What type of decals? Foil, water transfer, rub down, vinyl.
For traditional gum back decals a product called "Bestine" works quite well. It's marketed as a rubber cement thinner but it basically re-activates adhesive so you can pull up a decal and reposition. It's quite good for remove old adhesive and decals as well. Be sure to wear some glove and a mask as the stuff is toxic. Also, letraset made a spring loaded burnishing tool that can be used to "scrape" at the decal. Some older graphic supply stores still carry them. Lastly, patience works very well, get some fine tweezers and slowly begin to pull up the decal. As you do, take some WD-40 with the straw and continuously spray where the adhesive meets the frame. GO SLOW!!!
If they are waterslide or rubdown, there is a good chance there is a layer of clear coat which you can either carefully cut around with a very sharp xacto, but using "pro edge" blades, not the xacto ones. This is really tricky though and not recommended if you are not comfortable with an xacto. The other way is to light sand the surface above the decal. Either way, you will have to apply new clear coat in it's place.
Sean Flores SF, CA
On Wed, Aug 12, 2009 at 10:36 AM,
<classicrendezvous-request@bikelist.org> wrote:
> Message: 9
> Date: Wed, 12 Aug 2009 09:43:35 -0700
> From: charles hughes <charles.hughes1@yahoo.com>
> Subject: [CR] help with transfer ( deacl) removal without paint damage
> To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
> Message-ID: <19764.63183.qm@web45603.mail.sp1.yahoo.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>
> I ?m looking for an easy (simpler) way to remove decals (transfers) without damaging the paint below. I received help with this question before but I?m hoping someone has figured out a new strategy. I?ve tried soaking with citrus-based cleaner, WD 40; I?ve even gotten a tiny bottle of decal remover for model planes and trains. Nothing seems to work well. ?Does anyone have a better suggestion? Chuck Hughes Westwood Ma