Hey all,
I'd really like to pull the graphics off of the side of a B4000. I'm pretty sure it will come off w/a heat gun, but I'm afraid that the paint underneath will not have faded the same as the rest of the truck.
Short of repainting does anyone have any ideas? Can I use a buffing compound or something to even out the colors or should I just take it to a body/paint shop. Thanks

Chris

Depends on how old the paint is and how well it was taken care of. You can get them off with a heat gun and slow pulling, but don't overheat it and bubble the paint. A good buffing will usually restore the area under the decal to match the exterior, providing the rest of the paint was taken care of, worst case is you'll have to take it to a body shop anyway. I've successfully taken pin stripes off a car that was 5-6 years old and it didn't show after buffing it. Make sure the decal is on top of the paint and not under the top coat too, you can tell by looking closely at the edges.

i took the stripes and "mazda" from the tail gate off of my 94 and it had no noticable fading at all. all together the stripes were on a blue original paint for about 5 years ant i think it was waxed about once a year before i owned it. you can see the outline of the mazda on the tailgate only under certain light and is getting harder to notice after every wax job. as far as a heat gun goes i just used a hair dryer and even then some of the adhesive was left and that stuff isnt easy to get off .
later,
mike

Yes, at this point im thinkin that a body shop may be my best bet. The problem is that its not just the pin striping, i mean the whole honeycomb/wafling thingy down the doors and on the bed.
I think that if I remove that, I'll have the same shape but a diff color paint- Closer to the orig. The paint on this truck is in good shape, but proly not been waxed like it was supposed to have been. I'll keep you all posted.

Chris


ps heres a pic of the truck that im buying:

http://images.autotrader.com/743/449/74344926_000009_240x180.jpg

That looks like a nice truck!! :nuts: Someone took great care of it! Although, you'll have to give us more than that small pic after you buy it 'cause it hurts my eyes to try to focus on all the details! :E

Originally posted by Highwayman
'cause it hurts my eyes to try to focus on all the details! :E

hahaha! And you say I got the old eyes!

Nice truck futrdreams, being it's a mid range color like that, it might not show too much. The darker the color, the more likely it is to show. You might try a little section and see how it does before taking it to a shop, it could save you a few bucks unless you're planning on painting it anyway.

:E Yes thats a pretty bad pic of a verry nice truck. Esp. for a pic of a truck the guy was trying to sell. It looks even better in person, not a dent in it, and havent seen a scratch yet either. As soon as I get things right w/ the bank she'll be mine!!!
Zoom- I think i am going to try to pull a small piece off first. I really wasnt thinking of getting the truck repainted, I just thought the bodyshop might be able make the paint match a little better.
Highwayman- Thanks!!!

Chris

:edited for speeling: :E

My truck is the same color with the same graphics and I pulled off the MAZDA decal on the back because it had a chunk of the D missing and now I have a darker MAZDA faded into the paint.