Best way to remove old multilayer paint?

I flooded it real good with the hose. Good thing about Kleen Strip is that water neutralizes it.

You got that right! When I was scraping and blowing off the excess with the air hose, every once in a while a small piece would get on my arm [I should have worn long sleeves] and burn like hell! That stuff is nasty, would be real easy to get a chem burn fast!

I used a primer-sealer to start with, now I am going to use a high solids buildup filler primer and sand it with 400 grit. Here's a link to the company I got my from, they sell on eBay. http://www.paintforcars.com/

 

Problem with vinyl stripes is that they're waterproof and thus solvent proof.

Old decals get brittle and rarely come off easy.

Try to park the car in the sun and warm it up (nice if you have a dark car) and use a hot air gun slowly to make the decal warm and soften the adhesive backing so it peels off easier. Your fingernail is the best tool to start peeling. Maybe a flat, yellow plastic 1" scraper (sharpen it on a bench grinder or smooth cement floor). Don't pull the graphic AWAY from the car (tears easy), best to keep it laid flat, pulling backwards, at a slight angle.

Last resort if you're already painting is a flat razor blade since it'll likely gouge the paint.

WD40 or something with xylene to remove the sticky adhesive (Goof Off, Goo Gone, etc) but use gloves. Alcohol removes the sticky, snot like residue of softened adhesive.

Either way, it's tedious and messy.

 

Uh, whisky, I don't want to rain on your parade, but the stripper made those old dry, cracked vinyl stripes melt like paint. They peeled right off. I stripped it down to bare metal. You are right on most vinyl striping on how to get it off. I wasn't worried about the paint,as it had to come off anyway.

 

heh... I went a little off topic.... since I usually have to remove them and SAVE the underlying paint.

Saves major elbow grease by just stripping everything, eh?

 

Takes me back to when we stripped my shell. Gotta love stripper on the inside of the bicep. Damn that burns. My buddy gave me the strangest look when I started spitting on my arm. I panicked but it worked.