Visor Labels Removal

[Dieselino]

UPDATE:

Bought some professional strength Goof Off from Home Depot to give it a try. I applied alot of Goof Off on a paper towel and kept rubbing it into the visor to try and remove the glue. After a couple applications I managed to remove the remaining residue!

However in doing so it caused the visor material to wrinkle. At this point I thought my visor was toast because I wasnt going to be able to live with the wrinkles. So I took a heat gun to it. I heated up the wrinkled area really good with the gun and I kept swiping my hand across the visor to move around the wrinkles. I kept smoothing out the wrinkles with my hand while still keeping the heat gun going and voila! Wrinkles went away!

It was a pain but I managed. Looks like Goof Off is a must!

Originally Posted by Dieselino

After reading this thread I first tried the dryer method and it didnt work to well. I then tried brake cleaner and it worked like a charm as long as I kept the label drenched in brake cleaner the label came right off.

Now for the life of me I could not remove the residue. I tried the following:

1) Scrubbed with a scouring pad with more brake cleaner
2) Isopropyl Alcohol 70 and 99%
3) Nail Polish remover
4) Mineral Spirits
5) Laquer thinner (this causes discoloring)
6) Paint Thinner
7) Goo Gone

Only thing I havent tried is Goof off but I find it hard to believe it will remove the residue if all these other products wouldnt. Any ideas?

[takedown8]

Hawkeye, you really should remove the visors before doing it. It's just so much easier, and you can apply pressure better.

I would suggest you remove the one with the black residue on it (just two screws to remove), and go at it with circular motions with moderate pressure using a good, rough sponge or even steel wool.

[Hawkeye]

Originally Posted by takedown8

Hawkeye, you really should remove the visors before doing it. It's just so much easier, and you can apply pressure better.

I would suggest you remove the one with the black residue on it (just two screws to remove), and go at it with circular motions with moderate pressure using a good, rough sponge or even steel wool.

They come off??? I was in a hurry and couldn't figure it out quickly so I improvised... Perhaps I'll find those pesky screws this weekend.

I was scared to use something too rough, but perhpas I'll give that a try as well. Thanks!

[takedown8]

You didn't read intgr8r's original DIY post did you?

[Burt Reynolds]

I used some of my wifes fingernail polish remover and a shop cloth with a hairdryer- worked like a charm. I finished it off with a little leather conditioner and looks like new.

[speedygirl]

+ 1 for Goof Off. Whole job took about 10 minutes.

[Blind32]

Bump to a super oldie but goodie thread.

I removed these from my Extended black leather on Wednesday. Still a faint rectangle of where it used to be if held in the right light at the right angle but much much better than a big ugly sticker. Plus once they are reinstalled you will never see the rectangle even if you look for it.

I used Goof Off, same bottle as Reach did. Found it at my local Lowe's. They had the aerosol spray can and the bottle cap open type like shown in picture (not sure what to call it, just a normal bottle of it with a lid). Went with the non-aerosol type for ease of use.

Originally Posted by Reach

This stuff is serious business. Works great at removing gunk. I've never really used goof off or goo b gone, etc.. and I'm impressed...almost scared. I hope I still have my fingerprints after this. Anyways, I can't be held liable if you remove the finish off of your wifes kitchen table while doing this. I did it on marble and was fairly confident it wasn't going to eat into the granite, and it didn't.....yet.

I first removed the sun visors from the car. Then I took a red shop rag and applied the goof off to the label. I just coated the entire label generously so it was all wet. I let it sit for about 3-5 minutes. I then just took the goof off rag and started scrubbing it softly and it came right off. Be sure to move to another part of the rag as you remove the label. After it was all off, I got a wet paper towel and wiped it down and did the other side. I applied some Meguiar's Gold Class Rich Leather Spray to it reinstalled and enjoyed. I also ended up cleaning/conditioning all my leather and it feels good as new. I recommend everyone do this so that no one tries to put the baby in the back seat

Sorry for crappy iPhone pictures.

[inTgr8r]

^Nice

lol.... have to have a go at this myself; one more time.
The heat method was great for me the last time so I'll try it that way one more time.

[RussRamz]

100% acetone gets the job done and is much cheaper and than goof-off.

[nmulax]

Yeah Goof-Off works great for this, and eventually the faint rectangle will disappear as that area fades from the sun.

[crfine88]

I really need to do this. Thanks for all the great tips guys

[mhrir]

Originally Posted by Blind32

Bump to a super oldie but goodie thread.

