From your Car & Truck
If your car has stickers that have been on for less than 1 year, there is a good chance that the standard household hair dryer or heat gun will remove the sticker.
The steps to follow are:
- Clean the surface of the decal with a damp rag to ensure any mess or dirt is removed
- Turn on the hair dryer or heat gun and carefully heat up the car decal, moving the hair dryer back and forth at a distance of 6 – 10 inches (10 – 15 cm) from the surface
- As the sticker heats up, slowly start to peel the sticker off
If the sticker starts to break into smaller pieces, then the decal has already bonded to the surface for over 1 year and you’ll need the Whizzy Wheel. (Other brand names include, Wonder Wheel or Decal Eraser.) This is the only method that genuinely works for old, baked-on car stickers. For now we will reference the Whizzy Wheel.
The Whizzy Wheel is made from soft rubber and works by wearing away the car sticker. This means regardless of how old the decal is, it can still be removed.
Q. “Will the Whizzy Wheel affect the paint on my car?”
A. If your car has a factory finish paint job (i.e. not a respray), then the Whizzy Wheel will not affect that paint. That said, we always recommend to test in a small discrete area first to check and give you peace of mind.
See how easy the Whizzy Wheel removes this decal in the video below.
Removing Boat Decals and Stickers
First try using a hair dryer or heat gun on the decal to warm the adhesive backing and gently lift the edges. In many cases, this will be sufficient toward removing the decal.
This next video below shows how to remove an old decal from a boat using a heat gun, citrus adhesive remover, and window cleaner.
If the decal is breaking into small pieces, it means your decal is very well bonded to the surface of your boat. In this case we find the Whizzy Wheel is the most effective tool to use, or in some circumstances a plastic razor blade.
First determine the material used to construct your boat:
- Metal haul boat: the Whizzy Wheel will definitely work and have not impact on the surface, except for leaving a sticker free boat
- Fiberglass boat:
- use caution here with the Whizzy Wheel as it can potentially mark the surface.
- consider using a plastic razor blade: if the boat stickers are small, then a plastic razor blade is a good option as it won’t damage the surface or take too long. As fiberglass can be fragile, we don’t recommend metal razor blades
Removing Decals and Stickers From Glass
A metal razor blade will easily remove decals from glass. However, due to the potential to cut yourself, a safer option is to buy a plastic scraper with a wide blade, at least 4 inches.
Note: the cheaper plastic scraper blades (i.e. under $5), don’t have a sharp edge. We recommend paying a bit more, and getting a higher quality scraper, with a sharper edge that allows you to get under the edge of the decal and remove it. The higher quality plastic scrapers can cost between $15 – $20.
