Texbuckeye

Hey guys,
I want to remove my stone guard around the fender wells. I have read the threads and spoken to a couple of body shops. They say that removing mine may destroy the paint underneath because of the cracked and hardened condition.

Has any body painted them with SEM Chip guard? I have the 928 Forum extremely helpful and hope this one is as helpful.

Any advice is appreciated as I am unsure what is the best way to proceed. Thanks.

Texbuckeye

Wow, I thought you guys could provide some useful wisdom on solutions to fix this problem. 50 views and no help at all?

Butters944

:/ sorry. I've never heard of anybody having paint problems when removing them... Surely if any damage it'd be easily buffed out?

mclarenno9

Well I'm no body shop guy but I removed mine with no issues. They looked just like that. Take your time, use a heat gun on a low setting and you should be fine.

951Saga

Hello Brad,

In the grand scheme of things 50 views isn't that many.

Mine are due to be replaced also... plan to use a heat gun with plastic scraper/ putty knife to remove followed by 3M General Purpose Adhesive Cleaner for clean-up. I will replace with the OE guards or see if Van will cut a set.

G'day,
Jason

Texbuckeye

Thanks guys, The body shop said that they could be bonded to the paint and that I had to be prepared to paint if I wanted them off. I guess they don't want the responsibility on them. After thinking about it and looking at posts on other boards it appears to me that you can safely remove them if you take your time. This car was just bought to be my step son's daily driver when he gets licensed next summer. We are formulating a plan to upgrade it and I wanted to know if the body shop was ignorant about it. I think they are. Who is Van? Try not to be too brutal about asking that. I am new to this board. Over on the 928 board the go to guy for parts is Roger and occasionally someone will say who is Roger and get blasted.

ditch68

Van is Van Svenson, he has a side operation making vinyl graphics, and is a super nice guy and does fantastic work. Just search for his username (Van) and PM him.

I just took my stone guards off as well, they looked as bad as yours or worse...I used a hair dryer, WD40, and a plastic scraper and a lot of patience and they came off eventually with no underlying paint damage.

Good luck, and welcome!

jeff

flashx

You can use an eraser wheel used to remove pinstripe tape. They sell just the wheel that you can use on a drill. It looks like a big round eraser. Using this method saves alot of time and it wont hurt your paint. That one that you show in the picture can be removed in about two minutes.

BryO

I used a heat gun and then the 3m. Paint was was ruff, buffing help but you can tell a difference.

bordin34

I used a heat gun and plastic paint scrapers. It will take a couple scrapers, once they get dull you need a new one. Mine looked just like yours and I had no paint damage. However, one of my fenders had been repainted and I did not remove that one.

Texbuckeye

I googled eraser wheel and that certainly looks like the way to do it. Anybody know which one works the best?

Lizard944

I didn't have a heatgun, so I just used my 500 watt halogen worklight. Put it about one foot away. Wait a couple of minutes then scrape with a plastic putty knife. Move the light as needed. Worked great and the underlying paint looked brand new. I also cleaned it up with 3M Wax and Adhesive remover.

Crackership

I'd be hesitant to use an eraser wheel... Maybe I'm just a wuss, but it makes me squeamish.

On this topic though, has anyone just run without the rock guards? Are they really necessary?

morghen

heatgun and no metal tools....and a **** load of luck.

ditch68

Due to the angle that those parts of the fenders are in relationship to the wheels (lips of the wheel arches especially) those areas will indeed have paint damage from tiny rocks and sand blasted on there by the tires over time, almost like coarse sandblasting.

Having said that, I never replaced mine after removal.

Jeff