Woodgrain side striping....

[a-wanabbee]

Is there any safe and foolproof method to remove the exterior band striping halfway down the body of the airstream. It is a faded woodgrain, and would look much better if it was replaced or changed....Also the area above and below is faded completely. I am unsure if it was originally painted or not, it looks to be black or maybe a gray color. However there is also the word "limited" on the side, which is rivetted in place. I don't want to have to go to the extent and danger of removing and possibly ruining it....Any ideas or methods you can share?. I have a photo of my airstream on my profile, but it is not clearly represented in terms of the state of the banding....

[Chaplain Kent]

Welcome to the forums. I too have the same wood grain stripe on my motor home. Mine is in pretty good condition and hopefully will stay that way. When I was doing the exterior polishing last year I accidentally got some stripper on a portion of this wood grain and it completely came off leaving a tan base. I believe this is a tape which was used by AS. There was a guy on eBay last year selling rolls of this which went upwards to $60- 70 a roll. I have not seen any since.
If the tape is attached well and you see no bubbles one option would be to paint it. Rust-OLeum has a blue color that comes pretty close to the AS Excella Blue. I have used a grey color on my bottom band and it holds up very well. A second option would be to remove the tape, this can be done with a heat gun. You will have an aluminum finish underneath. After you remove the adhesive this can be polished. My tape trim covers a seam but I wonder if that is the same on a trailer since the height is lower.
Good luck to you.

[GlenCoombe]

Good luck in your search. Please let us know what and where you find this material. I remember a long long long....did I mention long ? time ago, when I was working for FORD building rusty Pintos we used a wood grain vinyl material by the name of DYNOCK, (not sure if the spelling is correct). I'm certain there is lots of wood grain vinyl on the market but the thing you'll be looking for is a UV barrier for finish.
Also welcome to the forum from an expatriot refugee from the Canadian taxman.

[bake315]

Originally Posted by Tin Lizzy

Is there any safe and foolproof method to remove the exterior band striping halfway down the body of the airstream. It is a faded woodgrain, and would look much better if it was replaced or changed....Also the area above and below is faded completely. I am unsure if it was originally painted or not, it looks to be black or maybe a gray color. However there is also the word "limited" on the side, which is rivetted in place. I don't want to have to go to the extent and danger of removing and possibly ruining it....Any ideas or methods you can share?. I have a photo of my airstream on my profile, but it is not clearly represented in terms of the state of the banding....

A heat gun will help remove those decals, but expect slow going, and it is very easy to overheat the aluminum causing distortion, as well as burning yourself. Additionally you have to contend with the remaining adhesive, which doesn't typically come off with the stripe.

Lots of folks have had success just leaving the stripes as they are, and re-striping over them.

Stripeman.com has woodgrain striping material here, though I don't think it's in a roll:

http://www.stripeman.com/Merchant2/m...egory_Code=WGD

If you ultimately plan to polish (34' is a lot to polish, I've discovered) and aren't worried about stripping clearcoat, then I can recommend removing it with a product called Crown Solu-Strip Adhesive Remover. I found it will not only soften up the stripe enough to remove long sections by (chemical gloved) hand, but also softens up the underlying glue enough to enable fairly easy removal utilizing a wooden scraper (made this by putting a miter edge on a 1x4 block of wood). After this I was able to wipe it completely clean with Xylene. It goes without saying that these are all dangerous chemicals and care should be taken - fortunately the hand growing from my forehead at one point has since receded and is scarcely noticeable now - but I digress.

I think you'll find that your Limited badging is merely riveted on, and by drilling those out with the appropriate bit, and, holding it firmly while gently prying with a putty knife all around the perimeter, the badge will come free. To replace, merely clear the original rivet remnant from the hole, and re-rivet back into place.