Hi guys,
I've found a 98 SE that I really like, except that it has go faster stripes, which I hate. Has anyone ever had experience with removing these? If not, can it be done professionally?

Thanks

 

Last time I heard them called 'Go faster stripes' was back in England many moons ago...

Anyways - get a paint-stripping heat gun or borrow the wife's hardryer (ask - when she tells you to naff off you have an excuse to buy a heat gun )

If you heat up the stripes with the heat gun ALWAYS MOVING and never closer than 4" from the paint you'll see the stripes wrinkle up - then you can pull them off with your fingers.

I did this with my Bronco - but be warned that if you heat up the paint too much it will make it soft and easily damaged, or even scorch or bubble it up.

Once the stripes are off get a can of goof-off or whatever and use that to remove the adhesive residue. On my bronco Goof-off didn't work too well but it worked perfectly on my wife's old Chebby. On the bronco I finally used a rag soaked in petrol which removed the gllue in seconds. Don't smoke while you do this... ;-)

It's very easy to damage the paint, so if it's a newer car and you've not done this before then there's no shame in getting it done professionally (well, not much) - they'll prolly charge you $100.

 

Thanks a lot man. Btw, I am British (but please don't hold it against me)

 

sometimes you might notice a lil discoloration, once you rewax the car, you wont see the problem anymore

 

I was going to suggest heating the car body in the hot sun to make the task of removing those pin-stripes easier. But do you even have hot sun in Great Britain?

I used a citrus-based cleaner to remove the residue. The paint under the stripes was darker than the surrounding finish at first, but days later I was hard-pressed to see the difference. Take your time...

 

I used to live in Barnsley - born in Hudds. I found out recently that the maxima in England (Is that what they used to call the Bluebird?) is only available with a 4-banger in AT or MT, and the 3.0 only comes with an AT with a 0-60 of about 9s or so...

If I ever go back to live in England I'll be bringing my US-spec 3.0 manual with me!

 

I just did this yesterday to the max along with the a$$ end emblems.

I just heated them up with a heat gun, pealed them off, used some goo-gone, washed the car to get off any remaining chemicals and waxed walla. Unless you are at just the right angle you cannot even tell that there is anything there. the car looks much cleaner without emblems or pinstripes.

much better