Decal Removal

We decided that we wanted the van to look more like a simple van and less like an RV. The obvious step to take here is to remove the decals, so we did.

There are a million videos on YouTube about taking decals off cars, so I'll just say that my technique was to get a 1000 watt heat gun, and then heat each letter for about 5 seconds from about 6-8 inches away. Then I just used my fingers and exercised a bit of patience. It took about 90 minutes to remove every single sticker and decal from the van.

These decals came off the easiest, and left very little adhesive behind.

These were the hardest, and frequently fragmented under my fingers. Heat was more useful here.

I briefly paused and considered this, imagining that perhaps I had found the van's new name. But then I forged ahead.

I used this stuff (without gloves) for removing what little adhesive was left behind. For about 2 hours after using this stuff, my face was flushed, and I felt a little woozy. There are no warnings about this on the label, but I'd recommend wearing gloves if you're going to use this. (The scraper utensil was never used, fingers only for my van.)

Death Valley's dust showed me that some of the adhesive is pretty stubborn.

A silver Revel with absolutely no stickers or decals.

And from the rear.