I have been spending the past few days working on removing the stripe on the right side of my 4runner. It was very sun faded and looked terrible. I intend to replace the stripe when I am done, but I just wanted to let everyone know that there is a definate difference in paint color if anyone is thinking about removing their stripe permanantly.
I still can't get all of the glue off and I've spent days on it. It seems that the hot Arizona sun has baked the glue into the paint over the last 8 years.
If anyone has any suggestions for cleaning up the baked in glue, I'd be happy to try them. I've tried everything that was in UK's post. I have the fender and front door looking pretty good, but the 1/4 panel and the rear door need a lot more work.
BTW, the 4runner is dark green.

 

I have done this before, and I used a liquid called Acrysol. I don't know where you can find it, but the detailers at the Dealership I used to work for had it. Again, I did it on a couple of new 4Runners back in 95, but it worked really well in warm weather with a plastic razor blade, and light use of a heat gun.

Good Luck!

 

I removed the strip on my black 96 after about 6 years. When my rig is nice and shiny clean (right after a good wax), I can notice the fading if I look closely. Otherwise its not at all noticable. I guess that's the difference between a 94 in Arizona and a 96 in New York.

 

Base554: Thanks for the headsup on the paint fade on the darker colors and how it looks when compared to the paint covered by the stripe. I was going to remove the stripe on my Burgundy (med mica red as Toyota calls it) '91 Runner. I know that Corey and UK had good success with the end-result asthetics with their white paint....however, I was wondering how the paint underneath the stripe for darker colors would compare to the paint exposed to the elements. A friend of mine had a bright red (almost tomato red) '95 Runner and when he removed the stripe you could see a slight color difference when you stood within 10 ft but the further you moved back the difference became less noticable. My stripes are in great shape so I think I'll leave them unless someone else has a similar color to mine and has had success with it. The sun here in Tennessee isn't quite as intense as the AZ sun (jeeez that makes it sound like we're in 2 different solar systems ) but I'm thinking that 12 years of any sun will make a difference with the darker colors.

Thanks again for the info,
David

 

I had thought that might be a problem. I have dark green paint but decided long ago that if I have to remove the stripes I'll have to get new ones to replace them. I can see how much darker the paint is under the sticker in the clear areas. 3M makes a glue remover that you can get at most auto paint shops.

 

Somehow, I know EXACTLY what you are talking about.

 

I took the pinstripe off my black Runner after about 5 years in the TX sun. Only when it has just been washed can you see a line if you look really closely.

 

I just finished removing the Surf stickers down the side of mine, you can't see any difference in paint color but you can see a slight indentation in the paint. The Drivers side stickers were the worst, had to use a scouring pad, White Spirit, Baby Oil, Lighter fluid then lots of Autoglym Paint restorer to get a good finish. Glad it's done now I can get on with touching up the paint on the door edges.

Andy

 

several years ago, when my mom had her 94 4runner, we had the stripe taken off by a friend of my dads. don't know how he did it, but you couldn't tell that it had been on there in the first place. i think it was the same guy that took off my silver raised "toyota tacoma" lettering on my doors and my lettering on the tailgate. can't tell that its gone now.

oh, and he also took off my dad's lettering on his yukon xl.

hahaha i guess we just like clean looking rigs.

 

Yeah clean looking is best, the stripes look messy after a few years anyway. One other tool that I found quite helpfull was a plastic Ice scraper - a bit tougher than a credit card and a better handle to get hold of.

I was surprised at the baby oil working but that was my wife's suggestion, i would never have thought of that one.

Andy