6mo ago

Any tips or tricks for sticker removal? (marked NSFW for Nazi-Symbolism)

If it doesnt fit into this community, be so kind and point me in the right direction if possible.

So, in case this post fits here:

This situation has gone on for a few days. Recently a ticket machine here in germany got covered in fascist stickers, showing the flag of Nazi-Germany [Flag of Nazi Germany] and propagating Ideals of the "white-power-movement". I believe the picture speaks for itself. The stickers were removed a few days ago, but returned shortly after. (Picture shows second installment) Today I took some time out of my day to remove them, but it was quite a strenous process. Thats why I came here to ask for any ideas concerning the removal, or general thoughts on the situation. I know that it's an uphill battle, since putting new stickers down is a process of seconds, but it also feels terrible to do nothing. Any help is appreciated!

63 comments

I believe that WD40 helps to break down the glue, but its been a while since I've had to remove stickers.
More importantly though, don't remove them with your bare hands. There were posts over on Reddit about a year or two back where far right stickers had been put up with razor blades under them, so that anyone trying to remove them would cut their fingers.
It was Reddit, so there's a decent chance that the post was bullshit, but why risk it?
- Thanks for the Heads-up. I had a friend of mine relay their concerns about that to me aswell, don't know where they got that info though.
  So far at least there where no traps to be found, but you're right, better not risk it!
  WD-40 comes quite cheap, so that might be another option. Next Paycheck there will be some unusual orders coming from my account xD
  
  Oils in general tend to help dissolve the adhesives used for stickers and labels. You can use vegetable oil to help remove residue from repurposed food jars.
if the goal is simply to remove the symbolism, perhaps you could just sticker over them: that makes it equally quick for you to remove the symbols as it is for them to put them up… doesn’t clean up the machine, but it certainly solves the main issue with as little of your energy as possible
- Thank you for the input! I might do that in case I don't have time to get all of them removed.
  Just hiding them doesn't sit quite right with me somehow. Don't know if that makes sense for you.
  
  absolutely makes sense! perhaps you could limit proper clean up to once per week - that way you have a temporary solution to solve the immediate problem quickly, and with minimal energy and then truly invest time and energy when it’s going to benefit
  hopefully then stickers will make them give up
English Version below
Yo, was für eine Ecke ist das denn 😆
Meine Frau schwört auf Orangenöl Reiniger, wenn ich mir das Schlamassel aber so ansehe: Ceranfeldschaber. Ich mein, schöner wird der Fahrkartenautomat eh nicht mehr. Möglicherweise auch schneller.
Aber vor allem: bleib wachsam! Nicht das die Stickergang dich beim sauber machen aufgreift. Oder die Bahn dich auf ner Kamera fest hält. Mindestens Halstuch oder was ähnliches.
————————————
What a spot! 😆
My wife swears by orangeoil based cleaner, but seeing this mess: glass scraper. Ticketmachine will not get prettier anyway, and probably is faster as well.
But most importantly: stay vigilant! Do not get spotted by the sticker gang. Or by Deutsche Vahn on any cameras. Wear a scarf or something similar.
- Willst raten? xD So präsent habe Ich sowas auch noch nicht gesehen, aber im Osten wird das immer schlimmer. Beim betrachten der interaktiven Karte für die Kommunalwahlen/Europawahl in 2024 habe Ich mich schon sehr geschämt!
  Ich verstehe wie es einem hier nach härterem Werkzeug langt, vor allem weil der Automat schon einiges abbekommen hat. Da aber irgendwer vor mir schon einmal ähnliche Sticker ziemlich ordentlich entfernt hat, möchte Ich das auch ein bisschen würdigen, und möglichst nicht noch mehr Spuren im Lack hinterlassen, als ohnehin schon da sind.
  Auch Danke für die Warnung! Ich passe schon irgendwie auf, eine Maske wegen des Lösmittels hilft schon ein kleines bisschen, und Tagsüber, gerade wenn man nicht alleine ist, sollte da auch nichts passieren. Ich wette für die Kamera Sache gibts Präzedenzfälle, aber für den Fall, dass da wirklich eine ist, und die mich rankriegen wollen Dafür... dann weiß Ich auch nicht mehr ^^
  _______ machine-translated (DeepL) ________
  Want to guess? xD I haven't seen anything like this in the east (of germany), but it's getting worse and worse. When I looked at the interactive map for the local elections/European elections in 2024, I was very ashamed!
  I can see how you might be longing for tougher tools here, especially because the machine has already taken a beating. But since someone before me has already removed similar stickers quite neatly, I would like to pay tribute to that a little and, if possible, not leave any more traces in the paint than are already there.
  Thanks for the warning too! I'll take care somehow, a mask should help a little bit because of the solvent, and during the day, especially if you're not alone, nothing should happen. I bet there are precedents for the camera thing, but in case there really is one and they want to get me for that... then I don't know anymore ^^
That's "just" the Prussian/German Empire flag, which was also used by the nazis before the swastika flag. With your phrasing I would expect the latter.
Doesn't make it less Nazi though. It obviously is.
- Hey now, a couple of them have "NS Zone" printed on them. No prizes for figuring out what that's supposed to mean.
- Thanks for the correction! I certainly didn't perform very well in history class, so I just kinda took a look on how it was captioned on Wikipedia.
  
