Okay so I picked up a door a few weeks ago and put it on... hinge is in perfect shape, and the panel has much less rust then my door. So I'm going to paint it today. I already pulled out the one dent it had with a slide hammer (dent was in the middle of the door on the molding) and welded the holes shut. I've gotta take the door down to bare metal because the original factory paint is checked in some areas.

I already removed an ugly red/black/orange pinstripe from the bottom- it turned out to be an inch and a half wide strip of vinyl tape! I managed to get 99.9% of the vinyl crap off (what a pain) but the adhesive is left behind. Tried paint prep, bug/tar remover, and "goo gone", and the sticky stuff won't budge.

Any ideas? I figure I have two options after I make some coffee- either use my fingernail along the whole bottom of the door, or maybe pick up some of the dish-washing sponges with the green "scrubbing surface", soak the sponge w/bug&tar remover, and use the scrubbing surface to get the tape residue off.

But if anyone else has another idea, I'd be glad to hear it! I've never had to deal with vinyl tape or it's residue before... I've always worked with removing regular trim adhesive.

I guess this vinyl tape adhesive is probably similar to what a bumper sticker might leave behind?

 

Try using mineral spirits such as denatured alcohol Use a sturdy rag to rub it off because it will pee in sections and take a little effort

 

If acetone won't take it off I would be amazed. Either that or why not just sand it off?

 

I didn't want to sand it off because I don't want to get any of that residue onto the sheet metal... then I'll be painting over a contaminated surface. Only the adhesive is left; I'll try using acetone or rubbing alcohol with an old t-shirt... acetone is nail polish remover, isn't it? Hm; that'll look strange for me to buy... time to give one of my female friends a call

 

Well, rubbing alcohol didn't work, and neither did nail polish remover w/ acetone- when I say "didn't work", that means they didn't make my life any easier then Goo-Gone or "Total Prep" paint prep spray.

So I wound up doing what I didn't want to do- used 100 grit sandpaper, alternating between Goo-Gone and total prep, until all the leftover adhesive was gone. Then I used a ton of total prep over the area to remove any residue that still stayed behind. I sanded by hand... didn't use any power tools, didn't want to throw that adhesive everywhere.

What a pain.

 

i had the same problem, i ended up just sanding it off

 

go to your local walmart, get 3m wax, and adhesive remover its' in the car isle with a blue bottle i believe, it costs like 6 bux but is well worth it, spray this on whatever you want to get off and let sit for a minute, then use a scraper or a razor blade to take it off, this should work it worked for me on all of my adhesive crap still stuck to my car...