Removing ghosted images from lettered van and trailer?

[SwirlmarkIII]

Wondering what the best way to go at it would be, once the vinyl lettering is removed there is always that burned in image of what was there. Is there even a way to really get it out? I’m going to be selling my work vehicle and I want to get all my company info off of there. Not dealing with a huge area, small logo and a couple lines of text. Might it come out with compound? Have to wet sand? White Chevy cargo van.

Also a different type of paint but I have to do the same thing on my cargo trailer. Much smaller area that I just have to alter with some updated website information but I don’t know how aggressive you can get on that cheap metal they build the trailers with and if it’s even automotive paint.

[Desertnate]

I've not had any success on removing the ghosting, but fortunatly it was on a much smaller scale. When we bought my daughter's car it had vinyl pin stripes down the doors which had faded and cracked. After removing the stripes and even polishing out to the doors the ghosting is still there.

[Belo]

If I'm not mistaken, it's a paint discoloration issue from the sun for which there is no cure besides a new paint job. It's similar to why touchup paint is such a tricky task.

[Mike Phillips]

Wondering what the best way to go at it would be, once the vinyl lettering is removed there is always that burned in image of what was there. Is there even a way to really get it out?

I've never seen ghosting removed 100%.

You can get it to the point it's a lot less visible but not gone 100%

Same on boats. Look at all the pictures of the boats we've detailed in our boat detailing classes. Most of them had lettering at some time. We machine sand them with #1000 and #2000 (followed by #3000 and #4000), and even with MAJOR sanding - if you look close you can still see where the lettering was.


Just compound hard (within reason), then polish and wax. Stick a fork in it and call it done.

[SwirlmarkIII]

Sounds good thanks everyone

[Calendyr]

A paint correction will remove one of the factors that make the drastic look: Damage. The paint where the lettering was is very likelly pristine, and the paint around it is swirled up and oxydized. So it's like having 2 different paint texture and color next to each other. If you compound and polish the paint, they should be very close to a match afterwards.

[DBAILEY]

If it is a white cargo van, then the white paint maybe single stage paint. You can't do anything about the unfaded base color that was under the lettering when it is clear coated, because it is the base coat underneath the clear that has faded on the rest of the car. If it is single stage paint then your results will come out much better since the fading is on top.

[Belo]

part of me wonders if you apply zero protection to the paint, will the lettered area fade to a similar shade? lol