Dealing with a 2005 pick up truck that had factory applied decals on the doors. I read that using a hairdryer at low heat would loosen the and they could be pulled off that worked well for 80% of the decals, but the rest is as if a 50% thickness is still there in the clear coat. You can't feel any edges and the color is just somewhat lighter. Mequiars cutting compound and correcting compound doesn't touch it. Laquer thinner doesn't touch it. Tried 2000 grit and now have a place I'll need to touch up some way. Any ideas ?
Ghost of factory applied decal
- Thread starter Mod486
- Start date
Mike Phillips
Active member
- Dec 5, 2022
- 51,004
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Ghosting is difficult to remove 100%
2 problems
1: The paint under the lettering will tend to be a different color than the paint surrounding it and because the pigmented basecoat is UNDER the clear there's NOTHING you can do to fix it.
2: The imprint in the paint where you can see a difference in the surface level between where the lettering or signage was placed and the surrounding paint is also almost if not impossible to fix even with wet sanding. The reason why is because you simply don't have enough paint to work with.
Factory paint is thin. From my article here,
Clearcoats are thin by Mike Phillips
The majority of cars being manufactured today and starting since the 1980's use what's called a basecoat/clearcoat paint system. With this system, a clear layer of paint is sprayed over the top of the basecoat which is also the color coat or the layer of paint that has pigment in it. If the car has a metallic finish then the metallic flakes are also in the basecoat.
The basecoat doesn't offer any gloss or shine and in fact it's dull or matte looking after it's sprayed. The basecoat gets it's gloss, shine, depth and reflectivity by the spraying of the clearcoat layer of paint over the top of it. This is why if a person removes too much clearcoat when buffing and they expose the basecoat it will appear to be a dull round or oval spot on a body panel. The part of the paint system that adds beauty has been removed revealing the dull or matte basecoat layer of paint.
Just how thin is the clear layer of paint on a factory paint job?
The factory clearcoat on a new or modern car measures approximately 2 mils thin.
The average post-it not is around 3 mils thin.
What does this mean?
This means the factory clearcoat on a new or modern car is thinner than a post-it note.
The next time you have a post-it note in front of you, feel a single post-it note between your fingers. Like this...
This experience will drive home the point as to just how thin the clear layer of paint is on modern car with a factory paint job.
It should also drive home the importance of using the least aggressive pad, product and even tools to get the job done.
When I say, get the job done, the context of this usually means someone is buffing out a car to remove paint defects like swirls, scratches, water spots and oxidation to make the paint and thus the car look better.
By using the least aggressive products you "get the job done" while leaving the most paint on the car to it will last over the mechanical service life of the car.
If you're working on your own cars and you're reading this you're already ahead of the game by reading the AGO forum and probably being a member so you can ask questions and get help.
If you're working on customer's cars take a professional approach as a service to your customers.
If you're reading this and you're going to do the work yourself or hire a detailer then do some research and make sure you hire a detailer that knows this type of stuff because the factory clearcoat on your car is thin.
Mike Phillips
Active member
- Dec 5, 2022
- 51,004
- 6
If you went through the clearcoat it's game over.
The only way to fix the area now is to repaint.
In the future, if you're doing this for customers then you need to learn how to educate them that some things simply cannot be fixed.
2black1s
New member
- Jan 23, 2015
- 1,783
- 0
Being an old painter, I've seen ghosting from deacal, stripes, lettering, and such from a previous paint job show through even in a new paint job. I can only speculate that the decal, stripe, lettering or whatever changes the molecular structure of the finish it is applied to in some way and that change effects the way it "takes" the new paint. Kind of like painting over a different substrate. Sometimes the only fix is to strip the panel completely (to bare metal) and start from there with the new paint.
Mike Phillips
Active member
- Dec 5, 2022
- 51,004
- 6
I have a similar problem. It's the decal put on by the dealer (2006 Prius). At some point in the past, someone removed the decal but not all the glue. Dark gray metallic paint.ghost isn't too visible. Not sure what's been tried on it.
What should I try? In what order? Thanks
What should I try? In what order? Thanks