How do you remove body wrap?

[ferret76]

G'Day All,

My father has a traveller that has been covered in some sort of vinyl body wrap. It was used in a Barclays Bank promo video a couple of years ago and the wrap is the Barclays' blue, whatever that is. Underneath it appears to be almond green. There are inevitably some body work issues going on underneath the wrap as the vehicle has spent most of it's lfe in the UK. We want to get the wrap off to address these. He's tried brute force but is finding the wrap will only yield up little tiny bits before tearing, at this rate it'll take a year to get it off. Any clues for methods to speed this up?

Below is a link to the video, not sure if it will work:

https://vimeo.com/83306108

[Boomlander]

I would imagine a hot air gun would be used to soften the vinyl and allow it to be peeled off in larger sections.

[palacebear]

If you google search 'removing car body wrap' there are quite a few videos and blogs on the subject. Seems some makes are easier than others to get off. Hot air gun seems to be the favoured method.

[olderisbetter]

I helped remove a wrap from a mini charity event car, It was better with heat guns and left out in the sun, But as the paint underneath was not great it pulled away some areas, Anyway it is a great looking traveller with a bit of history.

[StillGotMy1stCar]

I had to remove window tint from my car because it had been on for years and had gone wrinkly.
OK not the same as wrap but again hot day and added hot air helped. It still pulled off some of the heated rear window elements even with me pulling the film flat against the surface.
It left a sticky mess on the windows, the only thing I found that would remove it was "Easy Start" or as you'd know it "Start Ya Bas***d".
It might stain woodwork though as it contains upper cylinder lubricant.
Good luck.
Regards John.

[Budgie]

My mate wraps vehicles for a living and when he needs to remove them to renew he uses a hot air gun . He waves it over the wrap taking care not to get the area too hot and off it comes.

[edd_barker]

If UV has broken down the film then you are in for a miserable job, as it will continue to break up. I have done this exact task!

As suggested, heat is your friend, this softens the adhesive and makes the vinyl more flexible, so easier to remove in large pieces.

Make sure you pull it off SLOWLY, pulling fast will leave the adhesive behind. You will know this has happened because where you once had vinyl, you will later have dirt that has stuck to the glue, and getting this off is even worse! You can buy products to remove adhesive/sap/tar from car paint off of Fleabay, get a 5L tin as I imagine you will need it. Then use a plastic scraper and be generous with the solvent, let it do the work not you! You will soften the glue, scrape it into a little pile, lift off with scraper and remove with paper towel. Horrible job, I have done an entire removals van so Moggie Thou' be much easier!

Plenty of heat, go slow with the peeling. Good luck! Try and rope in a helper, one to heat the other to peel and you will be more than twice as fast.

Edd