumerate

Got three off by saturating with acetone, rubbing a bit, and peeling

Got the next two off with boiling water then peeling

The last one was the cheapest one: it once said "reduce reuse recycle" but the words weathered away years ago and neither acetone nor boiling water has loosened the adhesive. Scraping breaks off half a square centimeter at a time: it'll take hours and hours at that rate

What the devil else should I try?

[BrklynLiberal]

1. A couple of possibilities.

http://www.ehow.com/how_13376_remove-bumper-stickers.html

http://www.essortment.com/hobbies/autocleaningre_sddd.htm

[struggle4progress]

7. Thanks. I'll try the WD-40 and alcohol, though I expect that

if acetone failed, alcohol probably won't work either

[IcyPeas]

39. another WD-40 supporter here. good luck

[Frank Cannon]

36. WD-40 and a razor blade have been my time-tested technique

I've never met a sticker that didn't submit.

[LeftyFingerPop]

2. Get a bottle of "Goof Off" at Home Depot or Lowe's...

Probably in the paint section...it will do the job. :hi:

[struggle4progress]

3. Yeah, I had a squirt bottle of that but when I went to get it

I found it had all evaporated in the five years since I last used it

Thanks

[Capn Sunshine]

24. what he said

stuff works great. I took a police emblem off my car with it. That's a long story. But that stuff works.

[rrneck]

25. Elwood? Is that you?

[BrklynLiberal]

37. ROTFLMAO!

Absolute CLASSIC!!

[S n o w b a l l]

4. Glue Be Gone

Is another one you can get at Home Depot.

[struggle4progress]

10. THanks. It looks like I have to go shopping. *sigh*

[Ptah]

5. Peanut butter.

[struggle4progress]

8. Dunno, Ptah. You'll have to convince me of the chemistry of that, before

I splatter Peter Pan all over my bumper

The adhesive is probably some sort of organic polymer that originally deforms to meet the surface and is held by surface forces. I need something that will penetrate the plastic coating, might perhaps soften the polymer by dissolving it slightly, and has a chance of changing the surface forces

Acetone was a first try because it is a small (hence penetrative) organic molecule and good general solvent. Hot water was a next try because the heat might soften the adhesive and because water is a small molecule, though I expect not a good solvent for a hydrophobic polymer. I tried mineral spirits without success, probably because the molecule is too large to penetrate the plastic coating; I think peanut oil is likely to fail for the same reason, though I guess a blistering hot vegetable oil might work, if it didn't melt the stinkin plastic bumper

How are the sunflowers doin? :)

[Ptah]

12. I think the oil in the peanut butter will soften the adhesive. If not then I apologize.

[struggle4progress]

14. Well, maybe I'll give vegetable oil a shot. If it doesn't work, you won't

owe me an apology, but if you're ever in central NC after you've stopping boycotting Tarheel country, you better let me buy you a beer

[Ptah]

15. I was in Ohio once.

[struggle4progress]

17. Lovely state. I once accidentally found the famous "feed materials plant"

from the early atomic era on a back road there

Preliminary report on vegetable oil: where I've scraped off the plastic coating and thinned the remaining adhesive, vegetable oil seems to remove the adhesive easily. But it doesn't seem to help where the sticker's plastic is still intact :shrug:

[Twillig]

19. Try a citrus degreaser/gum remover.

Try some lemon juice and elbow grease first.


But for removing the gummy residue of tape, chewing gum, etc. from surfaces nothing beats
a strong or even a not so strong d-limonene solvent.





http://www.floridachemical.com/whatisd-limonene.htm

[HipChick]

6. Ask a Palin/McCain supporter..

they should have had plenty of experience..:rofl:

[struggle4progress]

9. Around here, many of that persuasion are still proudly sporting their folly

[Kali]

11. wire brush

what? that's what I would use

[struggle4progress]

13. Modern plastic bumper. It'll look like absolute crap if I mar it.

I have been trying fine steel wool on the plastic coating of the sticker, with the idea that if I think it enough, solvent will penetrate and a stiff plastic spatula will scrape the rest off

[Kali]

16. oh god I was kidding!

I mean our vehicles look like they are cleaned with wire brushes, but it's just the dust, sun, and bushes.

Seriously get the goo gone stuff mentioned above - it works great.

[struggle4progress]

18. Can't see the twinkle in the eyes in an internet post

No harm, no foul

[MiddleFingerMom]

23. Kidding, my...um... ASS!!!!

.
A wire brush is Kali's answer to EVERYTHING.
.
.
.
.
.
Many's the day I've regretted confiding in her about hemmorhoids.
.
.
.
.
I mean "OWWIE."
.
.
.
.
.
.
And "ish".
.

