Super Glue Removal?

1292 Views 22 Replies 11 Participants Last post by Wolverine125, Mar 29, 2015

Wolverine125

Discussion Starter · Mar 24, 2015

I have some LEDs on my fairings that were held on by 3M outdoor tape that came with the lights. After my front tire blew and I low sided last fall I took my bike to the shop to get repaired. And since it happened in the fall I paid an extra $50 to have them store it for the winter, so I'm just now getting it back. Anyways long story short, when the tech went to install the LED strips on the new fairings he for some stupid ass reason used superglue. Now it looks like total shit, with gorilla super glue oozed out the bottom of the strips. :mad :mad
I'm really meticulous about keeping my bike looking nice so this bothers the crap out of me. Anyone have any ideas how to remove the superglue without damaging the brand new green fairings? If it means ruining the LEDs I will. I have replacement ones. But I don't want to ruin the fairings and have to get new ones when these ones are brand new themselves. But so far anything I can think of would probably ruin the fairings too.

1 - 20 of 23 Posts

RedAndBlack

· #2 · Mar 25, 2015

Acetone takes off super glue but I would still have 2 concerns. Will the acetone damage the paint, and will the superglue pull off the paint as its coming off?

If you can live with it, your probably better leaving it. Maybe try using some acetone on the areas where it dripped out. Maybe even sand the superglue down where it oozed out, careful not to sand the fairings.

Post a picture of it, maybe we can give you more ideas

40acres

· #3 · Mar 25, 2015

How about you take it back to the shop and make that tech fix what he fucked up? Seems like that would be the best course of action. That way, when he fucks up the paint trying to remove them he is liable to fix it. Unless of course you told him it was cool to use super glue. Then you're just screwed.

Moral of the story, LED light strips are always a bad idea.

Wolverine125

Discussion Starter · #4 · Mar 25, 2015

RedAndBlack said:
Post a picture of it, maybe we can give you more ideas

If it was done right I wouldn't be near as mad. I don't think I can though. Looks terrible. I mean they just made off good from fixing it. What's a $4 roll of outdoor tape? Hell I would have sent them some had they asked.
I'll post some friday when I get back home.

40acres said:
How about you take it back to the shop and make that tech fix what he fucked up? Seems like that would be the best course of action. That way, when he fucks up the paint trying to remove them he is liable to fix it. Unless of course you told him it was cool to use super glue. Then you're just screwed.

Problem is that the job was compete back in December. And I just picked up the bike last weekend since I paid for storage. I don't know if they'd even look at it. Insurance paid them so they're all set. And I never ok'd superglue but the service manager said that they would put them back on.

NitrusReigns

· #5 · Mar 25, 2015

Wolverine125 said:
Problem is that the job was compete back in December. And I just picked up the bike last weekend since I paid for storage. I don't know if they'd even look at it. Insurance paid them so they're all set. And I never ok'd superglue but the service manager said that they would put them back on.

I understand what you're saying here, but isn't it at least worth a try? Why on earth would you not at least confront them on it to try to get it fixed? What's the worst that could possibly come from that? :O

Scorpi0

· #6 · Mar 25, 2015

Gorilla glue doesnt stick well to smooth surfaces. Try using a blade to chip and scrape off most of it.

NatBrown

· #7 · Mar 25, 2015

Gorilla glue isn't super glue unless it's the Gorilla brand super glue. The "standard" Gorilla glue isn't cyanoacrylate. It's polyisocyanate. It will probably be unaffected by acetone. Cyanoacrylate can be softened and dissolved with acetone.

Gorilla suggests mechanical removal once cured. So sand paper.

SSneekey6R

· #8 · Mar 25, 2015

You could always try putting a heat gun to it and see if it softens up enough to get it off.

40acres

· #9 · Mar 25, 2015

Wolverine125 said:
Problem is that the job was compete back in December. And I just picked up the bike last weekend since I paid for storage. I don't know if they'd even look at it. Insurance paid them so they're all set. And I never ok'd superglue but the service manager said that they would put them back on.

Doesn't matter you just picked the bike up so you didn't realize they put super glue on it like a bunch of shade tree moron mechanics. They put it on there, not you. They need to take it off, period. I'd at least try before you go jacking up your paint and YOU have to fix it. I'd also look into finding another shop. God knows what else they Jerry rig.

Reactions: 1

jezzajameson

· #10 · Mar 25, 2015

try a heat gun or goo gone, ive used goo gone removing emblems from cars, does not damage paint.

NitrusReigns

· #11 · Mar 25, 2015

Alright, I'm going to reiterate something real quick:

Bring it back to the shop to have them fix their f-up before doing anything yourself!

