I messed up BIG TIME! Damage control

[ClearVue18]

Please do not use gasoline... do not wet sand.

How long did you let the Sonax Glue Remover dwell for? After applying a liberal amount, did you let it dwell for 15 minutes or more? Did you try plastic razor blades. From what I'm seeing in the pictures, I'm still thinking this can come off... I removed a partial frontal of clear bra off a Mustang and I will tell you, this isn't a 15 minute job. It was like 4 or 5 hours per section just getting all the aged glue residue off.


I used two full bottles of goo-be-gone, plastic razors, some steam, and a lot of patients and rubbing with micro-fiber towels. I knew paint correction was coming after.

If the dwell time and working at it doesn't resolve the issue, take the vehicle to a place that specializes in Clear-Bra installation. They have some heavy-duty glue removers to remove previous installs of PPF and other products. They may be able to help you. Using harsh chemicals such as gasoline, is first unsafe for your health, environment, it's flambe and highly toxic, and not to mention the worst kind of spill you can get on your paint.

If this is beyond your capabilities and you've tried some of the methods suggested (sans gasoline and wet-sanding) you should take the car to a professional PPF installer for more suggestions.

Here is the glue residue from the fender... It doesn't look much different than the photo you posted:

Before



After:



Before:



After:

I've used it for years and never had a issue. There isn't any special remover that isn't harsh to an extent. The PPF was removed improperly. We aren't speaking of dumping a gas can over the paint to remove anything but if you take a pea drop amount on a microfiber it won't damage anything long as you do it gently.

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[WristyManchego]

I've used it for years and never had a issue. There isn't any special remover that isn't harsh to an extent. The PPF was removed improperly. We aren't speaking of dumping a gas can over the paint to remove anything but if you take a pea drop amount on a microfiber it won't damage anything long as you do it gently.

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LSN is on the money.

Using professional chemicals which aim to dissolve only the glue will have less of an effect on the clear.

Gasoline/petroleum will dissolve clear coat, bitumen, just about anything it can.

When advising a non professional on using a seriously aggressive method, you have you be careful. Advising anyone for that matter.

Porsche paint is soft, gasoline/petroleum is aggressive. It’s a last resort.

I’d be asking local PPF dudes as was mentioned by LSN. They may even charge a fee but it would be well worth it.

[ClearVue18]

LSN is on the money.

Using professional chemicals which aim to dissolve only the glue will have less of an effect on the clear.

Gasoline/petroleum will dissolve clear coat, bitumen, just about anything it can.

When advising a non professional on using a seriously aggressive method, you have you be careful. Advising anyone for that matter.

Porsche paint is soft, gasoline/petroleum is aggressive. It’s a last resort.

I’d be asking local PPF dudes as was mentioned by LSN. They may even charge a fee but it would be well worth it.

I mean I get what your saying but you're speaking to a PPF installer. Any chemical that you use is going to be aggressive there isn't way around it. Any chemical that's used incorrectly can damage the paint.


I have some APC that's if used incorrectly and sprayed in the wrong area can damage a vehicle. So nothing safe technically speaking.

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[WristyManchego]

I mean I get what your saying but you're speaking to a PPF installer. Any chemical that you use is going to be aggressive there isn't way around it. Any chemical that's used incorrectly can damage the paint.


I have some APC that's if used incorrectly and sprayed in the wrong area can damage a vehicle. So nothing safe technically speaking.

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You check out

You’re bang on with anything damaging, it’s only the degree that varies.

My experience comes from seeing the clear sag on cars when petroleum was left dripping down the paint after filling. It can’t be fixed.

[LSNAutoDetailing]

I mean I get what your saying but you're speaking to a PPF installer. Any chemical that you use is going to be aggressive there isn't way around it. Any chemical that's used incorrectly can damage the paint.


I have some APC that's if used incorrectly and sprayed in the wrong area can damage a vehicle. So nothing safe technically speaking.

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Right, and I know because Wills & Dani did my PPF on my two vehicles. We wanted to get some old glue off a spoiler and goo-be-gone was taking for ever. They have some industrial PPF glue remover. It's Goo Gone on steroids.

APC can either be acidic, (or Alkaline... can't remember which end of the scale), and yes that's why we dilute APC 10:1, 4:1 etc...

Like Wristy and I said, Porsche's are unpredictable depending on what model and year... but mainly lean on the soft side. I once did a swirled out 911 Turbo, and all it needed as 205 and yellow Rupes pads... (polish). Paint was that soft.

I'm just not seeing anything in the pictures that indicate that is not fixable. I could be wrong... Pictures are hard to work with on-line. Plus the OP is in Germany, a good 9 hours from my location, so comms is going to be tough on a forum. My suggestion is for him to just get it into a PPF shop and see what they can do. I hesitate saying body shop...

I opted to remove the PPF off my Mustang and do all the correction before Wills & Dani did a full frontal on it. But I swear, I will NEVER embark on that task ever again. Trust me I had a few "Oh Sh..." moments. The time and labor involved was a killer. I think it took two full days... Not including the correction.

[ClearVue18]

Right, and I know because Wills & Dani did my PPF on my two vehicles. We wanted to get some old glue off a spoiler and goo-be-gone was taking for ever. They have some industrial PPF glue remover. It's Goo Gone on steroids.

APC can either be acidic, (or Alkaline... can't remember which end of the scale), and yes that's why we dilute APC 10:1, 4:1 etc...

