Ambulance – Previous Decal Removal

Hello! Welcome to another blog post! This one is going to be a recap of everything we have done to remove the red, white, and blue decals on the outside of the ambulance so far. I also have uploaded a YouTube video today talking about both the exterior cabinet removal and the previous decal removal, so you can check that out if you’d like.

The main two reasons I want to remove the decals are that I want to make the ambulance look as little like an ambulance as possible at the end of the renovation and I also want to get the ambulance painted eventually and I don’t think it would be a good idea to paint right over the decals. 

I have always felt like there should be an easier way to remove the decals than what we have tried, so if you have any suggestions please leave them in the comments below. 

We have worked on removing the decals for so long since I first got the ambulance that I have lost count of the hours, and all of that work has been very tedious. If we continue removing the decals the way we have been so far, I expect it to take at least 20 more hours. 

My dad has been using a heat gun and razor blade to remove big pieces of the decals, but this part really only works in the summertime when it is warm outside. When it’s a bit cooler outside, the heat gun doesn’t heat up enough for the decals to come off as easily. 

I have mostly been using a Whizzy Wheel, which is just a rubber wheel with teeth that fits onto a drill, to grind away at the decals and the adhesive. I also sometimes use Goo Gone for the adhesive, but it still takes a long time since the decals are all so old. The Whizzy Wheel also works better when it is warmer outside since it uses friction to rub the stickers off. 

It is really frustrating when I can only do some things in certain parts of the year, and if I can’t remove the rest of these decals before summer I don’t think it’ll be very good. We have done a bit of removal in December before, but it was a really warm week. I really just feel like there has to be a better way to do this. 

So far, we have gotten off about one side of the decals, and also the big blue asterisks on the back. The blue asterisks were about 10x harder to remove than the lines on the sides, and I’m really not sure why. I think it had to have been a different kind of adhesive that didn’t react as well with age. 

Now, I am going to start going on trips in the ambulance, so the want/need to make it look as little like an ambulance has grown greater. I am also on a deadline to do all that, so I have to figure out a solution soon. Throughout the last little while, I have come up with some possible solutions. 

One solution would be to just use a wire wheel and basically sand it all off. This would expose the metal underneath pretty quickly, so we would have to prime it or have it painted immediately to prevent it from rusting. I figure this is an alright option, since we are going to have it painted one way or another and I don’t really mind if it looks bad before that. 

Another solution is to use an adhesive solvent that my dad got from a coworker of his. He told me it should work well, and I am really counting on it. My dad also got me some chip brushes to apply the solvent with, and some big plastic razor blades to use to scrape it off as well. 

I think this is a good option to try before using the wire wheel, just in case we mess something up with that. If it does end up working, I am going to be super excited about it. That would mean so many less hours of tedious decal removal with the Whizzy Wheel. 

However, if the solvent does not end up working, the wire wheel would also be an alright option. It definitely is not the best option, but I don’t think it would be a bad option either. I am really just hoping something works so that I do not have to use the Whizzy Wheel again for hours on end when I could be working on other things on the ambulance. 

I will most definitely be making another post soon about how the decal removal has turned out. Let’s all hope for the best!

That is all of the information I have for you guys today. Thank you for reading! I really appreciate it. I am now posting a blog post every Monday and Thursday, and a YouTube video every Thursday (which is today) so go check that out if you’d like. I’ll see you guys in the next post!