As Wayne helpfully points out, decals and adhesive-backed stickers are two different things. I've removed decals from frames with solvents as innocuous as Isopropyl, but stickers can really put up a fight. One thing that sometimes helps is heating the sticker with a hairdryer. This softens the adhesive and makes the sticker itself more flexible. If you're lucky, you can carefully get good sized section lifted and then grab hold and slowly pull the whole sticker off. Aim the hairdryer at the leading edge of the separation and go really slow. Things go wrong when you pull too hard and the sticker breaks from the tension. It's a situation that reminds me of playing with Silly Putty (huh?). Sticker adhesives seem to be willing to give at low shear rates, but pull too fast and it gets stiff and won't budge. Of course I'm probably reading too much into it and the rheology of sticker glue is likely not as significant as the strength of the sticker itself.
Tom Dalton
> I still think of "decals" as water (or
> varnish)-transfer type, I guess that
> comes from my model car and airplane building days
> as a kid. Most later
> bike transfers are what are commonly referred to as
> "stickers", or
> adhesive-backed vinyl, mylar or something similar.
> Removing the two types
> can be a very different process. I'm an admitted
> sticker-freak, have
> drawers full of 'em, and constantly apply and remove
> them from all kinds of
> things (I even staring at a Peugoet-badged monitor
> right now). That off my
> chest, Mark's Vitus most probably has "stickers".
> With most stickers, if
> you can't pull them off you still have to at least
> pry up the edge in order
> to get solvent behind the sticker. A solvent strong
> enough to actually
> dissolve the sticker would probable be damaging to
> the paint or other
> things. The key is to dissolve or soften the
> adhesive that holds the
> sticker. There are two solvents that I've had
> success with. A product call
> "Goof-Off", available at most home supply stores,
> will work, but it's pretty
> strong so should be carefully tested first. Another
> product called
> "Bestine", which is actually rubber cement thinner
> and available at art
> supply stores, also works well. Bestine is not as
> strong, evaporates
> rapidly and is pretty safe around paint, plastic and
> aluminum. Using an
> Xacto knife, pry up an edge or corner of the
> sticker, being careful not to
> catch the paint. Using flat-bladed needle nose
> pliers, grab the sticker.
> Now, with a small paint brush, flood the area with
> solvent as you gently
> pull the sticker with the pliers. You have to
> continually apply more
> solvent as the sticker pulls away. The pliers part
> is pretty tricky because
> most older stickers are brittle so they split, crack
> and break easily. I
> sometimes use the flat of the Xacto blade and my
> thumb to grab the sticker.
> It takes a lot of patience, but works pretty well.
>
> Wayne "Sticker Art" Bingham
> Falls Church, VA
> _______________________________________________
> Classicrendezvous mailing list
> Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
>
http://www.bikelist.org/
__________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Great stuff seeking new owners in Yahoo! Auctions! http://auctions.yahoo.com