Like Wristy and I said, Porsche's are unpredictable depending on what model and year... but mainly lean on the soft side. I once did a swirled out 911 Turbo, and all it needed as 205 and yellow Rupes pads... (polish). Paint was that soft.

I'm just not seeing anything in the pictures that indicate that is not fixable. I could be wrong... Pictures are hard to work with on-line. Plus the OP is in Germany, a good 9 hours from my location, so comms is going to be tough on a forum. My suggestion is for him to just get it into a PPF shop and see what they can do. I hesitate saying body shop...

I opted to remove the PPF off my Mustang and do all the correction before Wills & Dani did a full frontal on it. But I swear, I will NEVER embark on that task ever again. Trust me I had a few "Oh Sh..." moments. The time and labor involved was a killer. I think it took two full days... Not including the correction.

I don't know about industrial PPF remover. If that was accessible that would have been in one of our manufacturing catalogs. I'm pretty sure they used like a 3M adhesive remover which is a industrial remover or a paint thinner. Myself or any of my buddy PPF installers doesn't have any specialty ppf remover. That's like if a customer came to us like o my old detailer used this especially cleaner and then we find out what it is and it's something really basic. Each detailer or installer has their own approach I guess you can say.

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[SWETM]

Do a second try to test to if it's still adisive residue you work with. This time also work from the edge and in to the center of the residue. So you don't spread it out on the already desolved parts. And make sure the temperature is warm enough where you do this as it's takes a lot longer for an adisive remover to work in cooler places. It can be very ineffective when temperature is down to below 10C. And need a much longer dwell time then. Switch out to a clean spot on the mf towel very often so it can soak up the desolved residue effectively. Also after a couple of times switch to a new spot so the spot you cleaning on can rest and evaporate the solvent and so you don't get the clearcoat soft from useing solvent on it too long.

If you have a clearcoat damage on the paint. I would ask a bodyshop to wet sanding and spray some clearcoat over the area where you have the damage. When it's fully cured and out gased. I would either ask a PPF installer to apply a new protection film that is the recommended to use on the place to protect from the things that the front wheel throw at it. They would do or ask them to do a larger peice of the PPF that covers over the new clearcoat. Either with useing the precut PPF and use as a template and doing it a few inch wider than that or simply cut out the PPF to cover enough of the new clearcoat. So the PPF get to cover the new clearcoat completly. That way I think that the finish is going to be looking as before but a little bigger area of PPF than the precut one.
There is a 2k clearcoat that is in a spray can that you can do this your self. It's called Spray Max 2K and is made by Hagman. Going this path is on your own risk and you have to decide if you are to do it. I think it can be done if you are thorough with all of the steps to do it. That is a lot of to think about so not easy to write up. But you need a warm garage and clean environment to work in. It's much about to mask everything else from overspray and get a blended edge that the PPF will cover as much as possible to look nice. But a bodyshop that also make PPF installing would make a good job I think if they have a great reputation. It could be worth it instead of a repaint of a larger area.

Take your time to decide what to do and don't do anything in panic mode.

/ Tony

[LSNAutoDetailing]

@heinzbush is there an update to this thread? Status please...

[heinzbush]

Yes unfortunately

What you see is in fact clear coat damage...
1. I let the Sonax residue remover sit forever and then rubbed quite hard on small spots... no change except light scratches from rubbing with the microfiber towel
2. I used a plastic razor blade carefully to see if this might help, but the thin plastic edge gets caught IN the scratches and „divots“
3. In fact, if I push a little with the Blade, further clear gets cut off and damage gets bigger... Also if I use my fingernail, further clear is removed very easily...

The pattern is really strange (e.g. these holes that you can see in the pictures)... I guess something must have weakened the clear a lot underneath the sticker... maybe the IPA when I removed the 25 year old original stickers which were conoletly cracked and wasted... even though paint looked perfect underneath...

The car is currently not registered, but once i can get it on the road, I will bring it to a professional paintshop to get them do a repair only in the sticker area (even though the edge will be visible)... I guess that’s acceptable as a new sticker will be placed anyway...

Damn!!!

[LSNAutoDetailing]

Yes unfortunately

What you see is in fact clear coat damage...
1. I let the Sonax residue remover sit forever and then rubbed quite hard on small spots... no change except light scratches from rubbing with the microfiber towel
2. I used a plastic razor blade carefully to see if this might help, but the thin plastic edge gets caught IN the scratches and „divots“
3. In fact, if I push a little with the Blade, further clear gets cut off and damage gets bigger... Also if I use my fingernail, further clear is removed very easily...

The pattern is really strange (e.g. these holes that you can see in the pictures)... I guess something must have weakened the clear a lot underneath the sticker... maybe the IPA when I removed the 25 year old original stickers which were conoletly cracked and wasted... even though paint looked perfect underneath...

The car is currently not registered, but once i can get it on the road, I will bring it to a professional paintshop to get them do a repair only in the sticker area (even though the edge will be visible)... I guess that’s acceptable as a new sticker will be placed anyway...

Damn!!!

Yeah, if what we see is not ABOVE the clear/surface and your plastic blade and fingernails “recede into” the clear, then in fact it is clear damage.

Was the car repainted at some point? Don’t beat your self up, PPF installed over a repainted area has a much greater chance of lifting the paint when PPF is removed.

It’s quite possible you uncovered some previous repaint work.

Remember it’s just paint... it can be fixed. PIA, but can be fixed....



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