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The easiest way that I have found to remove glue left behind after removing tape or a label is to use the tape or label and push it down on the glue and pull it off. You might also want to get a fresh piece of tape (duct tape?) to remove the old glue. It works very well and will remove ALL of the glue with NO residue. All it takes is patience and time. Actually it's MUCH faster than using a solvent to remove the goo (glue) and you don't have a mess to deal with.
Originally posted by boiler The easiest way that I have found to remove glue left behind after removing tape or a label is to use the tape or label and push it down on the glue and pull it off. You might also want to get a fresh piece of tape (duct tape?) to remove the old glue. It works very well and will remove ALL of the glue with NO residue. All it takes is patience and time. Actually it's MUCH faster than using a solvent to remove the goo (glue) and you don't have a mess to deal with.
Try it, you will like it,
Bob
Well, I just spent 2 1/2 hours removing my windshield tape. It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it might be. I also had two areas that had been sanded, just like Chazmo's. It finally dawned on me the reason for these areas: to remove dust specks in the paint. If these "high spots" aren't leveled before the tape is installed, there will be a bump in the tape. Any time a car is painted, you will wind up with minor dust specks in the paint and that's why we have sanded areas on some cars.
My 3M Swirl Mark Remover and some elbow grease took care of the minor problems in no time.
I spent most of my time removing the glue residue from the tape. This tape is unlike any other that I have encountered. I was unable to remove the glue with any type of tape (see above quote). I did use some waterless hand cleaner and again some elbow grease to remove the glue. I used Goo Gone VERY sparingly afterwards for final cleanup. I hate to use this stuff on paint. I also tried bug and tar remover and the hand cleaner worked the best for me. The way that I used the hand cleaner was by applying it to the glue entirely and then starting at one end and "rolling" it up with my fingers. Once it's treated, it just rolls up. It sticks to your hands, but it leaves no sticky residue behind.
HOT TIP: you can avoid this problem by doing this on a hot day (you could also use a hair dryer) AND by removing the tape very slowly. I thought by removing the tape fast I was saving time because the edges of it were coming off cleanly. Before when I was taking it off slowly the edges wanted to stick occasionally to the rubber molding/glue and it would tear off small pieces of the tape. Let it, it's much easier to remove the small pieces of tape than to remove the glue.
HOT TIP #2: Start at one side and work completely across the windshield frame. This will avoid having to peel the tape off at the bottom of the frame, on the other side, since the joint is overlapped at the top corner and both pieces just came off together as one.
Once the glue residue was removed, then it was time to remove the sanding marks, polish and wax the new paint. The 2 1/2 hours was from start to finish, including clean up. I didn't think that was too bad, considering that I had two spots that needed to be rubbed out.
Having said all of that, it looks great with the top down and different with it up. My car is red, a MY2001 that is a year old, in case you were wondering. Since I wanted to improve the looks of the car with the top down, I love it. My top stays down most of the time anyway.
Great to hear from all of you on your status. And, thanks for adding excellent info to the thread. It should be a good reference to folks considering this exercise. Actually, if it hadn't been for this board, I never would have known about the tape in the first place. Thank you fellow s2ki posters!
Bob, if you're right about your theory -- they sand these spots to smooth the surface (before taping) -- then that would speak directly against my guess that they put the tape on to hide blemishes that are already there. In a sense, I hope you're right; I don't think the guys in Tochigi would try to take the cheap way out.
Best wishes, guys. Glad to be of service, and I hope everyone who takes off the tape enjoys the look. By the way, jss, your Spa looks fabulous with the hardtop and solid yellow. Really slick!
