Just removed the rub strips from my 6N today. By Jayzus it was quite THE arduos and unleasant task, took me approximately four hours to do completely, most of which was on my own; hence the amount of time spent. Although it took a bloody long time, the advantage of this was that I got to try out a right few differnet methods of Rubstrip removal, and my PoLoW now looks that bit neater.

The first mistake I made was pealing the stips of the car too quickly, leaving most of the bonding adhesive still stuck to the car. I found that if you peel them off slowly it's possible to get most of the adhesive to come off as well, so TAKE YOUR TIME or else you'll be taking alot more time.

So your now left with only the really sticky shit, which I found required several differnet techniques to remove, depending on how well the adhesive is stuck to the car.

A bodyshop owner advised me that the best way of removal is with Cellulos thinners, a hairdryer, and your thumbnail. I found that these are all good tools, but are most effective when used individually.

When you're picking the adhesive off, you'll notice that it varies in thickness (actual depth/amount of adhesive) along the length of the car.

Use a hair dryer and your thumbnail for the parts where the adhesive is thick, you'll find that it peels of quickly and plentifully.

For the parts where the adhesive is quite thin, use a clean rag and cellulos thinners. Use the rag to soak the adhesive and soften it up, (don't worry, the thinners shouldn't damage your paint. Mine's ok anyway.) then pick it off with your nail, this can be a bit of a bitch, but keep at it. You may find that the adhesive starts turning into a sticky mess, but don't worry just put a little (or alot in my case) of thinners on a rag, and wipe this away. You'll need to apply some elbow grease, but the thinners will eventually break down the adhesive and you'll be able to wipe it off.

Once it's all off, give her a wee polish and stand back and admire your work... and your blisters.

I posted this is because hopefully it'll save someone some blood sweat and tears in the future. The job is an absoloute bastard, and my thumb's the proud owner of a blister the size of Mount Everest, I tried loads more techniques, but found these to be the most effective.

DON'T USE AN OLD CREDIT CARD TYPE DEVICE, AS THIS WILL SCRATCH YOUR PAINT, AND THE THINNERS WILL MELT IT.

nice writeup, exactly how i did mine!

Great Write up, This is the same for debadging model enscription on the back of your car's too.

sticky maybe? and yer good write up.

lol I wish this was here when I took mine off, did it waaay too fast and ended up with loads of sticky stuff...took nearly 2 days to get it all off

haha, rubbish!

Should have said James, we have the proper tool for taking off rub strips down the unit and it would have took about 15 mins to do it

Cheers for that. Will get mums hair dryer and do it tonight with my mate

I did mine a couple of days ago.

After trying a few crap techniques I used petrol and an old credit card and it worked a dream, no scratches or owt, and took about 30 minutes!

I had a hosepipe at the ready at first as i was a bit apprehensive about the petrol, but its fine. It just turns the glue into jelly so it peels right off!

Edited 21 August, 200719 yr by Tom66

quality write up, Thats exactly how i did mine on the octavia.

Remmember guys dont pop your blister leave it for 4-5 days and it wont give you any pain

you can also use a rubber wheel on a drill to get rid of the adhesive stuff and give it a good polish after and bobs you uncle its fun and fast hahah

this is what i do to get em off damaged cars anyways

Thanks very much guys.

Never tried petrol, but it would probably do a very good job as well.

so does this work for any type of car?

mines a 9n and have been planning on doing this

Well the rub strips are probably attached using some sort of adhesive which thinners will break down, so yes.

Luckily I didnt have the same problem, took mine off last night, it took about an hour, am glad it didnt take 4 hours, but it was well worth it! :-D

Edited 24 August, 200719 yr by Cosmic Girl

I'm planning tp attack mine this week, so this thread was just in time, I hope it goes alrite!

I've always found label remover spray is very good stuff. you can get it from places like maplin and rs components. it certainly takes a lot of the hard work out of it

Um reading this post this is gonna be a stupid question i just know but i'm gonna ask anyway :-) Are there Holes underneath, want to take the strips of but don't want to have to muck around with any filling that may be needed

mk4's have no holes, just glue. pretty sure its the same deal for the others. i tried the hotwater / credit card method which works if u take it slow (too eager and you'l loose paint - as i did) Left with loads of glue on the bodywork. Autoglym tar remover has been reccommended on here before but is useless. meths works a treat!

will some dental floss work as well if you peel back the first edge and slide it under the cut the gluey stuff close to the body?

I used detnal tape when taking my badges off, I assume it would be the same for the rub strips?

Still haven't got round to it, though I have a question of my own, If I take them off and it goes wrong for whatever reason, what would you use to glue them back on?

Edited 1 September, 200719 yr by KinkyKel

I wouldn't know, but i would settle for cleaning the leftover adhesive off. Then get myself down to halfrauds/equivalent, then buy a long roll of double-sided adhesive foam. I have used this foam in a pad form to attach number plates when i can't be bothered to drill and they are very sturdy.

cool, that could be a plan, chhers. Just need to work myself up to doing it now.

Yeh, Buying cellulose thinners and Label remover could be costly so it may be a job for payday! Especially if you are already skint and you got paid like thursday

Edited 1 September, 200719 yr by Tubthumper

lol ah hope you get paid weekly then! :-D

lable remover spray is a rip-off!! just get yourself some cheap lighter fluid (not the compressed stuff, the fuel you use in zippos- works a treat!! and is cheap as!)

Edited 18 May, 200818 yr by jon H