Alan D

I searched the forum and found a few threads about this but wanted to get some other opinions. I recently purchased a 99 LS400 that has a factory pinstripe. It looks a little weathered and I don't like pinstriping so I want to remove it. The car is silver so I don't think there will be any problems with the paint underneath blending with the rest of the car.

So here's my question, this appears to be a vinyl pinstripe and not paint because I can scratch off a small piece with a fingernail. What is the best way to remove it? Heat gun? Plastic scraper? WD40? After removal I will go over the surface with a buffer and scratch remover to get rid of any fine scratches.

Thanks in advance for the help.

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

i have a pair of UCF20/21 LS400s and i dont think they come with pinstripes

but if urs magically does use this.
http://www.lexls.com/tutorials/body/pinstripes.html

Alan D

Maybe it was done by the dealer. It has the lexus L logo on the front fenders mixed in the pinstripe. The stripes look like these:

http://www.sewell.com/index.cfm?acti...ranchiseID=828

Alan D

Wow! Easy off, who would have thought to use that on a car!

GRAND_LS 4

iTrader: (2)

Actually, that’s for painted strips. For Vinyl... I would just pour some warm water, and pick one end with your nail, and pull it across.

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

blowdryer works too.

Jasbmo

On my 98 LS, I have pinstipes done by some company whose logo looks a like the Hang Ten logo, and my brother was buffering the car and stayed on the painted pinstripes and they lightened up. I'm sure if you buffer the pinstripe long enough it'll come off.

I'm not sure if there will be any damage to the paint. Best not to take the risk though.

Alan D

I removed my stripes the other night and it was a lot of work, about 2 hours in the Texas heat but it looks soooo much better. The stripes were really baked on since they are on a 99 car. I tried heating them and it didn't do much so I rubbed them down with alcohol and then used a razor blade to carefully scrape them from the car. Worked great, just have to be really careful. I then had to remove the sticky stuff that was left behind. I rubbed it with WD40 and also tried alcohol but it wouldn't take off all of the glue left behind so I used the razor to scrape off the majortiy of the excess and then wipe off the rest with alcohol.

Finished up with my electric buffer with a fine grit polish and it's done. Looks great! Hated those stupid pinstripes.