Thats not meant to happen

[Frosty]

My plans were simple. Fix the rust, replace 1 door,repair the other and replace the tail gate. After that the rest looks pretty good for the moment, a new set of stickers (thanks Jason) and I'm on my way. Problem was when removing the decal on the door the paint came with it, not just under the decal but in a big piece up to the window. The paint is two pac done about 8 years ago.I don't want to repaint the whole van just yet and was planing on doing that in a couple of years as it looks good enough for now. Advise please. Place new decals over old ones so I don't pull off more paint? cut the paint around the old decals before removing them? Any other ideas?

[Innuendo]

How are you attempting to remove the old decals?

[Frosty]

I don't know how the panel beater who had the problem did it, although I suspect he used a steamer as that what he had suggested for me to use. I had planed to use a heat gun.

[thatotherguy]

put it in the shed,pull it to bits, lose interest and spend all your spare time on mysandman.com like the rest of us (except you Grunt)

[78 sin bin]

bahaha to true!!

put it in the shed,pull it to bits, lose interest and spend all your spare time on mysandman.com like the rest of us (except you Grunt)

[Frosty]

First class advice. So I break out the beer brew kit,ride the IT400E around the property and look at the pile of HZ bits. I'll get onto it.thanks all.

[Valencia]

Then spend the next 5 years talking shit on this forum we will listen sometimes and restoring your sandman
all bloody good the way i see it

[thatotherguy]

First class advice. So I break out the beer brew kit,ride the IT400E around the property and look at the pile of HZ bits. I'll get onto it.thanks all.

Helpfull bunch arnt we? maybe go to a sign writer and get some advice on how to remove them?

[Frosty]

Sign writter it is. If all else fails then I shall become despondent

[SLR_dave]

Vehicle in parts, and despondancy? (lol........ oh yeah.)

If you get no luck with the signwriters, you could try ringing 3M technical advice, they can take a while to get back, but if you explain the problem (and if you tell them you think the decals might be printed on the 3M film) they just might come up with something. You'll need to speak to a technician not the people at reception who will try to relay the message, so it will probably take follow up calls.

Otherwise you could maybe try green cutting compound....? if you've got an old tin of it lying around, it might work, maybe, but I dunno this could be hairbrained.
It would probably take a heap of effort, and you could still bugger up or rub through the paint pretty easy, especially with an electric buff, so i'd be testing it on the door or tailgate you were gonna replace first see if it works, and do it by hand. I wouldnt bother buying a tin just to test though, it quite likely wont be abrasive enough. Maybe you could ask the panel beater who took the paint off the door if they have the end of a tin you could borrow to see if it works. I dunno, this could be a bum steer. Bad idea? I wonder what others think?