Removing racing stripes?
 

Hi everyone, this is post #1 for me (well, 2 if you count my intro :)).

I'm picking up my 2007 V6 PP black/black tomorrow and am so excited about the car except....

I hate the racing stripes that go from the hood to the trunk. They're slightly greyish and to be honest, they're torn in a couple of small areas that make them imperfect, and that drives me nuts.

Mostly, however, I like black cars as they are, in their natural beauty. So here's my question: not being the original owner, and therefore not knowing where the car was housed/treated during its life to date, what are the chances of removing the stripes and not having to repaint the car? I understand the adhesive can be removed easily enough but do you think the paint would have faded enough in 6 years, let's say even if it wasn't out in direct sunlight all the time?

I won't know until I start the process, which would be too late, and I most definitely do NOT want to repaint the entire vehicle. If this is not possible, then can I somehow fix the areas of the current stripes that are missing without it costing a fortune?

I look forward to your expert ideas! Thanks.

The stripe on the roof are actually cracking so they look terrible. Anyone have an answer to this?

Try peeling back an edge to check how the paint looks. Then go from there.

You can try looking at the paint in areas where it was shadowed (under the grille) and compare.

Ok I brought the car to a body shop specializing in these things. He said they can be removed and he is confident that since the car is black that the paint is actually not on the top rather than under the clear coat finish. He said he would try a very small area (removing it by heat) and then buffing it so I won't be able tell it was ever there if he's successful. If not then I think he'll have to remove it and then replace it with a new one. We'll see.

Remove them yourself and save the money. Put that money into a good detail, claybar, polish.... If there is a little fading it will look like ghost stripes, roll with that if you can, if not, throw on some full nose to tail flat black stripes which looks really good on black.