revilla Posted December 26, 2015 Share Posted December 26, 2015 Today I had to remove the foam rubber strips on which the bonnet rests, along the sides and across the nose cone, as the foam itself was perished. It was a pig of a job to get the foam and the sticky paper backing off. The only technique I found which worked was to scrub the foam off the backing layer with a plastic scraper then soak it in paraffin to soften the glue and pick at it with a finger nail. Quite apart from the fact that it took about two hours, this did not seem like kind treatment for the paintwork! i) Does anyone know anything that works better? ii) Is the foam strip sold by Caterham reasonably durable? Or does anyone know of anything better to replace it with? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan Kay Posted December 26, 2015 Share Posted December 26, 2015 I've just spent a fair amount of time cleaning sticky paper competition labels off bikes. The best technique I found was to try and peel from an edge, and when that failed to spray with computer cleaning fluid (which is probably isopropyl alcohol) and then roll the crud up into little worms with my fingers. That did it without picking at it.There are third-party recommendations and rough thicknesses in the archives for the foam strips for both the bonnet and the heater unit. Let me know if you can't find them.Happy ChristmasJonathan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revilla Posted December 26, 2015 Author Share Posted December 26, 2015 Jonathan, Happy Christmas to you too. Isopropyl alcohol was one of the first solvents I tried. It's usually pretty good but in this case it did nothing at all. The backing strip was very firmly attached to the paintwork and there was no chance of rolling it back. I will see if I can persuade this funny search facility to come up with anything useful on the foam strip front. Will get back to you if I get stuck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SM25T Posted December 26, 2015 Share Posted December 26, 2015 Have you tried warming it on a low heat from an electric hot air gun ? White spirit softens the adhesive from memory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7 wonders of the world Posted December 26, 2015 Share Posted December 26, 2015 WD40 usually works Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewB Posted December 26, 2015 Share Posted December 26, 2015 I have used a hair drier before to get stickers off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stridey Posted December 27, 2015 Share Posted December 27, 2015 I always.use liquid lighter fuel for sticky stuff removal. Cheap and available at most shops that sell cigarettes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJ. Posted December 27, 2015 Share Posted December 27, 2015 Lighter fluid worked for me too. I bought self adhesive neoprene strip from ebay which has worked well as a replacement.Duncan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Ford Posted December 27, 2015 Share Posted December 27, 2015 I find white spirit rather better than petrol or lighter fluid for removing sticky stuff. With petrol it tends to disolve and leave a messy film which is quite hard to get off, whereas with white spirit it tends to come off onto the cloth you're wiping with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revilla Posted December 27, 2015 Author Share Posted December 27, 2015 Thanks guys, some good ideas to try there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Reeves Posted December 27, 2015 Share Posted December 27, 2015 White spirit....I bought new rubber in a couple is sizes of the net....shout if u need my to look up the supplier Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Ford Posted December 27, 2015 Share Posted December 27, 2015 I just tried some hands-on research, since the job needed doing on mine as well.I tried WD40, lighter fluid and white spirit. To be honest there wasn't much difference between them, though I thought the white spirit did have the edge. All were hard work. Pre-soaking the glue/rubber remains helped. WD40 smells the best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan Kay Posted December 27, 2015 Share Posted December 27, 2015 ... did have the edge...:-)if you'd included methanol you could have done that test blinded!Happy ChristmasJonathan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian B Posted December 27, 2015 Share Posted December 27, 2015 I use this, which seems to shift most things, and if you breath it in for too long Otherwise I find petrol or brake cleaner work well depending on the goo/surface. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan Kay Posted December 27, 2015 Share Posted December 27, 2015 Yes, those proprietary removing sprays work for domestic stuff, but the web has not come to consensus on whether they beat WD40. :-)I'd forgotten about gentle heat, which has lots of reported success.As usual, I don't recommend brake cleaner (which is very different stuff from different suppliers) anywhere near paintwork. Or lungs.Jonathan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revilla Posted December 27, 2015 Author Share Posted December 27, 2015 Thanks for all the comments and thanks to Roger Ford for doing practical research on my behalf. I did try gentle heat from a heat gun and didn't seem to be getting anywhere although I didn't let things get very warm as I didn't want to damage the paint - maybe it just needed a bit more guts and commitment.The experiences with white sprit, WD40 and lighter fluid (probably best not combined with heat) seem similar to mine with paraffin. Looks like it's just an unpleasant job then, however you do it, no miracle solutions that I had missed.PS: Methanol - Very clever as usual Jonathan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan Kay Posted December 27, 2015 Share Posted December 27, 2015 Miracle solutions. It's the way you tell 'em. :-)But we both missed a possibility there with the spirit of Xmas...Jonathan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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