BEWARE, all my stripes Peeps, Ghost Stories

[Murse-In-Airy]

As I led the charge into striping last year, I’m probably also the first to pull my striping as I sold the black and red premium. Learning from multiple folks that selling a car at stock is better than selling a modified car, i returned the black and red car to boring black stock prior to selling.

In pulling the stripes, which had been on for only about 11 months, I got a big surprise. There were some pretty severe ghost lines left behind. Way more than I would expect for 11 months, especially on a garage kept car. It never spent that much time out in the sun for UV damage to the exposed paint. So I didn’t really expect this.

I cleaned the car with goo-gone to ensure this wasn’t an adhesive ridge and the striping after-image remained. I went after it with a correcting compound and polishing compound. No change. The only way I found to get rid of them was to pucker all sphincters and wet sand.

I guess Murse-In-Airy’s DIY detail and vinyl shop now does full paint corrections including wet sanding. I was tachycardic the whole time but I had a degree from YouTube and have spent many nights at Holiday Inn Expresses. I attacked with 2000 grit and a spray bottle of soapy water, frequently wiping off to check my progress. Even in the shockingly horrifying image above, you can still see the stripe image in the middle 50% of the hood. So I kept going. Once the stripe image was erased I went back to the dual action polisher and Griot’s Complete Compound.

Following that with Chemical Guys V38 polish I was able to return my mirror finish and get rid of the stripe after-image.

All this is to say… Ladies and Gentlemen, If you don’t want to have a myocardial infarction while you wet sand your beautiful car, leave your stripes on. Alternatively, take your car to a professional for stripe removal and let them deal with the ghosting. This clearcoat is apparently quite soft and holds an after-image / ghost of the vinyl like you wouldn’t believe. On a good note, it is also apparently quite thick as I didn’t burn through in any spots.

Before and after videos of the ghost stripes:

Sponsored

 

[Lord Polymath]

Wow, what an ordeal! Personally, I would have left the stripes.

 

[Murse-In-Airy]

Wow, what an ordeal! Personally, I would have left the stripes.

Me too AFTER I saw the ghost image. Luckily it was just the hood. The side stripes and rear striping had very minor ghosting that came off with rubbing compound.

 

[GoGoGadgetMachE]

Stripes ghost stories?

Now we know why Bill Murray starred in "Stripes", then in "Ghostbusters"! He was warning us all!

 

[Lord Polymath]

Me too AFTER I saw the ghost image. Luckily it was just the hood. The side stripes and rear striping had very minor ghosting that came off with rubbing compound.

I wonder if the paint on the hood has a different type of clear coat or something. Fords, Mustangs in particular, are known for low quality paint.

 

[Murse-In-Airy]

I wonder if the paint on the hood has a different type of clear coat or something. Fords, Mustangs in particular, are known for low quality paint.

I assumed it was more UV exposure. That was the only horizontal painted surface that was striped.

 

[MachMachWhoThere]

You have much bigger balls than me ?. No way I would try this on my own!

 

[Murse-In-Airy]

You have much bigger balls than me ?. No way I would try this on my own!

Which only goes to show that you are MUCH smarter than me.

 

[RosarioM]

As I led the charge into striping last year, I’m probably also the first to pull my striping as I sold the black and red premium. Learning from multiple folks that selling a car at stock is better than selling a modified car, i returned the black and red car to boring black stock prior to selling.

In pulling the stripes, which had been on for only about 11 months, I got a big surprise. There were some pretty severe ghost lines left behind. Way more than I would expect for 11 months, especially on a garage kept car. It never spent that much time out in the sun for UV damage to the exposed paint. So I didn’t really expect this.

I cleaned the car with goo-gone to ensure this wasn’t an adhesive ridge and the striping after-image remained. I went after it with a correcting compound and polishing compound. No change. The only way I found to get rid of them was to pucker all sphincters and wet sand.

