Somebody just posted this on MINI2 and I thought I would pass it along:

Removed Visor Stickers
I removed the Air Bag Warning Stickers/Decals from my visors today. The first one took me 15 minutes and the second took 5!

I used Denatured Alcohol; thats Methylated Spirits to our UK friends and Methyl or Wood Alcohol Down Under. I folded a paper towel into 4 thicknesses and soaked it well then "washed" the decal off with some firm rubbing. You may see some red and yellow dye appear on the visor but it cleans off with the alcohol. Finished the job by wiping the visors down with a wet sponge.

Clean Visors

 

...before they begin wrinkling from UV. I waited a while (for no reason) before removing the stickers so little white flecks remain embedded in the tiny pocks of the vinyl's texture AND there's a visible rectangular sheen. Not pretty Let my could've/would've/should've be your cautionary tale!

 

Thank you, thank you, thank you! I swear the people here read my mind!!! I think about doing something... and poof!... the "how to" magically appears!!

Now... how do I get money to grow on trees?

 

I tried getting mine off with the method I'd used on previous cars, hair dryer and razor blade....all I got was a hot decal and the corners peeled off. I ended up covering them with black cloth tape. I was okay with that until a young passenger in my car told me it looked "ghetto" with the tape. Have nothing to lose by trying out the alcohol.

 

Thanks for the post

 

Reading my mind too, since I just picked up my car yesterday. The sooner I do it the better ?

 

Gotta try this, thanx!

 

si, papi! less baked-on residue.

 

It worked! but there's still a slight reminder that it was once there. I imagine with future cleanings it will eventually fade away like a bad dream.

 

How do you pop out the plugs that cover the visor screws?

Any special technique or tool?

 

I didn't have any caps over the screws. They came exposed and remain exposed. They're painted black to blend into the rest of the mounting.

 

The visors do not have to be removed to take off the airbag sicker, if I catch your drift. Just position the visors as horizontally as possible and let the alcohol-soaked towel do it's work for a minute or two. You might keep some paper towels around if a drip occurs.

 

I have the anthracite interior and headliner, but didnt have the nerve to use
any solvants to remove them. I bought a couple of square feet of low gloss
black vinyl from a sign shop and covered them with it. It looks pretty good
and I have enough to reapply if the edges start to curl up. Total cost was
$5.00

 

 

That is the exact moment I would drop off the young passenger and let him/her walk

 

I used some stuff i bought called Goof off and it worked perfectly. thanks for reminding me about those I have been meaning to do something about them, I guess I just got used to seeing them there..

 

Goof Off also did the trick for me.

 

Some pointers, having done this on 2 MINI's now.
1-Use a alcohol (denatured) soaked pad first. Be patient. Let the alcohol do its work. Soak the towel, let it sit for 5 minutes and then check it. If the decal isn't shriveling up, let it soak more before you rub. I recommend doing this in a sink as to keep the alcohol from running all over your countertops. Once the decal is wrinkling off then start rubbing with a soaked towel. If it doesn't come off easily let it soak more. It will eventualy just slide off.

2-If you have a blackish yellow residue from the decal or a hazy spot where the adhesive was when you finish step 1. Then rub the area with acetone. This will take all the residue off.

3-To remove the visor, pop the small plastic cover off the pivot with a tiny flat blade screwdriver. Be careful not to distort the plastic. I do not recommend doing this with the visor still installed. Especialy with an anthracite head liner. It will surely ruin it!

Now you will have a clean looking headline. You could cover it with black tape or whatever, but this is gonna look way better in the long run. Especially if you have the light headliner!

 

Say trbokix and schulzmc,

Did you use regular Goof Off or Goof Off 2 (water based, safe for plastics)? How long did it take before you saw results? Did Goof Off leave any ghosting or discoloration?

Thanks

 

Are we talking about a sticker? Because mine looks like it’s painted on (2006). Will this work for both? Gr8Force, Do you have a picture of how it looks?

 

I just did this last night to my '05. Denatured alcohol worked a lot better than the nail polish remover i had used on the '02. I weighted the alcohol-soaked paper towel down with a block of wood. It still took about 15 or more minutes for the decal to start wrinkling up.

I would imagine the '06 is the same. The sticker does look painted on. It's not something that you could peel up normally, like a regular sticker.

It was really easy to remove the visor. I wouldn't recommend doing this without removing the visor from the car.

Ken

 

I have a 2006. I think the way to describe it is that it is like a decal, or similar to temporary tatoos that kids play with. After soaking in denatured alcohol for 5 minutes, mine pulled off as a single, stretchy plastic sheet.

 

I used the regular Goof Off. I squirted a generous amount on some paper towel, held it in place for a few minutes, and then rubbed the decal off. It took a little rubbing. Both visors took less than 15 min. (together) I then took some clear water on a sponge and wiped both down to get any residue of the Goof Off off.

 

How I handled the sticker problem...at least on one visor.

hs

 

I know it looks like it's painted on but it's still a sticker. A very high quality sticker but still a sticker. I actually used a product that is used to wipe & clean dry erase boards. It has a lot of alcohol in it but it also has a touch of acetone which made a nice difference. I tried plain alcohol on one (letting it soak for 15 min), it still needed some scrubbing and left a lot of sticker residue. I used the dry erase solution to clean that up and it worked a lot quicker. So I used it on the other one and it worked much better. Then to make sure I countered any effects of the acetone I used a cleaner & conditioner for vinyl & plastic. Ta-dah! I just took a quick look at them in very bright sunlight and there's still a shade of the sticker residue left but not nearly enough to call attention to it. In anything less than full sunlight it'll be invisible.

Also, I took the visors off as it was much easier to handle them. It didn't chance the rubbing & scrubbing to move the visor around and scratch something. I was just careful working with the screws so I wouldn't damage any paint on them. Make sure you use a screw driver that fits properly and fully otherwise you chance scratching the paint on the screws. It's not a real big deal but you'll want to repaint the screws if you do scratch them. No biggie. BTW, mine didn't have a cover cap over the screws part.

I don't have any pics but I'll get some. I'll have to use my brothers much higher resolution digital camera to see if it will show up in the pics as I have an old 2 megapix. I guess I better catch up with the times. I would love to have the Canon Rebel SLR 8megapixel but that's incredibly expensive right now. Money that I'd rather put towards mods!