Removing Baked-on Doublesided Foam Tape

[Spaceman Spiff]

I commented on Decodancer's thread on removing old vinyl decals, but since my problem was a little different, I am starting a new thread. https://vanlivingforum.com/showthread.php?tid=9814

I am rebuilding an old camper to act as my winter home. It had old 1/8" foam double stick tape baked onto the front. No amount of adhesive remover was doing the job and I abandoned the issue for a while.

I was at a retirement party for a high school friend (yaw, I'm ancient) where there were a number of retired body men. I broached the problem to them and they all agreed: use peanut butter. The oilier the better. Leave it on for as long as you can. The foam absorbs the oil, the peanut butter dries out, and you scrape the whole mess off with a bodywork squeege or plastic credit card without scratching the paint. Any remaining adhesive can be easily removed with Goo Gone or 3M Adhesive Remover.

-- Spiff

 

[Van-Tramp]

Google "drill eraser wheel"

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Or grab it from Amazon




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[Spaceman Spiff]

Google "drill eraser wheel"

A young bodyman raised that as a possible solution. The older guys just laughed at him. Apparently, the dried foam is hard enough to tear up the wheel. Those wheels are for removing vinyl decals and use friction generated heat to assist the removal. I used a heat gun, getting those suckers so hot I could not touch them - no go. Tape had been on the camper for over 10 years and was hard as rock. The older body men were all in agreement: if you want to save the paint (I did), you cannot use what is effective for this stuff - acetone. Lacquer thinner will work too, but slower. The had obviously run across this problem a number of times and devised a unique solution that works. I could have used a knife to scrape them away, but I didn't want to make a bigger eyesore than those dirty yellow rectangles all over the front of the camper. And I didn't want to repaint the front of the camper.

-- Spiff

 

[psytechguy]

My go-to these days for decal/sticker adhesive removal is WD40.

Let it sit for awhile and go slowly.

 

[highdesertranger]

all of these will work to some degree. you have to experiment for what works best for your situation. boy that 3-m vhb tape is a bitch. highdesertranger