I removed these from my Extended black leather on Wednesday. Still a faint rectangle of where it used to be if held in the right light at the right angle but much much better than a big ugly sticker. Plus once they are reinstalled you will never see the rectangle even if you look for it.

I used Goof Off, same bottle as Reach did. Found it at my local Lowe's. They had the aerosol spray can and the bottle cap open type like shown in picture (not sure what to call it, just a normal bottle of it with a lid). Went with the non-aerosol type for ease of use.

+1 on the Goof Off. The stuff has 1000s of uses (ok maybe 100s). I also have extended leather and the stickers have been on there for almost 3 1/2 years. The passenger one looks perfect. The driver's has a faint ghost but requires a certain angle to see. I wish it was perfect but I can live with it. If you are really sensitive to not having your car "perfect" then I would probably not risk it. I thought long and hard before doing it because I was working with leather instead of vinyl.

[RBull]

Well, I guess I'm in the camp that this isn't working for. I've done the heat it up scrape it off and was still left with a shiny residue and plenty of wrinkles on the drivers side. Tried isopropyl alcohol and that did nothing. Goo gone was also useless. Brake parts cleaner made a slight improvement but it's still an embarrassing mess.

Very frustrating when others aren't having a problem using the same methods. I'll have to try and find some goof off although that may be difficult in my small city. The next option is probably to buy new visors and leave the stickers on. That should only cost $500 or so around here.

[inTgr8r]

Dang.... that sucks
An option would be to have an upholstery shop recover them.

I haven't attempted mine yet.

[RBull]

Originally Posted by inTgr8r

Dang.... that sucks
An option would be to have an upholstery shop recover them.

I haven't attempted mine yet.

Thanks.If it comes to that reupholstering might be a good option.
I'm going to look for the goof off.


It's interesting there seems to be a wide range of difficulty in removing them.

[mousitch]

Originally Posted by RBull

Well, I guess I'm in the camp that this isn't working for. I've done the heat it up scrape it off and was still left with a shiny residue and plenty of wrinkles on the drivers side. Tried isopropyl alcohol and that did nothing. Goo gone was also useless. Brake parts cleaner made a slight improvement but it's still an embarrassing mess.

Very frustrating when others aren't having a problem using the same methods. I'll have to try and find some goof off although that may be difficult in my small city. The next option is probably to buy new visors and leave the stickers on. That should only cost $500 or so around here.

Get the goof off.Works. Hope you can find some. Any home depot's in NS? Ace Hardware? They both have it.

[RBull]

Originally Posted by mousitch

Get the goof off.Works. Hope you can find some. Any home depot's in NS? Ace Hardware? They both have it.

Thanks. Yes, there are 2 Home Depots in my area. No ace hardware.

I'll try that first.

[inTgr8r]

Originally Posted by RBull

Thanks.If it comes to that reupholstering might be a good option.
I'm going to look for the goof off.


It's interesting there seems to be a wide range of difficulty in removing them.

I noticed that, even within the same car; right & left.
My first ones were unique to the Canadian cars, so that's also another factor.

I'll probably give mine a go tonight, I'll post my results.

[RBull]

Originally Posted by inTgr8r

I noticed that, even within the same car; right & left.
My first ones were unique to the Canadian cars, so that's also another factor.

I'll probably give mine a go tonight, I'll post my results.

Well, bought some goof off. Definitely takes the stuff off after saturating with it and some gentle rubbing with a MF. The passenger side is okay. The residue is removed and the outline is barely visible. There's a small bulge starting on the edge that I decided to leave alone after the driver side experience.


The drivers side is terrible. What I found is the vinyl stretched big time. I tried gently heating and working it with my fingers. I had to quickly stop as the heat started to expand the h out of the vinyl. It's bulging out all over the place. Looks terrible. I might try working at it some more like dieselino did although when I was doing it before it got much worse.

[RBull]

UPATE:

I went back at it again with the heat gun. Managed to get the wrinkling out to a point where it's not totally obvious, by heating and smoothing with my whole hand. This took numerous repeats. It's still a bit lumpy because the backing actually seems to be compressed whether it be from the heat or the goof off.

In hindsight I would not let the goof off set for several minutes and would use it more sparingly. It caused a lot of wrinkling that I didn't see on the passenger side where I used small amounts and worked it off immediately.

This isn't a mod for the faint of heart.

[inTgr8r]

Got mine done.
IDK..... I still like the heat method

These came off just as easy as the 1st time, but there was definitely more glue residue left behind.
I had to do a final wipe with Goof Off to clean it up.

I would also say that there is slightly more ghosting this time as well.

[RBull]

^ Good stuff!