jcash60

Installed the trunk lip spoiler the other day, everything went perfect. Just noticed one end for about 5 inches has come up, I press it down and it doesn`t stick so it must be bad section of tape, because I spent plenty of time removing the wax, cleaning with alcohol and prepping with the adhesion prep.

So has anyone removed one, if so was there a easy way? What do I need to do? Hair dryer, some kind of solvent? Jim

zankok

dental floss would be safe

Sportstick

Gentle use of a heat source, such as a hair dryer, may help prior to "flossing" it off. Once off, some GooGone will help remove leftover adhesive. For reapplication, you may wish to use a bead of urethane, but this would make any future attempt to remove the spoiler significantly more difficult. Urethane-secured parts should be allowed to set for most of a day while taped in place, to avoid any loss of adhesion due to body flex while driving.

jcash60

Dental floss, REALLY I would never of thought of that, no alchol or any liquid just dental floss.

jcash60

Thanks, I thought of the hairdryer to warm up the area. GooGone I have, priceless stuff.

You know I don't mind taking it off. I ordered them from Taiwan and in as much as the quality of both spoilers is very good and the paint is very good the paint just doesn`t match as well as I want, not to bad in the sunlight but when it`s not the color changes so I was intending to remove them to be repainted anyway.

Quick story: I took your advice and ordered the spoilers from "you know who in Taiwan", they came in and I could see the paint did not match as well as I wanted, so I talked to them and told them I really did not want to go through sending spoilers back and forth and it would be costly for them. I suggested they give a refund on their paint cost $60, they were very agreeable and gave me the refund. Nice people to deal with. Anyway I just thought I would install and see if the paint was a big issue, it was.
I know when paint matching is involved there usually are problems but I thought what the heck see if it works, if not I can have them painted.
The quality of the spoilers are fine so I`ll just have them painted. These things cost practically nothing, like $125 for both plus getting them painted, so how could you go wrong. It will all end up fine. I should have had them painted right from the start and not installed them but it`s no big deal.

Sportstick

Sorry that happened and good luck on the repaint. What color is your car? My first spoiler was on the decklid, and the color was spot on. The recent roof spoiler has a similar condition as yours....color flop. When viewed from one angle, the color is a great match, but in different conditions, it appears lighter. It's close enough, no one else seems to notice, or care, so I'm just going to live with it....it's on with urethane!!

zankok

use dental floss just to take off the spoiler, then use petrol to wipe off the residuals, the residuals will come off ezly

jcash60

>>>>2009 650 white, the spoilers are a bit darker but thats paintwork for you. I was going to buy unpainted but thought, roll the dice, see what happens. The paint work itself was fine, just the color match. The company was very good to deal with though, so everything is fine. I will be able to see the new paint work first hand so everything will work out fine, I`m pretty **** about paint.

The urethane you used did you omit the tape or use both? Did you put 2 beads the length? What brand urethane, do they have colors now in it? Sorry for all the questions This putting on parts with tape and the likes is new to me. In the 70`s I owned a custom van conversion company That did trick interiors and custom paintwork. In those days nothing went on with tape.

jcash60

Thanks for the help, I can see where the dental floss will work fine, novel way to solve a sticky problem. Jim

Sportstick

Have to admit, I did not do the install myself. There is an outstanding customizing, bodywork, restoration, and mechanical maintenance shop nearby which specializes in MB and BMW. They used both tape and urethane. I saw the roof spoiler go on, and the technique was to use "dots" of urethane every two or three inches between the two tape stripes across the full width. I don't know the brand, but I will be seeing them tomorrow on an E-Class issue (some distracted *** in a Honda couldn't figure out a safe stopping distance, so we have lots of new rear end parts coming ), so I will ask about their urethane.

zankok

my trunk lip spoiler came with very good paint, in fact the clear coat is so much that it became much shinier than my car, and the paint is much more metallic than the body, so when i put it on I was forced to give it a good wax, then it was all good

jcash60

Well I just spend 2.20 hours removing the trunk spoiler. The good news is there are no marks whatsoever on the paint. I would never do it again no matter what. My finger tips are still numb. I give Mercedes all the credit for rock hard clearcoat. I had visions of paint problems when I got it removed.

There was about 5 inches at one end that was loose. The dental floss, didn`t do anything, no matter what I did it broke, I even doubled it up. the adhesive on the rest of the spoiler was on like cement, I couldn`t believe it.

First: I had a couple of 1/4 inch pieces of medium soft rubber that I kept wedged under the loose end and inched them along when some tape loosened up I would use the hair drier to heat up about 3 or 4 inches ahead, then I took a single edge razor blade and VERY CAREFULLY SLID IT A COUPLE INCHES CUTTING INTO THE TAPE, THIS RELIEVED it enough to get my finger tips under and pull up, this would just loosen the top tape, it took 2 hours to loosen just the top tape. I moved very slowly and it paid off, I left NO marks and that's all I cared about.

I checked the loose tape that did not stick well when it was installed and there was something wrong with it, that pi$$ed me off but I was going to remove it anyway to get it repainted. When it goes back on it will be for ever if something is wrong I`ll sell the car. I`m not taking it off again.

zankok

ah
should of add.. if you encounter real sticky problem u should soften the tape up first with alcohol based liquids, i find petrols the best... just pour some bits into the slits and theyll do the chemistry.. since u r done now ... sori to hear.
i use dental floss to remove the badges

noka

I'm not recommending it (because I don't know if it could damage the clearcoat or paint) but I wonder if nylon fish line would work better.

jcash60

Damn nylon fish line would have been a IT, I`m sure and I have tons sitting in the basement but never thought of it.

Sportstick

Just got back from body shop and they said they actually use a MB part number product for urethane. They did not have the p/n handy, but they said it's a small tube which sells for about $14. The urethane is black.

jcash60

Thanks, that`s what I`ll be using, As you can see it was a bi tch to get off. Once they get painted I`ll be putting them on for good. The roof spoiler will be a breeze because it`s on glass [ no worries about paint ]

Sunday I`ll be going by the Mercedes dealer I`ll measure cars with and without the 4 matic I`ll let you know. I don`t look to find too many without 4 matic, living north most dealers stock mostly 4 matics but I remember some RWD`s.