Posted by Carol on January 02, 2003
Joe CrumleyNo. I'm not going to do it. I have learned a few things along the way. But I have a good client who bought a used van with a lot of lettering in paint on it. He wants to remove what is there and replace with their logo and lettering. The previous owner did mention Easy Off and represented it as a piece 'o cake. Wellllllllll, NOT.
Does anyone have any suggestions for my client? I already suggested that he 1) see a detailer - he did, they won't, 2) repaint - he still might.
Thanks,
Carol
Danny BaronianCarol,
I have sucessfully used EASY OFF to remove hand lettering from truck doors for years. No failures yet. Sound crazy but it works.
Factory automotive paints are catalized and much harder than lettering enamels. If the sign artists has abraded the auto finish first, which he should, the lettering enamel will be a little harder to remove.
I allways inform the client of the risk involved, but the other option is a costly repaint job. Why not try to save him the expence by trying the removal.
Here is the way I go about it.
Spray a generous amount of Easy Off directly on the truck door. (This is a time and temp. issue.) Usually you can start removal in about 5 to 10 minutes.
I take several folded paper towels, apply a couple of table spoons of Bonami, and saturate with Windex. You now have a compound of Windex, Bonami in your hand. Use rubber gloves. Gently remove lettering. Let the Easy Off do the removal not the Bonami. I have even used Ajax.
After all of the lettering has been removed, you will have a mottled glossy and hazed area. Now comes the buffing. If you don't have the equipment or skills for buffing, any auto body garage can give it shine for you.
We use use Final Glaze, The door usually looks better than new. I remove lettering on both doors and re-buff in about 45 minutes.
A used truck, which this is, may have been repainted with cheap paint and could be a problem.
Do not to use any thinners. No lacquer thinner, no enamel thinner. This may attack the original coat and prevent buffing.
Sure would like to hear from others on this topic.
Joe
Only to not offer any suggestions other than repainting. That's as long as you don't want the client to become an ex-client.
If the detailer turned it down, repaint. The detailer must have had a good reason since they can usually improve the look of a vehicle.
Look around. How many vehicles have you seen with graphics removed, only to be the proud owner of a vehicle with a 'ghost' sign?
You could suggest they use a good grade auto rubbing compound - which a detailer would use -but I would not even offter that.
What if the removal is less than satisfactory? Then it's your fault.
Danny
Mike Jackson
Kent SmithI'm with Danny on this one, too. Your risk/return ratio looks pretty lousy. Lots of risk and not much return on your efforts, even if things go perfectly. We don't remove lettering on trucks or vehicles. I just tell them to bring it to us when they get it cleaned off.
Good luck,
Mike Jackson
Rick SacksI am with Mike too. I have had removals leave stains and damage the surface. We even had a van repainted by a body shop and the customer complained later about the quality so we were in the middle. I say let them bring me a clean canvas so I don't have to deal with any of the liability and do my job which does not include body work.
Mike JacksonThen again, I've had them return with new paint that lifted from low tack tape, and needed to patch a new paint job and make excuses causing me to look like the good guy and the body shop to look bad and the customer with an inferior job not caring whose fault it is.
Raymond ChapmanI think this all falls under the "work smarter, not harder" category. You can spend 4 or 5 hours getting all the old paint off, buffing, and compounding a truck. Who wants to do that?...even if you charged them an extra $250 and they didn't squak?
We found customers would willingly pay a fence company $200 to dig holes for a sign, but would complain if we added $200 to the job for us to dig them. Connecting the customer to the fence company releived us of line locates, liability for hitting utility lines, and time away from the shop to deal with the issues. To me, advising the customer of the Easy Off method (and the normal disclaimers), and suggesting they go to a detail shop or body shop is about the same concept.
In sixteen years of living in Jackson Hole, we never dug a hole for a sign!
Mike
Joe CrumleySometimes that "work smarter, not harder" thinking takes a while to sink in. For years I tried to do everything myself, with the attitude that no one could do it as well as I could myself.
Now that I am getting older, those post holes just are not that much fun and I was really never any good at installations. Today I get a fence company to dig the holes and many of the larger and more complex installations are subed out to other sign companies with cranes, etc. It takes a load off my back and also a lot of frustrations off my mind.
At one time I tried to screen my own decals, build my own metal frames, etc., but now that work is done by someone who knows what they are doing and are set up to deal with those jobs a lot more effeciently than me. Even the mundane tasks of coat-out and vinyl applications are handled by my son who is now a full time employee. It just did not make any sense for me to try to do everything, even though I enjoyed most of it (except for the post holes).
Years ago I thought I could work on my own vehicle and save all that money that the mechanic was getting. It didn't take me long to finally see that I could paint a sign and make more money in the same time that I was trying to fix my truck. Also, my problem was that I was not very good at fixing things and usually ended up breaking two other things while I was trying to fix one, and then eventually having to pay someone to cure my mishaps.
My talents seem to be in designing and not fixing.
Raymond ChapmanI agree with Mike also.
Most succefull sign shops work smart and reduce manual labor. I really learned from Mike when he purchased that Gerber 1-A back in 1970, while I was stuggleing with an un-ruly brush and that stinks old paint thinner..
Now, 62 years old, I have found my old trusty post hole diggers, sharped them up real god, and just can't wait till someone, any one, who needs a hole dug.
Joe - Mike was only 16 in 1970 and I don't think that the Gerber was on the market yet.
Come to Texas - we have plenty of holes to dig.
Denver Chapter of the Letterheads