I decided it was time to replace my Clearmask bra on my front bumper, headlight covers and mirrors. They were starting to show a bit of wear, and I have a new replacement set ready to go on. I knew from my research that getting the old material off was probably going to be a bear (that is why I have put the job off for a year). Fortunately, I decided to just try one of the headlight covers first before tackling the mother load.

I was finally able to wrestle off the outer layer. While the "3M Clearmask" material finally came off, it left a layer of 6 year old adhesive on the headlight cover that dynamite could not dissolve.

Spent the next 6 hours rubbing and cussing:

I tried:
3M All-Purpose Adhesive Remover
Goof-Off
Goo-Gone
Goo-Gone Pro
Griots Adhesive Remover
Industroclean
SeaFoam
Mineral Sprits
Heat Gun
Yes, even Acetone that would have destroyed the paint underneath! NOTHING EVEN PHASED IT! Still that "sticky solid layer" of adhesive remained!!!

After 5 hours of this wasted effort and enough bottles and cans on the countertop to mistake my garage workbench for a stripper's makeup table, I got a bright idea. Mr. Clean Magic Eraser? It was a long shot and I knew it would trash the paint finish even if it worked, but I was desperate and invested at this point.

Well, after another hour of making wishes and pretending that my headlamp cover was actually Aladdin's lamp gone bad, the crap finally came off little my little and I was left with the "dull" cover I imagined. I then wet sanded the cover down and hit it with 3 passes of Menzerna and my Flex, and it looks like new.

The question is... Does anyone have a better solution? I am not going to go through this with the other parts - I would but new parts have have them painted first.

Surely there is something that would just dissolve this damn adhesive (although the vendor I bought the clearmask from, just said "Good Luck"!)

Any Ideas?

 

Go down to your local hobby store and buy some ZIP Kicker. It is an accelerator for CA glue.

I've been using it for years on model airplanes, but I discovered recently that one of the things it does really well is dissolve pressure sensitive adhesives.

I haven't tried it on 3M clearmask or on my Corvette's finish, but for $8 a bottle, it's worth a shot.

See: Accelerators - ZAP Glue

I've used it in a similar fashion to the heat gun method described above on tenacious shipping tape.

Except that I peel a small corner, then spray ZIP kicker on the glue side to dissolve the glue as I keep pulling.

 

I think this is where I went wrong. I tried using a heat gun "after" I removed the surface film layer - should have used the heat to remove everything at once.

I have a digital heat gun - wonder what the best heat setting would be?

 

I removed the 3M clear bra off the front fascia of my car right after I bought the car to do a minor repair to the fasica. Yes, it was a PITA to get it all off, but I used Goof Off, WD-40 and a hair dryer along with a lot of elbow grease to finally get it off. The pros can get it off fairly fast and that would be the way I will go should I ever need to get it off again.

 

Yes, you should have heated the film up then pulled it off slowly. When you pull the film pull it up directly away from the surface, not back over itself if that makes sense. Also one thing you said everyone needs to listen too, 3M has some of the strongest adhesive out there. That is a big reason why we don't install it... it is almost impossible to get off.