I've been putting off starting this project for several years and I'm too cheap to pay $1000 to have it removed. Posted on here that I was going to start and KDK sent me a PM to call him... he was on his second removal and he had found the secret to removing the glue. He said to go to Lowe's and buy Orange Squeeze air freshener... yes a citrus air freshener and it really works. Still takes a fair amount of scraping with a plastic razor blade and it does not soften the clear coat.
I used a heat gun to soften the film and and was able to take it off in razor blade widths fairly quickly... 20" in 45 seconds. I wimped out on doing the two black sections... only doing the 2' X 9' center center section. I wet sanded the black sections and painted them with black plastic paint. You can still see the cracks but only if you get up close and almost straight on. MAYBE next year I'll get motivated to remove the black sections... NOT likely
That
I did not do this all at once but I have 8-10 hours in removing the film/glue and another 6 hours sanding , masking and painting the two black sections.
Here are some pictures:
You can see the strips of film removed and the next strip to be removed.
Finished product.
I used a heat gun to soften the film and and was able to take it off in razor blade widths fairly quickly... 20" in 45 seconds. I wimped out on doing the two black sections... only doing the 2' X 9' center center section. I wet sanded the black sections and painted them with black plastic paint. You can still see the cracks but only if you get up close and almost straight on. MAYBE next year I'll get motivated to remove the black sections... NOT likely
That
I did not do this all at once but I have 8-10 hours in removing the film/glue and another 6 hours sanding , masking and painting the two black sections.
Here are some pictures:
You can see the strips of film removed and the next strip to be removed.
Finished product.
MM, I have not decided if I'll put film back on. I've though about painting the black with Rino Shield bed liner which would cover the cracks but not in a glossy finish.
The film and glue that Monaco used does NOT come off easily... the glue is the harder to get off. The amount of sun exposure is definitely a factor. The film under the headlights that is almost flat but with several curves was badly cracked but the film above which would be in the shade had no cracks and I left it on.. Because of the two curves under the headlights removing the film using heat would be tricky so I tried spraying that area three times over five minutes. It was flat enough that the liquid didn't run of and I was able to scrape the film and most of the glue came with it. One more spraying of the air freshener and all of the glue came off. On the vertical surfaces you cannot soak the film or glue as the liquid runs off.
One of the reasons for wet sanding the black film is to smooth the smaller rock chips in it. I agree that chips will be a problem and its part of the reason I left the film on the black areas, especially the lower area.
One of the reasons for wet sanding the black film is to smooth the smaller rock chips in it. I agree that chips will be a problem and its part of the reason I left the film on the black areas, especially the lower area.
PastorCharlie wrote:
I faced my MH into the sun on a warm day and allowed the front to warm....pulled the film off in large sections. Only used hands and no tools. Washed the remaining glue off with mild solvent.
Like so many other items and components on RVs, there's a few thousand variables. Age, how long the coating has been on there, how much sun has it seen in its lifetime, how well was it put on in the first place, and, there's more than one kind of clear vinyl coating. There are some that will peel right off without issue. Then there are some that will upwards of a week or more due to the fact that it's basically almost welded itself to the paint. Just because one person paid only $150 to have it removed, that surely doesn't guaranty that, that will be the going rate for all coaches.
Our coach is an '04 Itasca Horizon 36GD with the C-7 330HP CAT and, it's hovering at 12 years old and the 3M coating is still flawless. The coach has spent about 99.99% of its idle time, INSIDE an RV garage since new. I, and based on all the readings in research I've done, don't think anyone else, can say for sure that, keeping our coach out of the sun when not in use, is a guaranty that, that's the reason our 3M coating is still flawless. I'd bet it helps but, maybe not the 100% reason.
So, if one has to take it off for any number of reasons, it may or, may not be an easy project. Good luck.
Scott
