230ERACER

I am bringing my 16k mile to concours level and need to replace the rear fender rock guard film. Is this possible to remove the old and not damage the paint?

peterpullin

no. if you have luck it may work with some heat and glue remover. but always a risk.

budge96

It should come off with prudent use of a heat gun but as prior poster mentioned be very careful not to overheat or paint surface may be sacrificed ..Bert

Igooz

I would most definitely not do this again unless the film has aged and turned the disgusting yellow, or is already broken up. As mentioned, there is risk.

I hauled my car 200mi from Vail back to the "best" PPF guy in Denver to remove and replace the original stoneguards. Their most experienced guy who has worked on my other cars removed mine and ended up peeling some clearcoat. First thought was your car was repainted, of course, paintmeter tells a different story, and then finger pointing starts...

The other thing that will also happen is that the paint surface under the stoneguard will be darker. So, when you go and replace it, your guy better 100% absolutely line it up on top of the old one.

My experience and advice is hell no!

Metal Guru

Check out this Ammo NYC video starting at 8:56. They were able to remove the factory clear film without damaging the paint.
FYI, I was able to remove non-original film without damaging my paint with a heat gun and gentle pulling. Someone else got the dirty job removing the factory stuff before me
I'll use Larry's hot water technique when I have to replace the film on the nose of my car.

Scott Dunavant

Try a dry eraser at a slow drill speed. Don’t heat it up.

cobalt

heat gun and or steam machine to heat up the glue and if you have to use a light plastic tool to remove some of the film. If the glue is difficult the only thing I found that works is Xylene poured along the adhesive line and film a little at a time and dip the plastic tool in the xylene at this same time to prevent glue buildup. I will caution you that original paint usually handles the pulling and stretching but be careful not to stress the clear. If single stage it should be easier. But patience is your friend. It took me 10 hours to remove the ones from my turbo 20 years ago and have repalced them twice since. However someone had tried cleaning them with solvent which dried the early 3m Film out. The adhesive of the OE films from back then is far more aggressive than the PPF of today so keep that in mind and GL.

230ERACER

👍👍