Just bought my 05 FX4 yesterday and i want to remove the pinstripe. I understand the process to remove it, but i was wondering what the chances are that there might be ghosting after i remove it. paint has some swirls and light scratches, but looks to be in good shape other than that. Truck is black btw. thanks!

 

anyone?

 

I just did mine... I have some pics in my gallery of before and after. There were lots of ghost marks and you could clearly see where the stickers were. I used a mild rubbing compound and buffed it out a bit (i had some scratches and what not I was getting out also) I then laid down a nice coat of wax and presto... no one would ever know. (thats in a nut shell... if you need more details just let me know)

 

thanks. i read some threads and there were a few replies that if they paint isn't that old it may not be visible or if it is and not too bad, the sun would even it out.

 

Doubt that there will be any "ghosting" in the paint, but there will be a noticeable difference of the level of the paint from wax and other build up. At least that was the case on my 7 year old 4x4 OFF ROAD sticker.

 

ok guys one more Q. i'm going to remove the stripes today after work. if there's any ghosting, will it eventually blend or fade in to the adjadent paint or will i always have some sort of ghost stripe there? thanks!

 

hmm... im not sure. I would think eventually it would just fade away but... ya never know? I do know that if you just leave it, then it rains, it will become a whole lot more visible (water sticking to the "ghosting"). You may be able to get rid of it with just a good hand wash, some MF towels and some wax. Post some "before" and "after" pics

 

I don't think that there is anyway to fix the ghosting besides repainting or covering it up with pin stripes.

 

Give it a good wash, remove any tar, bugs, etc with a good remover (this should also strip any wax that may be on the paint.
Give it a good 3 step. clean, polish, wax.
Since it is black paint I would recommend, Ardex products.

4218 CUT CLEAR A Synthetic Clear Coat Compound It is very mild and is used to remove light blemishes in clear coat paint. It will remove very light acid rain spots. Cut Clear is like a polish without the wax or silicone. Just the cleaning part of a good cleaner polish.

4212 SEAL-B A High Intensity Machine Brightener Seal-B is a lusterizer and swirl mark remover. It is exceptional on black and other dark colors. Seal-B is grey in color and will not show residue; very important to high volume detailers. Seal-B contains a very mild cleaner and silicone, but no wax. It won’t hold up by itself but it will accept a nice coat of wax.

4202 GOLD SUPREME Wax/Sealant This is a presoftened wax/sealant combination. Gold Supreme contains aminofunctional silicone polymers and the finest German waxes available. It’s fast, durable and brilliant to look at. This is a very long lasting wax. Comes in one pound tubs.

My opinion only I use these products personally and have NO ASSOCIATION at all with the Ardex Co.

 

wana bet?

Before:


After:


You can do it bud! no worries

 

You just peeled the strips off.. Like I said he could do no problem.

 

Thats what he is talking about. If you peel the strips off it leaves this ghosting where paint wasn't being waxed or taken care of. It leave streaks and looks like crap. I spent about four hours cleaning the "ghosting" out. swank07 gave a great method. You cant expect to peel off 3-4 year old stickers and just viola... no markings.

 

No... by ghosting he means faded paint. I mentioned the wax/crap build up in my post above.

 

awww... I see now. Ya as soon as I posted the comment i read through it all again. I realized we were talking about completely different things. Sorry about that. Its gettin late and I am pretty well off and .... But... dang it, i DIDNT just peel em off... i spent a stupid amount of time cleaninging and bringing the shine back...

 

i got them off last night. they left behind some residue and tried Goo Gone to get rid of it, but didn't work out. I had some Megs paint cleaner and the residue came off with some elbow grease. There is some extremely faint ghosting where the stripes were, but i'm hoping some polish will minimize it. you really have to get up close to see them now and the light has to be in just the right spot.

unfortunately i don't have a DA and all I have access to is supplies from my local auto places. Suggestions on Meg's products that work well by hand? Truck is black and has some light swirl marks.