Decal removal

[wever411]

What is the easiest way to remove the decals from the fairings? Does the heatgun/hairdryer trick work on these? What about the warning sticker on the tank? I tried peeling it off and picking at it but it keeps breaking apart and I can't pull it off in one piece. I figure I'd ask before I scratched up the tank too much.

[Cal Price]

A hair dryer will soften some adhesives and allow you to lift some off, others are under a covering of clear laquer and are much more difficult. A lot has been posted about this in the past so try a search.

[HGD00727]

I could not find any reasonable solution in the  past threads. It seems many people have trouble on this.

The decal on the tank is protected by the clear coat. Hair dryer does not work. Use organic solvents, such as acetone or xylene. Either works great. Dissolve the clearcoat with the solvent and wipe it out. Then, to peel the decal is a piece of cake.

These chemicals are typical items in a laboratory shelf. If you can not access them, you have two choices:
Borrow a nail-polish remover from your girlfriend. In many cases, the major component of the remover is acetone. Alternatively, find a paint thinner that contains acetone and xylene.

However, be careful. I heard that some paint thinner could affect tank finish.

[Bulwark]

Well, its warming up here this week so Im getting those stupid decals off.  The ones like "Dont smoke while filling the tank with gas".

Im just going to try the blow dryer on mine first.  There is NO clear coat on the stupid warning ones just on the decal that matches the fairing.  So unless you are trying to remove the suzuki ones and not just the warning ones then you wont have to worry about a clear coat protecting them.

[efushi]

hey i searched this old thread, but Bulwark, how did the warning labels removal go.  Some sources say it comes off fine, but some say they are stuck to a "black decal you wouldnt think is a decal" . 

[ATLRIDER]

Same thoughts here.  My 93' has factory purple decals on it. Wanna replace the decals on the tank and side panels.   

[cstilt]

Mine is an 05 and the stripe decals on the tank are under a nice thick coat of clear. They came off with a lot of time and a D8 sander.  I'd imagine that using any type of acetone or paint thinner to take the clear off to remove them would ruin the finish.  You may be able to just clear over where they were, but you'll probably end up having to paint the entire tank. Which is what I'm doing.
Chris

[the mole]

I got my warning labels off the tank by soaking a rag in mineral turpentine, leaving it over the label a few minutes, then rubbing/careful scraping with plasit tool, repeat the process a few times. Slow but effective and won't hurt the finish.

[sdufresne]

My warning labels were a nightmare to get off. Just sat there and picked and picked at it trying not to damage anything. Then when all that was left was adhesive, I just took some Goo Gone and wiped away the remainder.

[SDSurfRider]

On my 2007 GS500F, I just let it sit in the sun for an hour or so.  After that, I scraped up the corners of each decal with the side of a credit card.  Once I got hold of the decal, I just peeled it very slowly and they all came off perfectly.  If the decal starts to split, just scrape up another corner and pull from there.  No chemicals needed.

Do NOT get Goo Gone on your farings, by the way.  It will remove every bit of shine.  I just keep it far away from my bike to begin with.

[kml.krk]

You can use baby oil and cotton round (you can find both in your wife/girlfriend drawer  ) to remove glue after you peeled off the label.

cheers
Kamel

[Toogoofy317]

I used gum/adhesive remover was able to get all warning lables and fairing decals off. Took awhile also used some decal remover from goo gone and it worked ok. It came with a nice little scrapper that helped quite a bit.

Hope this helps,

mary S.