Old ass cracked vinyl on cars - what to do

[uglyknees]

My family have been gifted an ancient but seriously awesome 38’ behemoth of an RV to transform/use/screw up/pinterest vomit upon…and believe me I already have a Pinterest board started that I WILL NEVER materialize! So me!

Baked on, cracked, haunted vinyl plagues the sides of this sucker along with peeling clear coat and some sort of black mold looking “stuff”…I’m sure one of you knows what this is. This was a very generous gift and a PERFECT thing to experience RV travel for probably two years to see if we want to dump the money and really live the life. We are going to paint this thing, this we know…we aren’t going to pay for someone to paint this thing…not worth it…just need her to look a bit more respectable. Last night I went deep into the world of flipping RVs and have come across several potential caked vinyl fixes…

1. Orange oil air fragrance (ya I know) and a scraper - Labor intensive
2. Hardcore graffiti remover - pretty expensive from what I could figure out based on amazon quantities/prices/the size of our ugly lady friend and you’re painting/waiting/scraping/painting/waiting/scraping so just a bunch of work
3. “Eraser” head on a power drill - labor intensive and could add up after awhile but not like the graffiti remover and seems like a faster way of working over the orange oil
4. Sand it down with a power sander (respirator and all the properness) and just paint it all over with a thick primer/paint and get on with your life - seems pretty legit to me
5. Paint it and don’t even worry about it - seems even more legit to me but it’s probably my white trash laziness talking. {by this I mean my own personal lack of care about the details…I don’t really believe in white trash nor do I believe we have cross sections of people who are inherently lazy…I mean “I don’t care about details -sometimes- and I cut huge corners to come to the fastest results with usually sad results”}

My question: what have you seen/appreciated/gawked at/liked/tried yourself?

Yes, let’s all work together and rent a wing of a campground and have a long maker camping weekend when covid lightens up!

[malcolmputer]

@uglyknees

Sand it down with a power sander

@uglyknees

Paint it and don’t even worry about it

How about both? Sand it enough to scuff it up, then paint over it lol.

[John_Marlow]

@uglyknees

Hardcore graffiti remover

How about going the other direction … hardcore graffiti over it? Like a rolling mural of sorts …

[uglyknees]

It’s a thing

[uglyknees]

This is REALLY not my aesthetic but I love it.

[Bizwacky]

The way I’ve seen it done is with plastic razor blades, a heat gun or about a gallon of goo-gone. With decent paint you can clay bar it afterward and it will look factory fresh. But that’s with smaller decals on a regular car.

With that monster I’d probably go with those decal-eraser wheels, or just paint over it.

[TBJK]

Heat gun, try a heat gun… if you are intent on getting it off.

[dryad2b]

Since you’re going to be hanging on to this for soooooooooooo long – house paint. Back in the 60’s, my grand-dad used to rent a paint sprayer and paint my granny’s old car with house paint once a year. Not as durable as car paint, but it’ll hang in there for a while. And then, in your copious free time, the mural…

[lukeiamyourfather]

I would have a look at the mechanisms before the cosmetic stuff. If it’s been around for a while there’s almost certainly stuff that could leave you on the side of the road (where as the vinyl won’t). Fluids, hoses, brakes, seals, universal joints, batteries, etc.

For the vinyl I would try plastic razor blades, Scotch-Brite, and auto paint safe solvent like Goo Gone or 3M 3618 Adhesive Remover (Amazon has it). If the paint is in rough shape it might not be possible to remove the vinyl without damaging the paint.

[JW_TX]

I tried the eraser wheel on a truck box I was removing a bad bed liner paint job from. It does work, but is pretty nasty. Lots of fine powder residue that smells like sweet burned rubber. Definitely in mask/respirator territory. Just got a cheap one with prime delivery.

Knowing the time it took for my project, plan on at least a good day or two of work to remove it.

[uglyknees]

Yes, I absolutely agree on the functionally and safety before all other!

[uglyknees]

Ya, I’m finding that this whole flipper crew {and it’s a huge section of people doing it right now…freaking pinterest/instagram strangely linked in with the wide brim hat black leggings coffee sipping extremely rare expensive house plants type “lifestyle” vibe) seem to be divided…if it’s not worth much and it’s just a quick fix they all go to house paint…and the others go for a few thousand dollars to invest in the aesthetics. This baby is from the late 90’s well made and awesome but it’s not going to be in our lives for long (we don’t think) so I’m thinking some sort of durable house paint and a sprayer. {for the record I’m still a black leggings pretty coffee lifestyle person but I’m also a drink beer hide junk in a corner and don’t worry so much about presenting the perfect picture kinda gal}

[apparently_weird]

Personally, I would Plastidip it. Can go crazy with colors/design if you want and can always peel it off if you want to sell.

[tomthm]

If you have a family band, even better

[tomcochran]

Here’s a pretty good guide:

https://blog.signwarehouse.com/a-basic-guide-to-vinyl-removal-options/

[lukeiamyourfather]

[Russell_Crow]

I agree, just spray paint over it. You already have good adhesion of paint to metal, that’s not as easy as most people think with Aluminum.

It will take about 4 hours to spray with a Wagner, less with a Binks.

Tip: mask off the cat, just leave it floating in the air!

[jgurley]

I’ve used eraser wheels, took me 4-5 hours to do these stripes and decals all around. very tedious, and it seemed pretty rough on my cordless drill to run it under load for so long… so I’d probably want to get a cheap corded drill to do something the size of an RV.

imo just leave it, I bet it looks just fine from 20 feet away. It still looks better than all the dumb swirly lines or whatever that is they’re doing on new RVs

[uglyknees]

Thank you guys for all the info. It’s far down on the todo list but a highlighted part of the todo list because it will dramatically change the whole thing.

I believe we’re leaning hard towards the sand down the raised bits and paint the sucker and move on.
We’ve been spending lots of time with the lady.

She’s full of personality and pink carpet!
Currently working on trying to replace the driver and passenger seats because we found out the seatbelts don’t operate. I found some truck seats on eBay that I believe would be perfect but retrofitting anything is a pita. Anywhooooo. Nothing like an overwhelming project to keep your spirits up.

[clk75201]

Hey girl. Fun project! I restored a pop up last summer. Decals are a bear. But, here’s the approach I learned to take: start with the premise of first do no harm, try, and then try again. After a few tries, you are allowed to use dynamite if you’d like.

I would soak a small section with orange oil, let it sit for a day (really let it sit) and then see if it peels off with a putty knife. You’ll have to really wash the leftovers off prior to painting, though, and of course, all the other prep.

If that doesn’t work, many folks have luck with the heat gun. Let it work, see if it scrapes. It’s gonna be as much fun as peeling old wallpaper, but if it works, it’s worth it.

Other options: take it to metal with a grinding wheel and then prime. Or, wash it up, let it dry, and manufacture another layer of vinyl that will stripe over it. My favorite, and actually what I chose: let it ride.

In the end I restored my rig for safety and working parts. Popped in some LED lighting and a new set of canvas. I de-pinterested and blew off the floors and cabinets instead just scrubbing it all down. I splurged on bedding comfort (and a little sass). I might change my mind in a couple of years, but for now, it camps just fine, tows like a dream, and lets me have a weekend a month or so dirty and happy with the grands.

One other piece of advice I received that made a difference: Work top down, then bottom up, then do the inside. I found a roof issue that would have really made a mess of any updates had I not caught it.

Glad to see you having so much fun!