[vixengrl]

20. Tried alcohol?

I find when I'm tanked I can go on at a tedious job for considerably longer....I mean, wait....

Try WD-40--the oil penetrates the bond, and then get a rag with super-hot water or a hot-enough rag with the back-up of a hot hair dryer, to *melt* the glue. (Or, try Vaseline and a hair dryer) You want a putty-knife to get under it and then really go to town. Then a rag with rubbing alcohol should get any of the remaining "sticky boogers" off.

I'd recommend finding bumper-sticker-sized magnetic stick-ons, so that you can put bumper stickers on something removable for future self-expression.

[struggle4progress]

26. LOL!

To remove an old bumpersticker, first pop open a cold frosty one :D

I haven't tried WD-40 yet: I think I'm out of it. I've tried several pots of boiling water, and that's not helping on this one. The sticker has a very tough very thin plastic coating and I can only get it to chip off in little bits. Getting residue adhesive off afterwards isn't the problem; all kinds of solvents seem to work for that

[Common Sense Party]

21. Dunno. I don't put them on in the first place.

Good luck.

[struggle4progress]

27. Well, where the hell were you with this good advice back in 2000?

:D

[Blue-Jay]

22. Pee on it three times a day for six months.

[struggle4progress]

28. That might help if my problem were that local fox were marking it

Also, I need the old bumpersticker off within the next week or so

[Blue-Jay]

33. In that case, some Goo Gone will take care of it in a few minutes.

And it smells like oranges, too.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

29. My dear struggle4progress...

Buy a new car?

:P

[struggle4progress]

30. I'm becoming obsessed now. This bumpersticker must come off.

I will not be able to eat or sleep until the bumper no longer sports this old raggedy-edged bleached-white strip of glued-on plastic

OK, you've hooked me. Suppose I buy a new car ...

How does that help me get the bumpersticker off?

:D

[CaliforniaPeggy]

31. It doesn't help...

But your new car won't have it!

Problem solved, lol!

:evilgrin:

[struggle4progress]

32. Maybe I could buy a new car, chain its bumper to the bumper of my old car,

and drive away quickly, ripping the bumper off the old car ...

No ... wait .. maybe I could buy a new car and drive it into the old car again and again until the old bumpersticker fell off ...

No ... wait ... maybe I could buy a new car, attach a floor polisher to it, and gently polish away the bumpersticker on the old car ...

No ... wait ... no ... wait ...

[murielm99]

34. Another solution, Peggy:

Back into something and get a whole new bumper. That's what I did.

[BoWanZi]

35. Heat gun/hair dryer? That should soften the sticker.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

38. Buy a new bumperstick....Cover the old one

That's my method. New campaign season. New Bumperstickers.

[dsn]

40. Here's how I would do it

Do NOT do this unless someone shows you how, but I've been shown how so...

I would, if you brought me your car, work on peeling up the corner of the bumper sticker until there was something I could grab onto. Then I'd fire up a MAPP torch and very quickly heat the bumper sticker until the glue softened enough to allow me to peel off the sticker. Blow dryers only slap at the problem; MAPP torches solve it.

In your case, if all else fails take the car to a sign shop that does vehicle wraps and give them five bucks to remove the sticker. It only takes a good wrap installer a couple minutes to remove a bumper sticker.

[struggle4progress]

41. For five of the six stickers, I could lift an edge and soft the adhesive with

solvent or heat, then peel. For this sticker, I can't get any edge to lift: I can only chip off shreds of sticker at the edges. So far I've chipped off about half the sticker trying to lift an edge to peel. The bumper is plastic, not metal, so I think I'll avoid even slightest use of a torch on it, since a goof with high heat is likely to melt plastic

[dsn]

42. The torch won't hurt plastic if you use it right...

The alternate means is chemical, of course; PPG makes a solvent used to prep cars for repainting that will remove anything. I THINK you can get it in a quart can, but it's about $50 a gallon. Maybe a body shop can get the thing off?

The alternative, of course, is to just soak the damn thing in diesel until it finally succumbs, then use rubbing alcohol to get the diesel off your car.

[Capn Sunshine]

43. in the future

put them on your window glass, low enough not to block your vision ( ticket) Then they come of with a single edge razor blade. :hi:

[struggle4progress]

45. maybe i should just cover all the windows completely with bumperstickers

and buy a bicycle

:D

[struggle4progress]

44. What I finally did: saturating the old sticker with mineral spirits softened

the top plastic layer enough to scrap it off in tiny shreds with a stiff plastic spatula, then gently buffing the remaining thick old adhesive layer with ultrafine steel wool saturated in rubbing alcohol removed the adhesive without damage to the enamel paint on the plastic bumper