Vinyl racing stripe removal - how to deal with unevenly faded paint?

[slugg]

Hello all. I'm looking at a car ('99 Mazda Miata) in a dark blue color. I'm digging everything about it except for the fact that it has two racing stripes. I really do hate stripes, although these are the least crappiest stripes I've seen.

Anyhow, I'm pretty sure they've been on there for 3 years. Suppose I were to buy the car and remove the stripes... do you think there would be any noticeable uneven fading? In other words, would it be visible that stripes were on the vehicle? If so, what are my options besides repainting?

Here are the pics of the car I'm thinking about: link

Thanks!

 

[jlee]

I'm going to go with probably yes, but maybe not if it was stored out of sunlight.

You're safer trying it with that color than with red, though!

 

[JCH13]

Vinyl was on my Miata for 1-2 years, then the previous owner stripped it before selling me the car and I can clearly tell where some of it was. I'd say it's likely you'll be able to tell where the stripes were, but I don't know how quickly that blue paint fades. Maybe pull up a corner and see how bad it is?

Personally I'd take the red stripe off if possible, and call it a day. The silver does look pretty nice, I think it compliments the wheels well.

 

[slugg]

What about with a buff and polish job? This is assuming that the fading happens in the clear coat (I have no grounds for this assumption... just putting it out there). Has anyone heard of this being done after some kind of decal removal?

 

[thedarkwolf]

What about with a buff and polish job? This is assuming that the fading happens in the clear coat (I have no grounds for this assumption... just putting it out there). Has anyone heard of this being done after some kind of decal removal?

Yeah I was going to say pick up a porter cable 7424 and give it a shot. Or just pay a detail shop to do it.

 

[thescreensavers]

What about with a buff and polish job? This is assuming that the fading happens in the clear coat (I have no grounds for this assumption... just putting it out there). Has anyone heard of this being done after some kind of decal removal?

I removed the pinstripe, it was on the car for 4 years, when I took it off it left a mark. I did polish it but made it less visible and now you have to really look for it but at the right angle its clear as day.

Because the car has a clear coat, any fading of color in the color coat cannot be addressed as the clear coat will prevent you from reaching it and the the color difference you're seeing is at the basecoat level.

If there are impressions in the clear coat from where the badges were you can probably improve and possibly remove these by using a product like ScratchX by hand or one of our cleaner/polishes by machine. The idea being and the goal to remove a little clear coat until you've leveled the surface in the affected area until it has a uniform appearance. Often time you cannot completely remove these impressions in the clear coat but you can improve them to the point to where you cannot see them easily with your eyes.

There's some related information in Meguiar's FAQ here,


5. Can a clear coat fade?
http://meguiars.com/faq/index.cfm?faqCat=Paint Questions&faqQuestionID=43&section=_43#_43

Yes and No

The word fade means to:

"Lose color or brightness gradually."

Technically speaking, since the clear coat has no color, it cannot fade or lose it's brightness (at least if we use the above definition).

It can however become dull, but that's not the same as fading and is more typically a sign of oxidation and the build up of above surface contaminants. (See in this FAQ – Can a clear coat oxidize?)

Now lets ask the above question in just a little different way.

Can the color coat below the clear coat fade?

In short, the answer is yes, however, it depends upon the environment in which the car is exposed.

A car parked inside most of its life, far away from the equator will not show much sign of fading.
A car continually parked outside in a desert region close to the equator will fade more quickly and the results will be more apparent over time because of the increased exposure to UV rays.
While these answers are technically correct, the non-technical answer to the question, "Can a clear coat fade?", is yes, but very slowly. So slowly that most people cannot perceive any visual change over the course of normal day-to-day living or during the length of the ownership of their car.