Removed stripes

[Augy]

I picked up a 2012 GT Convertible a few months ago. Living in Iowa it has spent most of it's time with me in storage but I've moved it into the garage and have been cleaning it up for spring. The paint was pretty bad (swirl marks) from auto car wash but overall in really good condition for her age. Anyway, it had silver stripes which were pretty stained and really bringing down the rest of the car's appearance.

So, I decided to remove and replace them, assuming the paint fading would be noticeable once removed. The vinyl stripes came off fairly easy with a heat gun, leaving a fair amount of adhesive behind. I used Rapic Tac Adhesive remover (worked great) and some plastic razor blades and got all that old adhesive off. I then stripped the car of wax and polish, went over it with a clay bar, and then a few polish steps. Turns out you'd never know the stripes were there and I am really liking it without stripes.

Next up are lowering springs, Koni shocks/struts, mounts, adjustable panhard bar, and chin spoiler. Oh yeah, I also installed jacking rails to make life a bit easier.

Anyway, I had read all sorts of horror stories about removing vinyl stripes (especially ones of some age) but it really wasn't that bad. I had a few hours in it plus all the paint correction afterwards. Before and after pics below.

 

[MADGT]

Well done

 

[1 Alibi 2]

Came out good & you got lucky.
2 things, maybe the stripes weren't on that long, or it may have been kept indoors..

 

[Augy]

Came out good & you got lucky.
2 things, maybe the stripes weren't on that long, or it may have been kept indoors..

Thanks...yeah, I agree on the luck...I had planned for it to take days LOL. Your post made me think back through this project and now I am convinced the stripes were not that old. When I got the car, the black paint was in pretty poor shape from apparent car wash abuse and neglect of proper techniques so I polished it up and got it as good as my skills allow which turned out pretty great. However, now that I think about it, when I got the stripes and adhesive off, the paint below was scratched and swirled. This would indicate the stripes were added well after some significant time (or the first owner used sand in his soap bucket) Regardless, I certainly did get lucky.

 

[86GT351]

Looks good!

 

[Augy]

Finally a nice day so I installed the CDC front chin spoiler and side skirts and got some better pictures out in the sun. Very happy with how it came out after the stripe removal and these small additions. Torn on a style bar...

 

[JC SSP]

Looks very nice and that front spoiler matches perfectly.

 

[asdrew]

... Torn on a style bar...

FWIW I stumbled on one at a PYP yard and grabbed it up. If you drive topless frequently it really adds to the look IMHO. This is before and after on the V6 I got for $1200, the bar is now on my GT/work in progress.