OT: Removing remnants of magnetic decal from car

[Lee B]

I know it's OT, but I get so much useful info here, that I'm sure someone can help with this...

I have several magnetic "decals" on my car (like outlines of my dogs etc). Makes it much easier to find my car in the large workplace parking lot!

I know you're supposed to remove and reapply them periodically, and I did for a while and then let it slide. Now one of the larger magnets has fallen off (or been removed) leaving behind the outline of the magnet and a rough area which I'm assuming is pieces of the attachment. My question is: what is the best way to clean up that area? I figured I'd better ask more knowledgeable people before I just try to scrub it off.

Thanks!

[aemeijers]

McGuire's (or pretty much any) polishing compound, available at your Friendly Local Autoparts Store. You may still see a shadow from the unfaded area of paint. If you grind through the clear-coat, you may need to touch that up. If that happens, strip the wax first. Magnetic (as in actual magnets) or that slightly tacky plastic that fuses itself into the paint?

Next set, put them on the rear window. Glass is a lot more forgiving. And learn your license plate number. (Hey, we've all done the wrong car thing before. I tried to unlock some lady's van- a dead duplicate of mine- at the mall a few months ago, just as she was walking up. She thought it was funny. Mine was a row over, and she could see it.)

[Lee B]

Actual magnet, as in I could stick it on my house's security door. I also have a few of the sticky decals, but those are on the glass. I'd bought the magnetic decorations on the theory that if I changed my mind, they'd be easy to remove. And they were, until I got lazy and stop rearranging them. Actually maybe it is easy to get off... but I figured it was safer to solicit a few ideas before I just plunged in and started scrubbing. It might be tiny crumbles of dried up magnet. I wonder if something like one of those dish sponges that are ok for no-stick pans would work. I want to get it off before my brother sees the outline and gives me a raft of "I told you so", LOL!

I have a vanity tag, so at least it's easy to identify my car when I'm close. My problem at work is that half the employees also have the same color SUVs, so the problem I have id id'ing it from a distance, but yeah my father once did the same thing, cussing out "his" car when he couldn't get in and then the real owner walked up... who turned out to be someone he knew professionally!

[Tegger]

aemeijers wrote in news:KsydneW83uEq9nTRnZ2dnUVZ [e-mail]:

Meguiar's, not "McGuire's"

[Jim Elbrecht]

aem's mis-spelling looked so right to me I googled it. And the top hit was

.

And I'll second its use.

Jim

[mm]

This is just stuff that settled on the surface of the car. It probably didn't combine with the paint, not even on the surface. I wouldn't use any rubbing or polishing compound of any sort until I had tried soap and water.

Somehow I ended up with black spots around my gas door and a lot more inside the door. I've never had that before, but I had a lot of it. I happened to have some spray product with a petroleum based solvent, and I figured that it would dissolve the dirt, which must also have been petroleum-based. It did nothing.

I went back a few days later with dishsoap. I don't know if I had any water, but it was liquid dish soap. It did a wonderful job, although it took 3 or 4 minutes. I used a washcloth to rub, since I figured even a bounty paper towel would wear out too soon, but no brush. You could see the big dots becomeing smaller dots and the small dots disappearing.

If there is still a mark after you've washed it well, you can try something else.

I think car washes use hot water, which might work better, but I guess you could use hot water too.