Removing 3M tape removal without damaging paint

[chorky]

i know nothing whatsoever about torches but just be careful. It doesn’t take as much heat as you might think to damage the paint. If you have or can just borrow a hairdryer I’d try that first if you can. A hairdryer on hot is plenty warm enough. Best of luck!

I was under the impression the adhesive would have to get pretty darn warm to remove. Maybe thats not the case??

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[ShadowsPapa]

Not a joke. I do not have a heat gun. Not a big torch. One of the small handheld ones powered by butane that has a soldering tip a heat tip and an open flame tip. Obviously I would use the heat tip since open flame is clearly a no go. Its my only option At the moment.

Heat guns are CHEAP - Lowe's, Menards, whatever.
I finally bought one a year or two ago and wish I had bought one sooner. 10 times better for doing heat shrink on wires are under the hood close to other stuff, or close to fuel, no open flame. I even use it to warm up dealer decals to remove them, remove stripes and decals from cars, I just can't believe I waited so long to buy one.
I bet I used it at least a couple of times a month.
I used it this weekend to do some marine type heat shrink on wires under the hood of my car where I had to make some repairs - and the wires were right next to the fuel lines.
No way I'd take a torch of any sort close to the fuel lines on that car.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

i know nothing whatsoever about torches but just be careful. It doesn’t take as much heat as you might think to damage the paint. If you have or can just borrow a hairdryer I’d try that first if you can. A hairdryer on hot is plenty warm enough. Best of luck!

Agreed - any heat concentrated wrong can blister the paint - or at least damage it. Doesn't take a lot.
A hair dryer on high is worth a try. But heat guns, 2 heat levels, are really inexpensive.

That 3M adhesive can be a bugger to get loose with goo-gone or goof-off. I've got a large can of the heavy duty 3M brand of that stuff and the best 3M tape I use for putting trim and badges on cars is really tough to release even with that stuff - but heat helps.

 

[Dickster]

Not a joke. I do not have a heat gun. Not a big torch. One of the small handheld ones powered by butane that has a soldering tip a heat tip and an open flame tip. Obviously I would use the heat tip since open flame is clearly a no go. Its my only option At the moment.

Heat guns are cheap and good to have for multiple things. I would Just get one for your project.

 

[firemedic2714]

A heat gun works great and they're very useful around the house fornother stuff. You can get a decent one for about $20 from Harbor Freight.

 

[cranbiz]

Warrior heat gun from Harbor Freight works well and is cheap.

 

[JTGuy]

A torch right next to the fuel door, what could go wrong.

 

[fourfa]

Necro but might as well add, +1 on right tool for the job and that's heat gun.

Recently I needed to remove a loctited motor mount nut (adding the support strap for an engine skid pate underneath it) and my trusty propane torch had become full of dead spiders or whatever. Absolutely would not flow. I just ran the $20 HF heat gun full blast on that nut for a few minutes, and it spun right off. Much safer and worked great; never messing around with flame near the engine bay again.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Heat gun great for heat shrink on wiring - safer, won't scorch or burn the wire, won't darken colored heat shrink.......
On high, could probably air fry your chicken or whatever.

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