newbabynewcar

Okay so a few months ago I thought I was cool and put on the rear tail-light chrome trim. Now I'm not so happy with it (although I really like it on the front head lights). So my question is: How do I remove the rear chrome trim? It is glued on with 3M tape. Is there any easy way or some special solvent that will remove the tape?

Will the headlights under it be damaged in any way. I have had it on for about 1 month. I searched and didn't find a thread on removing 3M tape.

MB SF

Okay, so the first step is to use dental floss or fishing line. If you wrap the line around your left and right fingers you can use a slicing motion to cut the tape as close as possible the the surface of the car (ie, trim, glass, paint, etc). From there I would use a non-abrasive sponge to work the rest off. It will take some elbow grease. Work slowly and be patient as not to scratch the surface.

Also, if it is a larger amount of tape, the auto paint stores carry a 3-M removal wheel which you can put on the end of a drill motor. It will not damage any paint if use as directed.

I used the 3-M Tape to put on my SF (Scuderia Ferrari) Badges right on the side of my front fenders of my Ferrari. After 2 years I removed them as the porcelan on the badges were starting to crack. The paint underneath was perfect and entirely unaffected.

Cheers

newbabynewcar

thanks ... so no real special removal compound... just fishing wire and a sponge...right?

MB SF

You are golden!

Barry45RPM

You can also buy a quart of VM&P Naphtha (from a house paint store/Home Center) to easily remove the gummy tape adhesive residue on the body parts. It will not damage any body parts as long as you dont rub with anything abrasive. Use a Tee shirt or paper towels. This is the same stuff as Bug and Tar remover. It can also be used to dab on the carpet to remove chewing gum, tar, or even just stubborn stains, like you would use a dry cleaning solution. The stuff's amazaing. It will turn your fingers a little white because it removes the oil from your fingers. Do not use it on upholstery for that reason.

The stuff's amazing!

newbabynewcar

Thanks Barry I will try it this weekend...;-)

SAguirre

I really like the front headlight chrome rings. You can't really notice that they are there, but they make the front look much better. I saw the rear light rings but I was not too sure about them. I was wondering if they were as bad as having the chrome/silver plastic stuff on the fenders?

The chrome headlight rings are the only aftermarket appearance thing I bought and I like them. I don't think I will get any more things. But why are you not liking the chrome around the taillights? I am just curious.

Steve

newbabynewcar

Steve,
It is just too Bling Bling. The front ones are more subtle and hence I'm keeping those on. To the back of the car I did three things... dual exhaust tips, chrome tail trim, and spoiler (1 part not 3 part). Of the three I really like the spoiler. The chrome trim has to go and the exhaust tips just don't look right from the side... basically you can see their are tips. The only way to fix this is the mount them higher which requires cutting the bumper so that fit... which I'm not ready to do becuase it is such a 1 way trip.

SAguirre

Good to know,

I was wondering how you got chrone tips on the tail pipes since they are hidden. Can you post a picture before you take everything off? I am curious to see what they look like. Again, not that I am going to do it, but I am interested in seeing different stuff that is done to these cars.

Steve

newbabynewcar

Here are the pictures... note on the side view how you can see the side of the muffler tips... sorry for the big pictures but I wanted to make sure you could see all the details.

JimPurdy

I agree with you that the tail light chrome is a little too much. I have heard others recommend heating the area with a hair dryer to soften the adhesive prior to using the floss.

Jim

SAguirre

Thanks a bunch for the pictures!

We both agree that the headlight rings are very nice. I also really like the spoiler. I would not buy the tail light trim, but I don't think that it is too bad. It might be flashy, but I don't think that it detracts from the car either. However, I would not spend the money on them, but if they were already on my car, I would probably leave them on.

The tail pipes would definitely be a problem for me since when I back out from my garage, I come close to rubbing the bottom of the car in the back. There are some landscape rocks that just miss the bumper skirt of the car. If I had those they would be gone, if not by the rocks, by the snow accumulations. Otherwise they are not bad either, but they do look like aftermarket parts.

Thanks for the pictures. O, also, Murphy's Oil Soap in a spray bottle is very good at dissolving tar that sticks to the car as well as adhesive junk that stays on plastic or paint. It is also very soft and not abrasive. If the stuff they recommended here does not totally work, then give that a try at the end. It is a good thing to have to remove tar stuff from the paint without using the strong stuff that will remove the wax and the paint.

Thanks again,

Steve

newbabynewcar

Thanks to everyone for the help. I managed to easily remove the chrome tail-light trim with just dental floss. There was also zero residual tape and the little that was there easily came off in seconds...

MB SF

No sweat. Hey, I used the 3M tape to put sheilds on my Ferrari...Directly on the paint. I had to pull one off and it came off no problem.

I am glad to hear your good news.

Cheers

marksatex

What about trying "Goo Off" I see it at hardware stores