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.

[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!

[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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[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!

[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.

[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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[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.

[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]

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?

[derotoreut]

Originally Posted by bruceman1968

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

It was a cab & chassis. It's now a C20 with 383 stroker, Vintage Air, 8-lug front disc conversion, Ididit steering column, Lokar nostalgia floor shifter. Always finding something on it to work on... but that's the fun part of these trucks.

[too much stuff]

Originally Posted by Beetle

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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The thing is, YOU know it is still the correct tag, but the next guy may notice the wrong rivets and think the worst. (stolen cab or whatever) Once the original rivets are drilled and gone it is hard to prove anything. As far as legal, i think there is a fine line on what can/can't be done. Personally i would clean them in place.

[bruceman1968]

Dan, 8-lug front disc conversion I love the fact that you kept it 8-lug. You got a really nice lookin truck! She's a beauty!

[FirstOwner69]

Off topic, Dan, but seeing the H2s on there really makes me anxious to get mine back on the road! Looks great!

Jim

[JOJABOY]

Originally Posted by derotoreut

It was a cab & chassis. It's now a C20 with 383 stroker, Vintage Air, 8-lug front disc conversion, Ididit steering column, Lokar nostalgia floor shifter. Always finding something on it to work on... but that's the fun part of these trucks.

What size tire are you running on it?

[derotoreut]

Originally Posted by JOJABOY

What size tire are you running on it?

285/70-17 on all 4-corners

[ls1nova71]

Those VIN tags are originally polished stainless steel like others have pointed out, but that looks like a pretty decent paint job, aside from painting the tags, I guess. So My bet is once you get the paint off them, you're going to find that they were sanded when the door jambs were sanded, and may not be highly polished anymore.

[JOJABOY]

Originally Posted by derotoreut

285/70-17 on all 4-corners

I really like the look. What kind of front end lift did you do?

I know this is about VIN paint but I'm more interested in your truck suspension. LOL As for the VIN....

I would score around it with a sharp razor, mask of the paint with tape and carefully remove paint on plate with chemical stripper. Maybe use a q-tip with some aircraft stripper on it. Then once you most of the paint off the plate, mask of the protected area with new painters tape. Only this time add a few more layers of the painters tape to thicken it up. Then use a dremel with a buffing wheel and polish out the plate.

Now, back to the suspension and tires. LOL