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Removing old 3M Weather Strip Adhesive

Cth6

Well Known Member
I believe the wing root gasket on my 9A has Yellow 3M adhesive that has failed on the end under each wing. It is now more brown than yellow, but I believe that is what was used.

I would like to clean it off and apply new adhesive to hold the ends again. Looking for recommendations on the best way to remove the old product without harming the paint. I saw a recommendation on another site to use goo gone, but figured a few on this site have made this journey already.
 
You must remove the old cement prior to apply new cement. One of the biggest mistakes I see with respect to interior work and weathstripping is where new glue gets swiped over old glue with the expectation everything will be okay. It will not and that comes back to bite.

So to clean and prep, get a can of Tolulene and some rags and some of the surgical gloves we all have everywhere these days. Wet an area of the glue and let sit a bit. Then use a non-abrasive plastic scraper or use an old credit card or plastic hotel room key card to work the old cement, balling it up in the process. Clean the rest of the residue with more Tolulene and a rag. Tolulene is usually nice to most paint but try some on the bottom or other normally not seen area but I bet there will be no problem. Google search shows Wal Mart sells the Klean Strip brand of Tolulene solvent. Otherwise you might have to buy Tolulene at a local wholesale supply that sells commercially to janitorial services or jobbers.

The preferred adhesive for this type of application is 3M 1300L yellow. It is what is used on de-icing boots and crankshaft seal installations. The above Tolulene trick comes from working deicing boots, interiors and shoddy upholstery jobs.

I always take my plastic hotel room keys when I check out. They are great tools in the shop.
 
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I believe the wing root gasket on my 9A has Yellow 3M adhesive that has failed on the end under each wing. It is now more brown than yellow, but I believe that is what was used.

I would like to clean it off and apply new adhesive to hold the ends again. Looking for recommendations on the best way to remove the old product without harming the paint. I saw a recommendation on another site to use goo gone, but figured a few on this site have made this journey already.

Plus one for Goo Gone. Works great, no scraping necessary. Even used it to clean off the remaining adhesive from 3M prop protection tape which is pretty tough stuff. It just wiped off easy peasy after removing the tape with a heat gun on the lowest setting. Once all the adhesive is removed I wiped down the surface with alcohol to remove any cleaning residue before applying new tape.
 

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3M makes an adhesive remover. You can get it at an automotive paint store. I used it to de-badge my truck. Won’t harm paint.
 
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