removing adhesive from paint

Hi folks,
What do you recommend for removing adhesive without damaging paint?

If you would like to hear a story, here goes...

I went to grab something from my car on a rainy night, only to discover that it was also raining inside the car! As a band-aid solution, I put clear packing tape (basically a wide roll of sticky tape) over the edge of the sunroof. That did the trick, but the tape baked on in the sun and now I can't get it off. Pressure washing has removed some of it, but there's a lot left.

Thanks,
Simon

Depends on the kind of tape being used: sometimes it helps using the same tape to remove the glue, like this one. Sometimes you have to use a solvent. Always test first on an invisible area, just as on clothes.
I guess you used this kind of tape?

Surprisingly enough, WD-40 works very well for this. It's worthless as a penetrating oil, and a terrible lubricant, but it's the best thing going for removing the gunk left behind by duct tape, and probably whatever tape you used. I keep it around mostly for that very purpose.

If that doesn't work, there's a product called Goo Gone that works for removing a lot of gooey, sticky things on your car. I don't know if it's sold in Oz, but if not, there's probably something similar.

I don't think either of these will damage paint, but it's always good to test it someplace inconspicuous first, just in case.

Good luck!

__________
Dave
'91 325iX



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/09/2013 12:12PM by Dave_G.

WD40 is sold as being good for everything, maybe it's not good enough for what you need!

Have you tried to polish that area by hand? Couldn't hurt.

Have you fixed the roof drains yet?
I had my share of leaky sun-roofs, not funny. And I didn't learned the lesson, the latest car I bought has a sun-roof!

You will be surprised but peanut butter works very well and is easy to keep it where you are working and it cleans up with a little soap.

My personal preference is the crunchy style for the hard to get glue spots.

Bob in Lake Havasu

Thanks guys. Yep, I've tried polishing and using new tape to remove old tape. Cool, I'll try the WD40 (and peanut butter sounds crazy Bob, but I'll give it a crack) before moving up to stronger solvents.

Jose, thanks for the reminder about the drains. It's actually on an E34 and the cause of the leak has me stumped. Multiple times, I have blasted the sunroof with a high pressure hose and it has remained dry as a bone. The night it leaked, though, the road camber and hill meant that the car was leaning towards the (front left) corner where it leaked. Perhaps there is a drain in this corner which is broken. Otherwise, all I can think is that the sunroof was slightly ajar that night.

Cheers,
Simon



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/09/2013 07:26PM by nomis3613.

I agree with Dave, WD 40 is only used to dry wires around here (if I ever need to do that anymore). I've been told, by salesmen, that the spray wd has an agent in it that allows it to be in a spray can but that very agent causes it to gum up badley making it pretty much useless. In days of yore everybody used to buy the pump can, that atleast did something....

Sunroofs usualy have four drains, one in each corner. I built a special air gun with a 15 or so inch piece of brake line that gets to the rear drains quite well (the brake pipe is small enough to sneak past the sunroof and channel). You have to bend the brake line ever so slightly to really get back in the rear corners and it can take a few trys to get things clear, then all you do is set the car up, level wise, and run some water in the water channels to check if it's draining right.

I use kero or goo gone to get tape sticky off paint, just be sure to test it like the guys are saying.

Cheers, Rick

Lighter fluid, naptha, is a great solvent for tape adhesive. It does not attack paint or plastic. It is also the main solvent in sap, tar and bug remover. I've used it on a variety of things on the car and in the house with good results.