Found a weird trick for removing old bumper stickers without fading paint underneath

I had a 2010 Civic in the shop last Tuesday with three giant stickers on the hatch that looked like they'd been there since 2012. Heat gun and goo gone were just smearing the adhesive and leaving ghost outlines. Out of frustration I grabbed a can of foaming glass cleaner and a microfiber, sprayed it heavy, and let it soak for like 5 minutes. The stickers lifted right off with zero residue and the paint underneath was basically untouched. No idea why it worked but I've tried it on two other cars since with the same result. Anyone else got a random household product hack that saved their day on a weird paint issue?

2 comments

2 Comments

jasonp7114d ago

...and that's exactly why I spent twenty minutes scrubbing my grandpa's old Ford pickup with wd-40 and a toothbrush before I found a can of furniture polish in the back seat. Sprayed some Pledge on a rag and the sticker basically jumped off the paint like it was scared of lemony fresh scent. No ghosting, no scrubbing, just a clean fender and a lot of questions about why I didn't try that first. Your foaming glass cleaner trick is definitely going in my mental toolbox though, I bet it works on those stubborn dealership sticker frames too.

casey_barnes14d ago

My buddy Mike tried the Pledge trick on his 2008 Subaru Outback last weekend. The previous owner had one of those thick vinyl tribal decals on the rear window, the kind that was popular back then. He sprayed some Pledge on a microfiber cloth, let it sit for a minute, and the whole thing came off in one piece like it was never there. He texted me a photo of the clean glass with a caption that just said "lemony fresh" and a bunch of laughing emojis. The only downside was his garage smelled like a lemon orchard for two days, but he said it was worth it to avoid the scraping.