how to remove 17-year-old pinstripes.....

[TheMagi]

I just finished removing the red pinstripes on my '87. Let me tell ya a method that worked for me. I sprayed them down with ALOT of bug-n-tar remover, and took a (brand new) razor blade and very carefully lifted them off. You've got to be really careful, or you will lift the clear coat or even paint right up as well. If you use NEW blades, one every ten feet or so, and are steady in the hand, it can be done. All this was after trying every other imaginable method...mine were pretty much WELDED to the car!

[Nate2310]

I used a heat gun and a PLASTIC razor blade that I got from napa

[HondaBoy]

the body shops i've been to either have to sand them off because of being clear coated or something like that, then have to reclear the paint. that's what they did on my '02 accord. wish the original stripes were on because they were hand done and clear coated. the new ones are like stick on kind or something.

[DNMPro]

Lots of times, if they're not clear coated, or if they're tape or adhesive molding residue, shops will use a rotary spinning tool (sorry, can't remember the exact name!), but, that is like an oversized Dremel, with an 'eraser' wheel attatched. Its just a huge eraser, and remember in grade school, when you rub it really hard til it smoked and that acrid smell came up? Basically the same thing but it spins at something like 25000 rpms, and rubs everything away, and then run over the area with some light cut compound and then hand glaze it. Its a really nifty party trick! I borrored my dad's one time to take the stripes off a buddys car, and just buzzed down the entire side of his car in a couple minutes. I don't know who would paint, then stripe, then clear coat, never hear of that happen much.

[Mike89Accordcom]

I used my fingers when I took mine off my Accord years ago. Then it got painted, and away the lines went.

[k-roy]

DNMPro did you mean a Buffer?

A buffer and rubbing compund take those stripes right off. Be careful, its easy to fuckup paint that way.

[Mattphi]

This is what we did on my friends 89 Porsche 944...take a hairdryer and heat it up then take a spatula and scrape it off...then there is gonna be some glue like stuff there, take "goo-gone" or "goof-off" and put it on a rag and wipe it away...it only took like 5-10 min for one fender

[Moodybluesr]

Why would anyone want to remove pinstripes?