How to Remove Bumper Stickers and Residue
If you once covered your car in bumper stickers but want to trade them out for other ones, or if you just bought a used car that has stickers you want to remove, you should be able to get rid of them with ease. If you use the proper techniques, you will also be able to remove all traces of sticker residue without damaging the car's paint job in the process.
In some cases it may be more difficult to remove the stickers and their residue, such as if you live in a hot, sunny climate that can melt the stickers, or if they've been on the vehicle for a long time. Don't give up, though, as there are still ways that you can get the unwanted stickers off of your bumper.
Here are some tips for removing bumper stickers from your car or truck.
1. Boiling Water
If you've tried peeling the stickers off, and they won't budge, the first thing to do is soak them with boiling water. Fill a bucket with the hot liquid, put on protective gloves, and saturate a clean, soft sponge or rag. Hold the wet sponge or rag over the sticker for a few minutes before trying to peel it off, starting at one corner. Alternatively, you can also pour the entire bucket of water over the sticker if you don't have gloves.
If the sticker still won't come off, repeat the process one more time. By now, you should be able to completely remove the sticker and its residue.
2. Dish Detergent
If the stubborn sticker still remains, repeat the boiling-water method, but add a few drops of a gentle dish detergent to the bucket to create a soapy solution first. The soap may loosen the sticker up even more and make it easier to remove.
3. Vinegar
Another effective, eco-friendly way of getting rid of bumper stickers is with distilled white vinegar. Saturate the cloth or rag in the vinegar and hold it onto the sticker using the same method as the boiling water. The vinegar should also remove the residue after the sticker is gone.
4. Adhesive Remover
If none of the above techniques are successful, you'll need to use a more aggressive adhesive remover, such as WD-40. Use a razor blade to carefully loosen one sticker edge without damaging the paint to start the process if you can't lift the edge yourself. Apply some of the commercial adhesive remover to the peeled-back corner and begin peeling the sticker off little-by-little, adding more remover as you go, until the sticker is completely off.
Now your bumper is free, and you can put on a new bumper sticker of your choice.