Peelin' Away

I couldn't wait to change the moving billboard trailer into a more stealthy version. I negotiated a good price on the trailer because the full vinyl wrap on it could be a real mess to fix. According to my cousin, Bret, it could be a big problem peeling off the vinyl. Possibly, it could take paint along with it if the paint is not a good job.

I was anxious to get out this morning and start the peeling process. The peeling went very well, especially when I started cutting the vinyl into smaller strips to pull off. It seemed like a 5 to 6 inch strip was the quickest way to pull it off. Here is a photo of cutting the vinyl into strips.

Once you make a small cut at the edge of the vinyl, you can pull the vinyl smooth and steady across the side. Too fast will tear off the vinyl or leave more glue behind on the paint. Slow is better. It was easy to go slow with this vinyl, as both the glue and the vinyl are tough customers. Here I am putting my weight into pulling the stip off, and barely able to get it to move.

After pulling off all the vinyl, the driver side had a lot of glue left.

Fortunately, my cousin (Bret) is a distributor of vinyl sign supplies and equipment, and he sent me a quart of adhesive remover. If you ever have to remove any bumper stickers ("Obama/Biden" 2008 comes to mind) you should get some of this stuff. It still wasn't quite as easy as the label suggested, but much better than any of the other solvents I have tried through the years.

After spending several hours peeling and then a few more removing the adhesive, the trailer is looking pretty good, jus a few more spots to remove adhesive tomorrow, and I can start with building the bed.