Dash01

Over the years there have been a slew of Stone Guard removal posts, and in my experience on an '96 951, none worked very well. These include heat gun*, hair dryer, eraser wheel*, Goo Gone, 3M adhesive remover, fingernail polish remover, credit card or plastic putty knife scraper, etc..

Here's another tool, which I just bought and tried, and which worked better for me than any above:

"Hot Blade Decal Remover" tool, Harbor Freight item #65057, ~$8.

This is essentially a 110V soldering pen with tip that holds and uses an ordinary single-edge razor blade. Slip razor blade into the fitting, plug into wall socket, blade gets hot, angle it ~30 degrees to Stone Guard surface, apply gentle pressure, and hot blade slips under and peels off crappy Stone Guard. Leaves a bit of adhesive residue, most of which can be scraped off in a second pass.

I'm not done yet, and hope that one of the solvents will help remove the adhesive residue, which was protected and buffered by the now gone Stone Guard film. Stay tuned.


*Heat gun and eraser wheel mostly just melted the old Stone Guard, which of course then hardened and stuck even better to the substrate, and/or left even tougher residue. Too much heat made too much mess, and probably didn't do the paint any good, either.

PS: No more Stone Guard for my car--not that good, not that much protection, way too expensive, and as well all sadly know, too hard to remove. Better to use SEM ChipGuard spray on urethane, much less expensive @ ~$18-20/can, better coverage and protection, clear or black, comes off with solvent.

Scott H

That SEM ChipGuard stuff looks really cool. And I've passed that decal remover a thousand times at Harbor Freight but never picked it up. I was going to use the heatgun and fishing line method (worked great to get the side moldings off my C5) then clean it up with 3M Adhesive Remover but I will use any excuse to buy a new tool.

And I agree the factory stone guards are way too expensive for what they do. There was an aftermarket company that had all 6 for a more reasonable (kind of) $80ish I think but I can't recall the site.

Dash01

For one thing, the factory Stone Guard or the cheapo eBay versions simply don't cover enough surface to give adequate protection from rock chipping and sandblasting--just look at the areas near the Stone Guard on your car, and see all the sandblasting that was not prevented.

Spray-on SEM Chipguard or similar is way better. I did the leading edges of a BMW 535i hood and front fenders, headlight lenses, fog lights, grill, rocker panels, wheel arches, etc. (in other words, every place that had suffered sandblasting for ~250K miles) with one can, and had enough left over for a couple extra small projects like motorcycle headlight lens, for ~$18. Years later, still looks good and works.

Had I used a Stone Guard type of film in a kit, it would have covered a lot less car, for a lot more money.

BTW, the rocker panels of my 951 got factory sprayed-on urethane like SEM Chipguard, and that stuff is still good, decades after the Stone Guard film crapped out.

racerxrick

I worked till my finger strength was gone for several evenings until I removed mine...maybe four hours total. Looks SO much better now!

Not sure if I'd trust myself to use a razor blade though. Too much risk for user error!

Richgreenster

It is on my list of things that need to be done on my car. 4 hrs motivates me. COL (cry out loud.)

TonyG

This is the stuff to use:

3M 08984 Adhesive Remover

http://www.autobodytoolmart.com/4153...4-p-10946.aspx

Wipe on with a clean white terry cloth rag. Let sit for a minute. Then repeat. Repeat about 5-6 times to really soften up the protective strips.

Then use a plastic paint scraper to scrape off the adhesive. It will come off like a messy snot.

Wipe off snot onto 2nd rag.

Repeat process until it's all gone.

It helps to warm up the material to be removed a little first (not hot... just warm if it's cold out side).


Also note that the 3M adhesive remover won't hurt paint, plastic or vinyl and is great at removing all the black rubber marks off the front and sides of the car after a track event :-) but you need to make sure the car is clean before you use it to wipe off anything from a painted surface.


TonyG






TonyG

Dash01

Your razor blade concern is well-founded: Today in better light I noticed some nicks I'd made with the razor blade. Key here is to hold the blade at shallow angle, not more than ~30-35 degrees angle off the car skin. It might be better to use a dull razor blade, which being thin and metal, would bend and conduct the heat from the tool, but being dull would not cut or nick the paint. Go slow!

I just tried again using 3M adhesive remover on the residue of the Stone Guard, with no luck whatever. Same story with Goo Gone.

What adhesive removers work best?

TonyG

Which 3M Adhesive remover did you use?

TonyG

Dash01

3M General Purpose Adhesive Remover #08984 red and white 1 quart can with skinny nylon spout

Utterly worthless on Stone Guard adhesive. Ditto for nail polish remover, rubbing alcohol, and naptha, all of which I just tried about 20 minutes ago.

So, what does work?

TonyG

That's exactly what I've used to remove all of the stone guards from all the 944 turbos I've owned and all of the adhesive from the thick motorcycle graphics.

How are you applying it? You have to let it sit, then reapply another coat, and repeat several times for it to soften up the adhesive. (along with a little heat)

That's how it worked for me. Came off like snot with a plastic paint scraper.


TonyG

samluke

I have done it a number of times with different methods. The last time I borrowed a decal removal tool from a friend who owns a bodyshop. It's essentially a 4" or so diameter eraser that's spun by an air tool. It rubs the decal and the glue off. I was skeptical but it was absolutely fantastic. As long as you don't hold in one place it does no damage to the paint. The glue ***** up and has to be finally cleaned with the 3M adhesive removal fluid, but it makes removal much simpler.

Tedro951

I'm with Richard. Eraser wheel. All off within an hour. Keep it moving and chase the puddle of goo right off the panel. The small residue left will come off with the 3M stuff.

I tried all of the chemicals, short of stripper.

tritone75

i have been putting this off forever.....im SO not motivated!

brrgrr

I've done 3 cars.
I use a heat gun and cheap plastic scrapers 1 1/2" wide. Follow that up with using "Goof-off" which dissolves the remaining adhesive. Takes about 1-2 hours for the entire car. Had to use about 4 scrapers as the heat will deform them and dull the edge - but at 29 cents each it works well and doesn't scratch the paint.

Scott H

This is the key. When I was removing the moldings from my C5 I had to shut the garage door and bust out the space heater. When it was 40 degrees in the garage it wouldn't work for crap. It's really got to be above like 70 degrees for it to work really good.

And if you have just a tiny bit of adhesive on there, maybe try a claybar? I have seen them work magic like that before.