Anyone know how to remove paint from VIN tag?

[derotoreut]

The PO painted over the door frame mounted VIN tag. I would like to try to remove the paint without destroying the tags. Does anyone have any ideas?

[Mister-B]

I've had good luck with a product called Goof Off
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[FirstOwner69]

Those are polished stainless unlike some of the later models that had some paint on them. You could get away with using lacquer thinner or even stripper. Just go easy, don't use a lot and be sure you don't get any on your paint. Personally, I'd use a rag barely dampened with lacquer thinner and mask around the tags with some sort of tape that is unaffected by the thinner. You'd need to be very carefully with Goof Off also.

[leddzepp]

Originally Posted by FirstOwner69

Those are polished stainless unlike some of the later models that had some paint on them. You could get away with using lacquer thinner or even stripper. Just go easy, don't use a lot and be sure you don't get any on your paint. Personally, I'd use a rag barely dampened with lacquer thinner and mask around the tags with some sort of tape that is unaffected by the thinner. You'd need to be very carefully with Goof Off also.

X 2
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[geezer#99]

Try some steel wool.

[Beetle]

I removed mine, put it in a butter bowl, poured some brake fluid in said butter bowl, took it out a few days later and it shined like a new penny. No joke!

[Mister-B]

Originally Posted by Beetle

I removed mine, put it in a butter bowl, poured some brake fluid in said butter bowl, took it out a few days later and it shined like a new penny. No joke!

That's cool, but then he'd have to fuss with rivets, which will probably never get back to looking like stock, no?
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[FirstOwner69]

As Mister-B said, don't remove them! If you do you'll have to start one of those dreaded threads about where to get rosette rivets and start a discussion about how illegal it is to remove the tags and for anyone to sell the rivets.

Also, as I mentioned above, the tags on your truck are highly polished. Even the finest steel wool will dull them, and you'd have to figure out how to polish them without removing them.

[stevencvn72]

8 posts and I just learned a crap ton of info about VIN tags. I love this forum!

[derotoreut]

Originally Posted by FirstOwner69

As Mister-B said, don't remove them! If you do you'll have to start one of those dreaded threads about where to get rosette rivets and start a discussion about how illegal it is to remove the tags and for anyone to sell the rivets.

Also, as I mentioned above, the tags on your truck are highly polished. Even the finest steel wool will dull them, and you'd have to figure out how to polish them without removing them.

Agreed Jim, I don't plan on removing the tags. That's why I posted this question in the first place. If I was planning on removing them, getting the paint off would be easy. I want to keep them in place and work around it that way. I also don't want this post to turn into a discussion about the DO'S & DON'TS for VIN tags. Thanks for your input.

[Lattimer]

Originally Posted by Beetle

I removed mine, put it in a butter bowl, poured some brake fluid in said butter bowl, took it out a few days later and it shined like a new penny. No joke!

This is probably the best way.

[bruceman1968]

Originally Posted by Beetle

I removed mine, put it in a butter bowl, poured some brake fluid in said butter bowl, took it out a few days later and it shined like a new penny. No joke!

Originally Posted by Lattimer

This is probably the best way.

Gentlemen, In this world there are a few things that you just don't do;
You don't tug on supermans cape,
You don't spit into the wind,
You don't pull the mask off the ol lone ranger,
And you don't drill the rivets on your VIN!!!

Try some thinner as suggested, But don't invalidate your truck over a little paint.

[derotoreut]

Originally Posted by bruceman1968

Gentlemen, In this world there are a few things that you just don't do;
You don't tug on supermans cape,
You don't spit into the wind,
You don't pull the mask off the ol lone ranger,
And you don't drill the rivets on your VIN!!!

Try some thinner as suggested, But don't invalidate your truck over a little paint.

This is awesome, but it needs just a little revision to be more like the Jim Croce song:

You don't tug on Superman's cape,
You don't spit into the wind,
You don't pull the mask off the ol lone ranger,
And you don't mess around with VIN's!

I think I'm gonna keep that one.

[Beetle]

Originally Posted by tex_waco_usmc

In my case I had my cab completely rebuilt and the guy that did it removed them. When I went to re-register my truck from NC tags to TX tags they said I have to take it down to a DOT inspector... the first thing he did was look at the rivets on the VIN tag... Long story short, dont remove the rivets!!!!

