HowTune

Remove The Pinstriping on a Any Car

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Not everybody likes the look of pinstripes on their car, and you might be stuck with them if you purchased a used vehicle. Luckily, most modern cars have pinstrips that are just stuck to the top of the clear coat, and are fairly easy to remove. Please note: If you have painted-on pinstripes (ones that are literally paint under the clear coat), this removal method will not work.

Preparation

1

The pinstriping and the surrounding area needs to be clean, so either wash the car or use detail spray to clean the area.

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2

Screw the decal removal disc onto the arbor.

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When handling the disc, make sure you keep it clean. Any grit that gets on it will scratch your paint later.

3

Insert the arbor into your drill and lock it into place.

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Make sure the direction switch on your drill is set to turn clockwise (righty-tighty). Using the drill in the other direction will result in the wax disc spinning off of the arbor while you're using it.

4

Read all of the instructions provided with the wax disc to make sure you are not exceeding the RPM limits or otherwise using the disc incorrectly.

Get to it!

5

Choose the most inconspicuous area of the pinstriping to start. If you damage your paint, you want it to be somewhere you won't notice as often. I recommend the passenger-side rear of the car.

6

Spin up the drill to a relatively low speed and lightly press the edge of the wax disc onto the pinstriping. It might start stripping off the pinstriping immediately, but if it doesn't, try a little more pressure. If it still doesn't, try a little more speed. You just need to get a feel for it. In my case, I started with high speed and low pressure, which resulted in the paint overheating and slightly warping. I then tried low speed and moderate pressure, which worked much better.

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7

Continue down the side of the car, making sure to not spend too much time in any one area. If you miss some spots, let the area cool and come back to it later. Repeat on the other side of the car.

Cleanup

8

Using Goo Gone and a microfiber cloth, remove any adhesive residue that is left over.

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9

Once all of that is cleaned off, take a good look at where the pinstriping used to be. You will probably notice some swirl marks from the cleaning you had to do. If you don't notice anything, you're done!

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10

If you do notice some swirl marks, use some finishing compound and a microfiber cloth to even things out. Follow the instructions on the bottle regarding pressure and cleanup.

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11

Wash your car again to clean off any leftover powder from the decal removal disc.

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12

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