New Owner Old Winnie - Decal Removal??

[txswinner48]

Purchased '95 Itasca and all is great except decals are faded. Can I tape new striping tape over the old, I know some elevation and cracks will show but this looks like maybe too easy a solution. Everyone tells me it is very hard to remove the old decals and not damage the sides of the unit.

Thanks and look forward to learning on this forum.

[SarahW]

Howdy and welcome. Congrats on the Itasca; I hope you have many happy miles with it. I don't know much about decal removal...except it is a lot of work. I searched and found these previous discussions CLICK HERE and also on our sister site, iRV2. CLICK HERE

Hopefully someone with actual experience will show up to chime in, too.

[beamisl]

Hi txswinner,

I own a 2004 and have removed several of the badly curled decals myself. I have an old wall paper scraper with a razor. I hold it almost against the rigs side and carefully slide it back and forth and I pull on the loose decal. I have NOT damaged my rigs sides at all. I have removed the worst of the decals and the curled edges on the rest. There will be a ghost of the decal that you can see at certain angels.

I understand you can also do this with a plastic scraper and a blow dryer. Use the blow dryer to loosen the decal and then scrape with the scraper. Do NOT overheat the side of your rig with the blow dryer.

My plan is to repaint the decals in the next few weeks. I have read posts where someone did this and he cleaned all wax off the decal, then sanded the decal lightly after removing the curled edges also sanding those edges a bit.

He then taped off all of the decal including any ghost areas. Clean off any dust and then spray a light coat of paint, allow to dry and spray another four or five coats.

He used Krylon plastic paint. It supposedly stretches with the heat and cold exchange and fills in the cracks of the decal.

If my attempt to do this fails, I will remove the decals completely! I don't expect this to happen as long as I prep it correctly there should be no issue. This guy had done his rig five years prior and his decals still looked good.

When I am done I will post pictures on iRV2.com under "What did you do to your Rv today". Good luck. Lynne

[SarahW]

That sounds like quite a job, Lynne. I hope it goes well for you. Please consider posting your progress here on WF; we need to get a "mods and upgrades" thread started! A thread of your progress would be fun to follow. Have a great day and thanks for posting.

[beamisl]

New paint for the ole Southwind – 1999 Southwind 35S

Sarah,

Here is a link to a repaint job that a man did. He has detailed quite thoroughly what he did and how he did it.

Perhaps this will help others and with any job, the prep has to be done correctly for it to turn out right.

I will come back and post when I get to the decals. It is very hot here right now and not good painting temps and the rain we are getting does not help either.

Lynne

[LarryW]

Removing decals from your RV can be done through several methods in my experience. The most common method is to take a 3M Stripe Off Wheel (or other brand) and use it on any decals you want to remove. This method is perfect for decals that have been baked on for years, however, be slow and easy for the most effective removal. Don't use on painted graphics.