Originally Posted by derotoreut

This is awesome, but it needs just a little revision to be more like the Jim Croce song:

You don't tug on Superman's cape,
You don't spit into the wind,
You don't pull the mask off the ol lone ranger,
And you don't mess around with VIN's!

I think I'm gonna keep that one.

I really do not understand how if you take the tags off your own truck to clean em up and rivit it back in place how its tampering with the vin. Maybe I'm being ignorant but if the vin tag is there, it matches the frame, matches the title how could any DOT man give you trouble over the wrong rivits??? Does he have a catalog of the allowed rivits??? I mean seriously you ain't messing with vins by taking a dern tag off a truck to clean it. Yes I can understand tag swapping between trucks is frowned upon but taking it off and putting it back should be completely legal. Sorry if I am hurting the purists out there by suggesting removing the original rivits...
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[bruceman1968]

Originally Posted by derotoreut

This is awesome, but it needs just a little revision to be more like the Jim Croce song:

You don't tug on Superman's cape,
You don't spit into the wind,
You don't pull the mask off the ol lone ranger,
And you don't mess around with VIN's!

I think I'm gonna keep that one.

Your right, that is the perfect last line. I can't beleive I missed that.

Striper or thinner, with the area around masked off, is how I'd do it.

You got a 3/4 ton cab & chassis there, what are your plans for it?

[Beetle]

Yea you have to remove the original rivits but if he's not going for a nut bolt resto and trying to make a time capsule outta this truck the rivits on the vin tag should be the least of his worries. I mean who really sees the vin tag rivits anyways? That's why it didn't concern me to take the tag off, of course I am taking my entire cab down to bare metal and I took the tags off to get to the metal behind them. I just know brake fluid will remove the hide off an elephants butt so I used it to get the spray bomb primer off my tags. If the PO ain't concerned with where or how to get oe rivits I say go with this route. Especially if you don't want to mess up the paint on the trucks door jamb.
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[tex_waco_usmc]

Originally Posted by Beetle

Yea you have to remove the original rivits but if he's not going for a nut bolt resto and trying to make a time capsule outta this truck the rivits on the vin tag should be the least of his worries. I mean who really sees the vin tag rivits anyways? That's why it didn't concern me to take the tag off, of course I am taking my entire cab down to bare metal and I took the tags off to get to the metal behind them. I just know brake fluid will remove the hide off an elephants butt so I used it to get the spray bomb primer off my tags. If the PO ain't concerned with where or how to get oe rivits I say go with this route. Especially if you don't want to mess up the paint on the trucks door jamb.
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In my case I had my cab completely rebuilt and the guy that did it removed them. When I went to re-register my truck from NC tags to TX tags they said I have to take it down to a DOT inspector... the first thing he did was look at the rivets on the VIN tag... Long story short, dont remove the rivets!!!!

[derotoreut]

I have an update on how to remove the paint from a VIN tag. I've tried several methods from lacquer thinner, to steel wool, to Goof-Off, and more. I was able to easily remove the paint using Jasco Premium Paint & Epoxy Remover. It goes on thick and didn't run down the side of the door pillar.

I taped off the area around both VIN tags using several layers of painter's tape. I placed a rag down on the bottom of the sill just in case of any spills. After applying the paint remover, I could see immediate results. It was supposed to sit for 15-minutes, but 5-minutes was all that was needed. Two light applications did the trick. Check out these videos after applying the paint remover for only minutes. You can see it working.

I will also attach pictures of before, during application and after.

VIN Tag Paint Removal (part 1) - YouTube

VIN Tag Paint Removal (part 2) - YouTube

[derotoreut]

Here are the before, during application and after pictures. Also the picture of the paint remover that I used.

[slow-1]

Nice job on the VIN resto.

Your truck looks amazing, nice work!
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[bruceman1968]

That turned out great!! Really nice job! Even got the paint out from the deep spots around the rivets. Tags look like they had never been painted. Awesome!

[Tom Vogel]

Where can I buy some of those rosette rivets???

JUST Kidding! lol

[derotoreut]

Originally Posted by Tom Vogel

Where can I buy some of those rosette rivets???

JUST Kidding! lol

Shhhh. Quiet. Don't tell anyone. Ha ha.