I guess Murse-In-Airy’s DIY detail and vinyl shop now does full paint corrections including wet sanding. I was tachycardic the whole time but I had a degree from YouTube and have spent many nights at Holiday Inn Expresses. I attacked with 2000 grit and a spray bottle of soapy water, frequently wiping off to check my progress. Even in the shockingly horrifying image above, you can still see the stripe image in the middle 50% of the hood. So I kept going. Once the stripe image was erased I went back to the dual action polisher and Griot’s Complete Compound.

Following that with Chemical Guys V38 polish I was able to return my mirror finish and get rid of the stripe after-image.

All this is to say… Ladies and Gentlemen, If you don’t want to have a myocardial infarction while you wet sand your beautiful car, leave your stripes on. Alternatively, take your car to a professional for stripe removal and let them deal with the ghosting. This clearcoat is apparently quite soft and holds an after-image / ghost of the vinyl like you wouldn’t believe. On a good note, it is also apparently quite thick as I didn’t burn through in any spots.

Before and after videos of the ghost stripes:

Thanks for the post you’ve convinced me not to add stripes. Also you used some big words there. Had to whip out the old google to figure out what you were talking ‘bout.

 

[Murse-In-Airy]

Thanks for the post you’ve convinced me not to add stripes. Also you used some big words there. Had to whip out the old google to figure out what you were talking ‘bout.

I knew this could happen long term. But I wasn’t worried. I’ve never owned a car for less than 8 years. I never imagined I’d be selling the car in under a year.
I’ll still stripe my new one because there no way in hell that I’ll be trading up again anytime soon.

 

[Polar]

I solved that by wrapping the WHOLE car before applying stripes ??

 

[Murse-In-Airy]

I solved that by wrapping the WHOLE car before applying stripes ??

Yes you did. And don’t think I’m not exploring THAT on the GT-PE as well.

 

[Murse-In-Airy]

I solved that by wrapping the WHOLE car before applying stripes ??

I ordered some of that copper vinyl to see what those stripes would look like on the Dark Grey.

 

[dml105]

I solved that by wrapping the WHOLE car before applying stripes ??

But did you put the plus and minus signs on the two ends of your Copper Top yet?

 

[TRP]

As I led the charge into striping last year, I’m probably also the first to pull my striping as I sold the black and red premium. Learning from multiple folks that selling a car at stock is better than selling a modified car, i returned the black and red car to boring black stock prior to selling.

In pulling the stripes, which had been on for only about 11 months, I got a big surprise. There were some pretty severe ghost lines left behind. Way more than I would expect for 11 months, especially on a garage kept car. It never spent that much time out in the sun for UV damage to the exposed paint. So I didn’t really expect this.

I cleaned the car with goo-gone to ensure this wasn’t an adhesive ridge and the striping after-image remained. I went after it with a correcting compound and polishing compound. No change. The only way I found to get rid of them was to pucker all sphincters and wet sand.

I guess Murse-In-Airy’s DIY detail and vinyl shop now does full paint corrections including wet sanding. I was tachycardic the whole time but I had a degree from YouTube and have spent many nights at Holiday Inn Expresses. I attacked with 2000 grit and a spray bottle of soapy water, frequently wiping off to check my progress. Even in the shockingly horrifying image above, you can still see the stripe image in the middle 50% of the hood. So I kept going. Once the stripe image was erased I went back to the dual action polisher and Griot’s Complete Compound.

Following that with Chemical Guys V38 polish I was able to return my mirror finish and get rid of the stripe after-image.

All this is to say… Ladies and Gentlemen, If you don’t want to have a myocardial infarction while you wet sand your beautiful car, leave your stripes on. Alternatively, take your car to a professional for stripe removal and let them deal with the ghosting. This clearcoat is apparently quite soft and holds an after-image / ghost of the vinyl like you wouldn’t believe. On a good note, it is also apparently quite thick as I didn’t burn through in any spots.

Before and after videos of the ghost stripes:

I have a couple of PVCs reading this

Sponsored