TMc993

I know this has been beaten to death but I just finished removing my guards and have a couple of hints for those contemplating this PITA DIY:

1. Before you start, go to your local hardware store and buy 2 or 3 cheap, 1" wide hard plastic putty knives. Then, go buy two or three bottles of common rubbing alcohol. Forget all the fancy chemicals with the clever names and high prices...Your total investment should be less than $5.00.

2. The putty knives have a beveled edge on them and once you heat the guard with a heat gun or hair dryer, it is easy to work the bevel under the edge of the guard and lift the film off the fender...And no, even though they are hard plastic, they are no more likely to scratch the paint than a credit card or other type of scraper.

3. Go slowly...Heat a small section and lift...Heat another small section and lift in half inch increments..Once you get the film lifted, turn the heat so it is blowing under the edge of the film, thus better heating the adhesive and the film...Heat and lift...Heat and lift.

4. I was left with a lot of adhesive to remove...I tried Goo Gone (Useless as teats on a boar hog) and a couple of other products with little effect. What is required is something that dissolves the adhesive...In desperation, I went in the house and picked up a bottle of rubbing alcohol. I poured it on the adhesive (No, it will not hurt the paint), then soaked a dish towel with it...I mean soaked as in dripping...Then starting from the top edge of the adhesive I began to lightly rub the adhesive, moving down toward the rocker panel as the adhesive let go. It will roll up into sticky little ***** that look like grits, so it is important to work down the fender and let the ***** roll off the car. In 10 minutes I had the fender completely clean.

I spent 3 hours using a credit card and heat and had only removed about 1/10 of one guard. After I got the putty knife method going, the total time on both guards was a little over 1 1/2 hours.

I spent another hour on the adhesive with Goo Gone, then about a half hour with some petroleum-based Turtle Wax remover and could have removed more adhesive by peeing on the fender...Total time for both sides with the alcohol method was about 25-30 minutes.

YRMV....

Terry

tfm

The stone gaurd job really can be tough, I think a lot of it depends on how long and under what conditions the film has been on the car. Parked in the sun for 12 years makes for a brutal removal process.

One really time saving hint to add to the above post. If your left over adhesive hasn't totally petrified find a auto paint supply store and ask for an adhesive eraser pad ( or do a search under 'pinstripe eraser pad'; it's like a big gummy eraser disk that will fit on an electric drill and rotate. They have "sell by dates" on them to insure they're still fresh. Body shops use them to take off adhesive under badges, weather stripping and so on. Cost, maybe $9. Time savings, has saved me hours.

1pcarnut

Never heard of that, thanks for the tip.

TAI2

Nice DIY instructions. Some time ago I replaced mine as well and basically followed the same steps, but I used "Opps!", which is really cheap and available at Pep Boys. The trick was to keep the area (newly exposed edge) saturated as you are pulling the guard off the car. I was able to pull it off with my hands and only had to use the plastic puttly knife to help scrape away the remaining adhesive.

Black993

I was doing mine late at night and could not get the adhesive off and everything around us was closed. Digging through the house to find something, I came across some peanut butter. It takes gum out of hair, why not adhesive off paint? Sure enough, smear it on and let it sit for a few, then it rubs right off. And hey, it smells great too

That said, I'll try alcohol next time

black ice

Those were great ideas. Fortunately someone else had to get mine off. Just got repaint and I can't put them back on for a few weeks while the paint cures. Do any of you drive without them at all and do you get lots of rock chips?

Dave

amfp

If stone guard area has ever been repainted...be extra careful as removing the old film can remove the paint. Especially if film was put on before repaint cured for about one month. If have a 95 use 96 to 98 precut guards as they are slightly wider.

2Many Cars

Goo Gone works fine but you have to let it soak and dissolve the adhesive. I used the heat and peel routine to get the old plastic off then soaked the remaining adhesive in Goo Gone, waited 5 minutes and then scraped it up with a credit card.