[JeremyG]

Still working through the new 166 to-do list - I thought this would be an easy one, but it turns out not...

For some bizarre reason, the protective blue film has not been removed from the chrome-effect strip on the sill trims of my car.

I was hoping the film would come off with a single, satisfying pull - but no, it's stuck tight and only comes off in tiny fragments. I've graduated from scraping with my fingernails to using an old credit card - both pretty ineffective.

There's got to be an easier way - steam (I've got an old wallpaper stripper somewhere)? or a solvent?

Any thoughts?

 

[scottyf]

Hair dryer and a Stanley knife.

 

[Tsm22]

A rub with some nitromors or other stripper? Might wanna mask off the bottom of the sill though...

 

[ChrisS]

Pretty sure that stuff is polythene so any solvent good enough to dissolve it will probably eat the paint and plastic trim as well. Probably your best bet will be some form of heat. Can you borrow one of those wee steam cleaners they sell for domestic tasks like cleaning grout lines? I'm thinking the small concentrated jet of steam might do the job to soften the plastic & adhesive enough for you to peel off slightly bigger bits? Your wallpaper stripper might work if you can remove the 'head' and just direct the hose at the job I guess.

Peeling off these protective films is a personal 'tick' of mine....I hate to see them left on things. The quickly look rubbish and if you leave them long enough, they go brittle and won't come off cleanly..... They are there to protect a component during manufacture, not for life!

 

[JeremyG]

Peeling off these protective films is a personal 'tick' of mine....I hate to see them left on things. The quickly look rubbish and if you leave them long enough, they go brittle and won't come off cleanly..... They are there to protect a component during manufacture, not for life!

Agreed - and a blue stripe down the side of a red car is never going to look pretty...

 

[JeremyG]

OK, job done: the wallpaper stripper did the job in double-quick time. Used the flexi hose without the head to direct steam onto the trim panels and the film came off pretty much instantly and in one piece (see pic below).

On the driver's side, I removed the entire sill trim panel - easier to work on off the car, I thought, and I also wanted to check for any damage behind the trim. All was good, however, and I now have the cleanest jacking points in the country...

And if anyone's interested, when removing the sill trim panel: unscrew the four screws underneath the sill, plus one screw in the front wheelarch; then separate the hidden locking tab in the rear arch liner; then slide the entire panel forwards about 2cm towards the front arch. This will release the eight retaining clips from the sill and the trim will drop downwards.

You can pull the trim towards you (ie directly away from the side of the car) - disengaging the retaining clips from the trim itself - but you run the risk of breaking the clips this way (as I did, for three of them). However, they're still available @ £2.50 a pop from your local Alfa dealer.

 

[ChrisS]

Result, and a triumph in the war against protective films that have overstayed their welcome...