Hey guys.

Somewhere back in this truck's history, somebody thought it'd be cute to put some of those black strips on the outer edge of the door to protect against whatever they're supposed to keep inattentive door-opening incidents from doing.

The glue on those strips is pretty much gone now, hardened onto the paint and leaving the strips sticking on or not depending on whatever the elements feel like letting them do.

What I'd ideally like to do is take those strips and the hardened glue off and get the door edges back down to the paint. Do any of the body gurus here think that's actually possible at this point, or should I just try to reglue these stupid strips back on and forget about it?

 

Use a lil wd-40 (or 'tar and bug remover') and a rag. And if someone here tries to tell you that wd-40 will hurt the paint, don't believe them. Just re-wax any areas where you got wd-40 on the paint since it will take the wax off.

 

3M Adhesive remover. You can get it at an auto paint store. Also, a product called Goof Off that you can get at Home Depot. Acetone or lacquer thinner (be careful, VERY flamable) may also work. I used the 3M to take off the glue from body side mouldings and it worked well.

 

Yeah, I've used goof off before to strip grease and spraypaint off of steel panels at a place i used to work at. I think that might be a little bit too strong for me to be comfortable with.

I'll probably wait until this weekend if the weather's nice, and try that 3m adhesive stuff on the mouldings and those dumb door strips, then just wash, wax, and claybar it like it needs anyway.

Thanks guys.

 

Acetone and Lacquer Thinner are just about guaranteed to remove the glue - as well as most of your painted finish. These solvents are far to "hot" (aggressive) to be used anywhere near a painted surface. The fact that they are extremely flammable just adds more danger. I would not recommend them at all. By the way, Goof Off is almost as aggressive - and dangerous.