Hi There,

I recently bought a 2011 Cooper S convertible, and it’s awesome! It’s chili red with two black stripes on the hood. The stripes have faint stains which could be from tree sap or bird droppings, and I’d like to know if there is a way to remove them. Thanks in advance!

 

I have had pretty much no luck in removing stains unless they are very recent. Once sap or bird crap eats on them it is usually fatal. Hopefully someone will come along and tell us both that I am wrong and they have some magic.

Probably have to replace them, taking care to coat them with wax or some higher end sealant.

 

+1
There are vinyl merchants everywhere so start shopping. Removal is easy. Use a hair dryer to soften and they peel right off (I've replaced mine twice). Before you pull them, use some blue tape to mark their positions. Here's a link to a NAM page showing how to apply boot stripes but the process is identical to the bonnet, scroll down on the page. When shopping, look for laminated stripes and when you get them laid down give them a good primary coat of real carnuba wax.
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ictures-5.html

 

Minnie and Flyin’,

Thanks so much for your quick responses. I think I’ll just be patient with it for now and replace the strips when they get worse.

Cheers!

 

with black stripes you might try a careful application of Black WOW .....

my silver stripes also spotted badly and I found ZYMOL VINYL helped for a while but eventually I gave up and just removed 'em. I used steam .....