If they try to fix their own mistake and mess it up further, then they definitely have to make it right for you. If you mess with it, you automatically eliminate any possibility of having them make it right - also eliminating your ability to legitimately bitch about it. At that point, it would have been your choices that effed your bike, not their initial mistake.

Before you criticize the shop too heavily, bring it back to them and ask them to fix it. If they say no, then you can berate them all you want, but so far, you haven't offered them the opportunity to do the right thing, so why criticize right now? If they say yes, then you have nothing to complain about. Right? :O

Reactions: 3

Strider

· #12 · Mar 25, 2015

^ This. It doesn't matter how long ago they did it; you just picked the bike up from them! They need to fix it.

devildogae

· #13 · Mar 25, 2015

goop off

Wolverine125

Discussion Starter · #14 · Mar 25, 2015

NitrusReigns said:
Alright, I'm going to reiterate something real quick:

Bring it back to the shop to have them fix their f-up before doing anything yourself!

If they try to fix their own mistake and mess it up further, then they definitely have to make it right for you. If you mess with it, you automatically eliminate any possibility of having them make it right - also eliminating your ability to legitimately bitch about it. At that point, it would have been your choices that effed your bike, not their initial mistake.

Before you criticize the shop too heavily, bring it back to them and ask them to fix it. If they say no, then you can berate them all you want, but so far, you haven't offered them the opportunity to do the right thing, so why criticize right now? If they say yes, then you have nothing to complain about. Right? :O

No, you're right. I'll give them a call Friday when I get home and I can look at it while talking to them. Part of the struggle is that my bike is at home. I'm 200 miles away at school. And since I recently sold my truck it's a pain in the ass to take my bike back up there (borrowing vehicles and trailers). But I will call them.

Trust me, I'd love to find a different shop but they're the only Kawi shop for about 40 miles that I could find. There is a Honda shop about 15 minutes from my home but they're a bunch of stupid SOBs too.

Wolverine125

Discussion Starter · #15 · Mar 28, 2015

Called and talked to the service manager, who went and talked to the service tech who worked on my bike. He said it's contact cement and said it should be easy to get off. I'm not too convinced. But what he did was put a few spots of contact cement on the LED strips. And some of them didn't set right, and either ran down the fairing or didn't hole the strip tight to the faring. Take a look at the pictures to see what I mean. If anyone has any ideas on how to get it off, it would be greatly appreciated.

I couldn't figure out how to upload the pictures directly so here are the links.

Imgur

Imgur

40acres

· #16 · Mar 28, 2015

That's terrible... I'd still have him show me how easy it is to get off. That tech is an idiot, smh.

Scorpi0

· #17 · Mar 28, 2015

He shoulda used double sided tape instead. That glue looks like it could be peeled off with a blade.

Wolverine125

Discussion Starter · #18 · Mar 28, 2015

40acres said:
That's terrible... I'd still have him show me how easy it is to get off. That tech is an idiot, smh.

I do plan on showing the service manager but since I'm only home for the weekend it'll have to wait until another time.

Scorpi0 said:
He shoulda used double sided tape instead. That glue looks like it could be peeled off with a blade.

That's what I used originally. Not sure why they didn't use it to put them back on. The service manager told me it's a soft compound and should come off fairly easy. But it felt hard to me. I didn't have a chance to try to get it off though. I won't have time until tomorrow night. When I do I hope that I don't have to use a blade and mess up the new fairings. Since it's still fairly cold I thought about maybe using a heat gun just for a few seconds to maybe soften it up.

NitrusReigns

· #19 · Mar 28, 2015

Wolverine125 said:
Called and talked to the service manager, who went and talked to the service tech who worked on my bike. He said it's contact cement and said it should be easy to get off. I'm not too convinced. But what he did was put a few spots of contact cement on the LED strips. And some of them didn't set right, and either ran down the fairing or didn't hole the strip tight to the faring. Take a look at the pictures to see what I mean. If anyone has any ideas on how to get it off, it would be greatly appreciated.[/B

I still don't think that YOU need to get it off - THEY need to get it off without damaging the bike. There is absolutely no way I'd touch that myself if I were you. You weren't the dumbass who decided to glue LED strips on, right :O

Wolverine125

Discussion Starter · #20 · Mar 28, 2015

NitrusReigns said:
I still don't think that YOU need to get it off - THEY need to get it off without damaging the bike. There is absolutely no way I'd touch that myself if I were you. You weren't the dumbass who decided to glue LED strips on, right :O

You're very right. But I don't have the time to waste with them asshats. Plus I'm still not sure I want to let them touch my bike again.

1 - 20 of 23 Posts

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