Decals Coming Off Project

[JandC]

I know...."here we go again". Since arriving in Florida for the winter I have started the decal removal project. I used a heat gun to soften the badly curling decals. Then I applied a caulk removal product, let it sit for about a minute, then removed the rest of the decal glue with a plastic putty knife. Took about 2 hours to remove a 3' by 5' area. Today I will use the EagerBuff compound and my buffer to get rid of the shadowing where the decals used to be. I actually think the process will go a little faster than I thought. The key for me is getting the shadowing off completely and bringing the original gel coat shine back 100%. Then I will have my choice on whether to start replacing original decals, find someone to paint something on, or just let it stay bare.

12/28/13: Buffed out the 3'x5' area with EagerBuff compound. Shadow lines gone about 99%. A quick finish buff and coat of wax and I am sure there will be no evidence of prior decals. I am thrilled!

[1retired06]

Lots of work. Hope you achieve your 100% original gel shine restoral.

[richfaa]

I would go to a reputable paint shop and get a expert opinion of painting the Montana. We are not all that happy with the quality of the paint on our 2013 3402 Big Sky. We did have a personal conversation with the shop that painted this Montana in Goshen and the pro's and cons of painting them along with what the manufacturers specify.

My personal opinion after 17 months with this big sky is they sure are pretty but we would have been better off with Decals and upgrading to G6-14 tires.

[cdaniels]

We are 100% pleased with our big sky paint but we have one of the first full body paint years. Ours has the lighter colors on white. We don't have the chips that the new darker models talk about. But those new colors are sure pretty and more noticeable!

[dieselguy]

JandC ... for whatever reason, you'll never get the ghost image of the decal out of your exterior walls. I tried several compounds on my previous Montana when the decals went bad ... never found one that permanently kept the ghost away ... within a month, the ghost image of the old decal was pretty visible. If you go with original decals the new decals will cover up the ghost image anyways.

[JandC]

quote:Originally posted by dieselguy

JandC ... for whatever reason, you'll never get the ghost image of the decal out of your exterior walls. I tried several compounds on my previous Montana when the decals went bad ... never found one that permanently kept the ghost away ... within a month, the ghost image of the old decal was pretty visible. If you go with original decals the new decals will cover up the ghost image anyways.

I know what you are saying. But I will bet that you never tried EagerBuff compound. Believe me when I tell you that the ghost image is gone and it aint coming back. EagerBuff will restore your original gel coat to the original, which is what is under the old decal. There is no body shop, boat shop, paint shop that can provide a better rubing compound for gel coat. I tried when I wanted to restore the gel coat on my 1990 motor yacht. I was at the point of having a expensive paint job done on it, until I found this compound in Chicago and tried it. If the gel coat is really chaulky and bad you have to wet sand prior to using EagerBuff, which is what I had to do to my 1990 boat, but the Monte wasn't nearly that bad. The compound restores the oils back into the gel coat. A small industrial company in Chicago makes this stuff, among other compounds. I plan on working on this several hours a day and will take some pictures as the work progresses.

[Phil P]

Hi

I have tried a couple of companies that do vehicle wraps and vinyl signs. I find their prices for a vinyl product installed that is warrantee for 5 years to be about the same price Keystone wants for their graphics not installed and the Keystone graphics are made of a product only warrantee for 1 year. Two of the three shops I have contacted give their own warrantee to cover the labor cost if the vinyl product fails in less than 5 years.

This is after removal of the old graphics.

You can have them duplicate the originals or you can come up with you own design.

Phil P

[JandC]

The previous owners had received a complete set of decals for the right side and front from Keystone. Even though I have those I am really undecided on what to do after all the bad ones are off on the right side. The big shiny areas of new looking gel coat are starting to grow on me as I get the right side done. I am pretty sure I won't have the whole mountain scene put back on. I am leaning toward just replacing a couple of the swishes plus the "Montana" and calling it a day. And it may be a good idea to have those made by someone else besides Keystone so I can get better quality material and glue. I sure find it strange that the decals on the left side are in perfect shape.