Projects you wished you had never started.......

File this one under projects I wish I had never started.

Had a nice warm day here yesterday in north Texas so I thought I'd get started removing the old cracked PPF film from the hood of the Tacoma.

Managed to get all the film off but still a ton of adhesive left behind. Decided to take it to my local body shop and let them deal with the rest of the removal. After they get the gunk off are going to polish the paint for me and it should look a ton better than the cracked film that was on there.

 

Wow, hope it works out. I guess it looks worse than it really is?

 

Yeah, it's just a bunch of leftover adhesive that I don't have the time or patience to work on. I'll post up an after photo when I get it back in a day or two.

 

That looks like some early generation 3M protection film. Had a similar failure on a new 370Z ten years ago.

 

I have a 1944 Gibson SJ that has finish checking like that...

 

I thought the cracking was in the paint.

I don't know what they plan on using for adhesive removal. Maybe a 3m product, goo off or isopropyl alcohol?

Sonax Perfect Finish with a yellow foam Rupes pad and a random orbital polisher will clean up a lot of swirls and scratches.

 

Been there, done that. Even once had the Leather Bra on my CRV. Big mistake!

That would definitely be the worse one I wish I hadn't started!

 

Sometimes it pays to let the pro's do it.
Your time is valuable... the older I get the more valuable my time is... every hour counts.!!

 

Exactly!

 

Isn’t there a special pad for just adhesive removal

 

I'm not aware of any random orbital polisher pads for adhesive removal. Pads and polishes for paint correcting heat up the clear coat surface and if the glue residue isn't removed beforehand you're just blending/melting all that into the clear coat and making a huge mess.

3M makes an eraser wheel, but that's more for bed decals and such. It's not meant for this type of application.

You need a chemical like Koch Chemie Eulex, 3m adhesive remover or a heat source with a plastic scraper.

https://theragcompany.com/products/...MIx7HwgbWVjAMVNlN_AB3G8RSxEAQYByABEgIIsfD_BwE

 

I had a leather bra on my Nissan and it ruined the paint learned my lesson .

 

I made sure I didn't buy a truck with all that paint protect crap on it. Like most port or dealer add ons, it can add up to thousands of dollars but I also don't want PPF, wheel locks, pin stripes, etc on my truck.
It took some shopping around, but i found a 'clean' truck, with exactly what I wanted, and more importantly, nothing I didn't want.
That being said, I have had plenty of home improvement projects that I dreaded while halfway through. But in the end, it's usually worth it.

 

The film was on the truck when I bought it used, probably been on there since 2016 given the condition of the film

 

Try Goo Gone, then wash and wax. I used this when I de-badged my truck.

 

I resprayed my bumper end caps on the weekend. Got to the last coat of clear, grabbed the can of base coat by accident and sprayed that over the clear. FML.

 

The adhesive was way too sticky for Goo Gone. Truck is with my body shop guy getting the film removed then he’s going to repaint the hood. Found some scratches after removing the film and a couple of rust spots on the edge from rock chips that hit where there was no film so just biting the bullet and getting it repainted. Should have the truck back tomorrow!

 

When I did this, Goo off worked perfect, I tried goo gone first with no results. But goo off took the adhesive right off with no issues

 

I tried Goof off as well with mixed results. In the end I wasn’t going to be happy with the time spent or the results so I took the easy way out and paid someone else!

 

Got the truck back today and it looks 100% better! It's a bit windy and dusty here today (again) and I need to wait a few days to wash it but I'm very happy with the results and glad I didn't have to wear my fingers off trying to get all the adhesive removed!