Silicone removal

[kevinkatz]

I am renovating a vintage trailer. Silicone was liberally used and I am having a huge challenge unsuccessfully removing it. I have used heat and razor blades, acetone, alcohol. Mineral spirits, tar and bug remover, paint stripper and WD 40 all to no avail. I have already created more scratches than I am prepared to acknowledge. Any ideas would be really helpful.

[InsideOut]

Several years ago, when we did our restoration, we too had a "Silicone-Happy" PO...I HATE %#$@*! silicone!

However, we found that if you spray Permatex Gasket Remover (although it looks like the formula may have changed because mine wasn't "Low VOC") on it, it will soften it.

It was nasty stuff - a lot like the Aircraft Stripper we used to remove the clearcoat, but it worked better on silicone. Use a sharpened popsicle stick to scrape it all off, you'll probably need several passes to get it all off. Then wipe down the area with mineral spirits to remove the remaining residue. All traces of the silicone must be removed or else the new Vulkem/Parabond will not adhere It's a very laborious and thankless task...I'm sure it didn't take as long to put all the silicone on!

Permatex Gasket Remover can be found at most auto supply stores like Checker, Pep Boys, Kragen, etc.

The other thing we found that worked fairly well on removing the %#$@*! silicone is:

McKanica Silicone Caulk Remover Gel (VTS used to carry it, not now).

Neither really worked as well as I wanted them to - they both needed multiple coats, but they eventually did the trick. The Permatex will damage plastics & painted surfaces (even POR-15...don't ask me how I know!) so be sure parts are removed or protected.

Shari

[Iansk]

Originally Posted by kevinkatz

I am renovating a vintage trailer. Silicone was liberally used and I am having a huge challenge unsuccessfully removing it. I have used heat and razor blades, acetone, alcohol. Mineral spirits, tar and bug remover, paint stripper and WD 40 all to no avail. I have already created more scratches than I am prepared to acknowledge. Any ideas would be really helpful.

This is a long and tedious process but the best technique I’ve found is thus:
I use old hotel key cards cut into various shapes and scraping angles to mechanically remove a layer at a time, once I get to the point where it’s in its everlasting skin stage, I liberally apply Wd-40 as I work my way around the offending areas. Then go back over it with another key card scraper and then another coat of WD-40 and keep repeating until my finger tells me there is no residue left. I’ve used strips of plastic cling wrap over the WD-40 to localize it and keep it from evaporating as well. This can take many hours and even days. It’s usually a task I combine with another.

Ian

[Iansk]

If you’re short on key cards I’m just up the road from you and have oodles from when I used to travel for work when I had a job pre-pandemic...

Ian

[DremStremer]

I did this "fun" job last summer. Lucky for me the silicon wasn't applied very well, so a lot of the thicker pieces of silicon scrapped off easily. I used plastic razor blades and a very dull putty knife to do the scrapping. To get the last of the skin off I used the silicon caulk remover that someone mentioned earlier. It worked well for me. The final step was to clean the area with carb cleaner. I was left with a clean surface ready to reseal.

[Crackerman]

I use a plastic scraper, or a piece of hickory shaped into a scraping blade

Quality mineral spirits, like Sherwin Williams brand, applied liberally, set to soak for 5 minutes, scrape off weakened layer, repeat until gone.


Also, a quality grease and wax remover from an automotive paint supply weakens silicone as well.

[field & stream]

Had the same problem with a vintage trailer I restored. Success with ReMov Silicone Remover (available on Amazon.

Check out this video from Mobiltec:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Brf7Hcx4nr0