Removing old velcro glue off paint.

[apg39]

Long story short, just picked up a Hilux with a canopy on the back. The last owner had a section of material between the rear of the cab & the front of the canopy to protect the contents inside from weather (for some reason there's no front window on the canopy). Definitely want to remove as it looks tacky.

It's held on the car by a long strip of pretty strong velcro...that has been there for about 10 years. Pretty nervous about removing it in case it pulls paint off too.

Any tips or ideas on products to remove all the glue or soften it prior to removal of velcro to avoid paint coming off too? Heat? Citrus oil?

[BobbyG]

Both heat and Citrus oil will help but a product called Goo Gone also works pretty well. Mineral spirits is also another option as is denatured alcohol.

Saturate a soft cloth and wipe back and forth softening and dissolving the mess until it's removed..

[budinsc]

try wd 40. as a universal solvent it is great. it even took duct tape glue off my black leather seats with no problem or discoloring.

budinsc

[SeaJay's]

3M Adhesive remover or Tarminator. Both work wonders. A plastic razor blade will come in handy as well.

[FourEyes45]

+ 2 with 3M

[Mike Phillips]

All of the above suggestions will work...

One tip is to find a way to enable whichever product use to dwell on the adhesive instead of running off or evaporating... this will allow it to soften the adhesive better. Be careful though as there is a balance between allowing a solvent to dwell long enough to soften the adhesive and allowing the solvent to dwell long enough to cause harm to the underlaying paint.

Then use plastic razor blades or even something like a Popsicle stick or a piece of wood like a paint mixer to use to scrape the gunk off the paint.

Afterwards, come back and polish out any marring or scratches caused by the scraping. It's a real pain in the rear and it's time consuming but it can be done.

I've owned 4 full convertible Blazer, (1969 to 1975), and two of them had this problem when I bought them because an adhesive foam gasket was glued to the painted side of the bed rail.

The trick to using adhesive foam tape as a gasket is to place it on the hardtop or camper top side, not the painted portion of the truck.