pinstripes?
 

Well it's official! I just purchased a Dark Teal 92 with only 55,000 miles.:D It's truly beautiful... except for one thing. Pinstripes!:mad:

I ran a Carfax on the vehicle and it appears the car originally sold at a dealership from Kansas City. My guess is that some dumb@$$ at the dealership thought that pin striping looked b*tchin'.

Anyhow I leave Thursday morning to go and pick up my new purchase (the car's in Grand Junction). I will have three quality days in my dad's heated street rod shop to address any issues (addition of a trans cooler is the first thing).

The pin stripes must leave.

My plan was to use a hairdryer to warm up the striping before removal, follow up with bug and tar remover and finish with a complete waxing.

Am I forgetting anything? Has anyone else removed this kind of crap from the side of their car?

If anyone has a better idea please let me know.

Ira

Some of the SVXes came with Pinstriping...

In a previous life, my then-wife and I test-drove a new Subaru XT-6 that had painted pinstripes with little curly-cue doodads at the ends, and we both thought, why on earth would somebody do such to this otherwise sharp-looking car? But we drove it anyway... after they pulled it off the display pedestal and put a charge on the dead battery. Then my wife stalled it and the battery was still too weak to turn it over, so we had to wait on a truck from the dealership with this obnoxious, alcohol-fueled salesman. After all that we were still interested, but they wouldn't budge on the price; a very substantial for the time $18,000+, as I recall.

We bought a Legacy L from another dealership. With pinstripes.

dcb

hehehe, she call the XT a shape looking. Ya sharp like a wood splitter. ;) JK

If it's a decal pinstripe, what you said should remove it. I've removed decals off of used semi trailers that I've bought in the past. It's time consuming, frustrating work if your trying to preserve the paint under and around the old decal. You'll be able to get the decal and glue off eventually but be left with darker shade of teal where the decal once was. WD-40 and a soft cloth works good at removing old decal glue and helps prevent you from scratching rub marks into the paint as your rubbing the old glue off. Try to avoid the use of a metal or plastic scraper and just as important don't use your fingernails, or you'll end up with little dents where you were working. Patience is the name of the game and let the adhesive remover or WD-40 do the work for you. If it's painted pin stripes, then I can't help you there. Good luck, hope it turns out well.

Man I hope they're not painted on. Otherwise I'm going to walk out onto I-25 and wait for the next semi to run me over.

Actually if I had to I would just deal with it but really the car looks much better without them.

Like you, I've never understood pinstripes on a car, other than a tricked out full-fledged hot-rod, with flames, etc. On the other hand, I have seen good quality pinstripping that added a classic flare to high end sedans, tastefully done in a good contrasting color. For instance, I saw a chocolate brown pin-stripe on a bronze-tan color Lexus LS430 that looked very sharp. Its just a matter of taste. My advice to you is to try living with your new SVX for a few weeks before you jump in and do something that may produce unwanted results. Wash and wax the car, detail it and do all the maintenance things it needs, then drive and enjoy it. A tasteful pinstripe only adds to the unique nature of your car. I think the odds are 50-50 that within a few weeks you will come to like (or at least tolerate) the pinstripes. Best wishes.
Preston

Well your in luck, I'm picking up a load today in Chattanoga, Tn headed to Littleton, Co and heading down I-25 towards Phoenix after that. Just kidding:) I'd be surprised if it was painted on, but who knows.

ira:

i wanted that teal in grand junction. glad to hear it's coming to the good side of the state. :D

Congratulations on your new car. There are some that have the tape, decals, and also painted on. Hope your has the tape. Good luck with the project. :)

My "claret" had black pinstripes when I got it. Since it was cheap AutoZone vinyl pinstripes over fairly fresh paint (also cheap!), the stripes peeled right off on a warm day.

A previous car I had (not an SVX) had cheap pinstripes on it that I attempted to peel off to find that they were covering a previous pinstripe job that had been PAINTED OVER. So I had old stripes embedded in the paint! I wanted to put new, thinner stripes on the car but the painted-over stripes were too wide, so it was really a mess.

Well I doubt that I will ever like pin stripes on anything but you're probably right, I could get used to it. Hey I have a silver WRX and I absolutely hate silver.

As far as street rods are concerned, yeah I agree with you on the flames... as long as they are tasteful. Right now my dad and I are building a 1930 Model A sedan. The exterior color is purple, the interior color will be gray and we will be applying a light gray flame on the front fenders. Flames okay. I still wouldn't want to see pinstripes on it though... but hey that's just me.:D

Thanks for all of the advice guys!

When I head back to Junction I can figure out what my options are.

Hell I'm just happy to be able to own one of these cars.

Ira

lime green stripes on the rod would look good..or even pink (honest!!)

once u get the (hopefully) vinyl stripes off, yes u will be left with a stripe of non-oxidized paint where the stripes were...as noted above......

so to fix THAT u will need to compound and rub out the whole car to reduce/eliminate the effect.......

:(

Well as far as the paint job on the SVX is concerned, I got really lucky. This thing has been babied; and by babied I mean it has been in a garage since 1996 and only went out every other week for a hundred mile drive or so, never in bad weather. Via Carfax I calculated an average of 2990 miles a year since 96.:eek: The messed up thing is that this guy has a Bordeaux in even better shape than the Teal I bought.

When I originally looked at the car it didn't appear to have faded in the least. It has small dings and scratches (probably from the first owner) but in all honesty I would doubt the paint has faded all that much. But as you said once I get the tape off (if it is indeed tape) I will be able to see quickly whether it has faded (or to what level it has).

As to the lime green and pink recommendation... I agree with your opinion. Though I would still rather have flames.:D

Pin stripes (at least in the street rod community) are excellent when used to separate colors on a two tone car.:)

The bottom line here though is (at least in my opinion) the lines of the SVX are best represented sans stripes.

Ira

At the shop we have the coolest damn thing ever...Its a rubber wheel. Basicly it looks like a monster truck tire stuck on a grinder, and itll rip off damn near anything that isnt paint, takes the goo off too.
Your best bet is to try to get a fingernail under one end and peel it off. If it's an old, brittle stripe, itll give you a hell of a time. mineral spirits will get the goo off without harming the paint. Just for ****s and giggles, I'd try a pencil eraser
As noted above you will probly want to compund the area that the stripe occupied to help even out the finish. Note though, that this will only even out the clearcoat, and that the paint itself under the stripe will remain a diffrent color from the non-faded part. There is nothing short of repainting that will fix that
If the stripes are painted on, try using a little lacqer thinner on a rag. Make sure not to let it sit on your paint for too long, as it *could* cause damage. Painted on striped are typicaly done over the clearcoat, and if they are done with a crappy brand paint they'll come right off
Good luck!