bigbig problem advice would be great

hi all,

got my private plate through today so first thing was to take the old plates off. the car had pressed plates on. took the rear off expecting a few of those little strips holding it on. oh how wrong was i. this is what i find. some sort of silicone bonding stuff.



anyway i thought hay ho the last owner was a d*ck but ill just put the plate over it s i dont want to mess with that.

anyway using the proper strips the plate just wont stick so i thought id try very carefully to pick the stuff off.
then this happens. the paint pulls away. i cant believe it. so at the moment i have the plate stuck to the rear window and im left with this.



I really dont know what to do from here. i need to sort it quick.

the options i had thought was to rather buy a second hand boot off ebay and just swap them over. or to have it sprayed at a body shop which will cost me money i just dont have and last i could try and peel off this crap which will end up taking most the paint off the number plate part and then give it a go at spraying it my self. the finish wont be as good but most of this would be hidden but im not sure if halfords spray cans are going to give a professional finish.

anyway all advice and help would be fantastic or if there are any sprayers out there fancy giving this a go please let me know.

cheers

dan

That looks nasty mate.

The problem with the number plate sticky strips is they wont really work with pressed plates as theres hardly anything to stick to (the back of the plate has been pushed outwards)

I use the number plate holders.

The good thing is, like you said you could spray it yourself as most if it will be hidden.

Im sure it would be quite cheap to get it done at a bodyshop tho.

That looks like helios blue?

VW main dealers still stock spay cans and clear lacquer for this colour and i have used them and they are very good i would do it myself if i was you last time i got a set of these cans it was about £12 but they are smallish cans big enough to do that job.

you could always screw the new one on?

 if not try gently warming with hair dryer or sticking it on with silicone and worrying about it later

i would got to the diy show and get some silicone remover to see if this will soffen it enought to remove from the paint

also try it on a little area to see if it doen't react with the paint first

i think the best thing is to give it ago my self.

ill give vw a call to grab some cans and have a go.

would the silcone remover be ok on the paint.

dan

I'd try using a toffee wheel to get that off mate.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Automotive-Toffee-%2f-Whizzy-%2f-Stripe-Removal-Wheel_W0QQitemZ350329202253QQcmdZViewItem?rvr_id=222352643229&rvr_id=222352643229&cguid=e7bd7c5f12a0a47a26a0a950ffb8234a#ht_500wt_922

Use it with some water to keep the heat off the paint.

i want to do this at the weekend so do you think homebase will do something simular to this.

i could attach it to my da polisher or drill.

dan

Look in the yellow pages for a paint supplier/body shop supplies near you. They will have one but I don't reckon Homebase will.

I'd use it on your drill at low RPM, it'll take most of it off quickly, just go nice and steady when you get down near the paint.

You could use velcro strips on your plates instead of the sticky strips.

Found a local paint supplier.

Managed to get an exact match of helios blue which they mixed up in a can with one of those funky nozels which help with spraying. some clear lacquar, a toffee wheel, wet and dry and some free strips for my new plate. £30. no bad at all and box cans are fairly large so quite chuffed.

The person had a look and said its only taken paint off not the primer so just give it a roughing up and spray on to it.

Any one have any tips on what to do.

I was thinking getting the silcone off without wrecking the paint. Sanding away the rough edges of the paint thats come off. mask up, paint, lacquer job done.

dan

Did you have a go at sorting it at the weekend? How did you get on?

I didn't. I got all the bits but weather was abit funny. I'm going to give it a go Sunday. Any tips on how to tackle this. I've not really sprayed anything before.

danj said

I didn't. I got all the bits but weather was abit funny. I'm going to give it a go Sunday. Any tips on how to tackle this. I've not really sprayed anything before.

lots of light coats is preferable to few thick ones - else you'll get runs!

try and test out on a scrap bit of metal you've got knocking around somewhere first to get an idea of how the spray comes out - the harder you push the nozzle the faster it comes - there can be quite a difference.  When I sprayed on my T25 I went to a graffiti paint place and got the nozzles from there - there's loads of different types for thin lines, fat coverage etc.

other than that mask surrounding areas well - overspray can go futher than you expect…and if you're doing it outside wait till it's not a windy day else you'll get pits of dust etc in the pain!!

luckily for you most of the spray will be covered by the plate so if you do get a drip or whatevs it'll be covered.  g'luck