  You aren't all that wrong. It's used by nazis wide and far because the punishment and recognition rate are lower. If you do this with the proper swastika and get caught you are in much worse trouble.
- I like the enthusiasm, but I am not really one for preemptive strikes. In case shit goes south, the adhesive remover i tried comes in a spray can, and, theoretically, doubles as a flamethrower.
Meine Empfehlung wäre einfach eine Flasche Haushaltsspiritus. Etwas weniger stark als Lösemittel als viele der anderen Empfehlungen (WD40, Aceton, verschiedenen Öle...), aber ist dafür absolut rückstandsfrei. Wenn's ein bisschen eingeweicht ist, kann man beschichtete Sticker ganz gut mit der Hand abziehen, und unbeschichtete (wie die meisten dort) mit einem Schwamm o.ä. abreiben, ohne weiteren Schäden zu hinterlassen
- Danke für die Empfehlung. Wollte kurz Nachfragen wie du anhand des Bildes die Unbeschichteten Sticker erkannt hast.
  Oder sind das einfach die, die halt tendenziell nicht reißen, so wie ein Plastiketikett auf einer Flasche?
  
  Letzteres. Wenn die relativ einfach in mehrere Schichten zerfallen, dann sind das die minderwertigen. Die bekommt man ohne Hilfsmittel kaum ab. Ironischerweise je besser der Sticker, desto einfacher abzuziehen
Better stickers?
- Absolutely! But putting stickers above theirs feels extremly weird.
  Dunno why, maybe its just me thinking, that I am covering up the problem, not getting rid of it. (You know, like I wish we would do with the nazis)
  
  Just quick and gets the job done. Especially if I don't want to have a conversation about why I'm using chemicals on property that isn't mine.
You guys got Goof Off over there?
- Is goof off just acetone (nail polish remover)?
  I like Goo Gone myself, especially for stickers and preserving what is underneath, rather than just melting everything. https://googone.com/ It is super effective and kinda smells like oranges
  there is also 3M adhesive remover, though I dont have as much experience with it. https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/p/d/b40070712/
- I fear we don't have that here, but that would (like the option GorGor mentioned) only be one order away, might look into it, depends on how much shipping costs. Also for future reference, if this Site is to be trusted, Goof Off is more aggressive than Goo Gone, but contains acetone, so a bit of extra caution is to be taken. If this goes on for a while, I will sadly have time to do a comprehensive review of everything that was suggested so far
  
  I swear by Goo Gone for this sort of thing. One product that absolutely works as advertised and can be used on any surface.
Use an old style razor blade (that can be folded away) or scraping tool with a handle. Saw something like it earlier somewhere and it seemed to work a treat.
Never use your bare hands or get you skin or clothes near them if possible.
- Thanks for the reply! Used a set of plastic scrapers for the job, although they were a bit to floppy for my liking. I tried to be as non destructive as possible, using water and some retail adhesive residue remover (which certainly helped, but not as much as I would have liked) I already heard from a friend, that every once in a while, nasty stuff, like razor blades are hidden underneath those. But using one myself might actually be a good Idea, just gotta be careful not to scratch the actual machine ^^'
  
  Oh yeah, I was thinking of metal not plastic ones which should be more sturdy.
  Yeah, the razorblades is why I suggest never getting close to them and having one that folds into the handle, so you can hold the handle and the blade goes out from that, not on top of it, if that makes sense?
I know I'm late to the party but for getting labels off jars and bottles I make a paste of baking soda and vegetable oil. Spread it over the label, let it sit for a while, wipe off the paste (save it to reuse), then peel off the label and just use soapy water to wash off the remaining oily adhesive mix. I usually leave it sitting for hours because ADHD so I'm not sure what the shortest sit time is. Because the baking soda is a gentle abrasive and carrier for the oil you can use it to scrub the adhesive off too.
- Late doesn't matter ^^
  I haven't even checked yet, if there even are new stickers already. Thx for the Idea of course, but it's hard to imagine that I could let it sit for a while, since the stuff is on a vertical surface, will try it anyway.
  Time will tell.
  
  Yeah I thought letting it sit might be awkward. I make the paste pretty thick and it generally stays in place without slumping on vertical surfaces. Good luck and keep up the good work!
You want some kind of solvent and a scraper. Isopropyl alcohol is pretty easy to find, and is safe for most surface finishes, but will take longer to dissolve the adhesive than acetone. Lighter fluid like you'd put in a zippo is my personal favorite, but there are obvious safety risks.
- A decent scraper will be cared for very soon. And I already got many suggestions for different solvents, that I will hopefully (or hopefully not) get time to try out. I was kind of suspicious about the Zippo fuel, concerning its own residue. Don't those sometimes contain things like petroleum or similar ingredients? The acetone I absolutely get though.
  Of course Mission Nr.1 is to get rid of the stickers, but leaving as few marks as possible would also be great
  
  Yeah, zippo fuel is petroleum naptha. Iso is probably going to be the safest if you're concerned about leaving marks, but also the slowest. Absolutely do not use acetone on hard plastic, it will melt the plastic. I have learned that the hard way, lmao.
  Technique is also gonna matter, since a lot of stickers have a plastic coating on top to help longevity, so you'll want to get the scraper under the edge of the sticker so the solvent can directly work on the adhesive. Then let it sit for a moment to soak in, scrape a bit more, add more solvent, repeat. There's probably going to be sticker residue left, but that's usually pretty easy to wipe up with more solvent on a rag.
Goo gone, orange oil, eucalyptus oil, warm hairdryer and a scraper, do not use all at once.
Oil will dissolve adhesive without damaging whatever the adhesive is on. Vegetable oil does the trick.
My mom uses Windex or similar cleaners to get stickers off of things (mostly glass) she buys from thrift stores. I'm not sure how effective it'll be in your situation due to the vertical surface and different material.
I also found this article, which has a section on metal and might be more useful.
- Oh yeah, the fact, that I can't just put the entire thing into a tub to let it get soaked, is annoying!
  Windex, or an equivalent, might help, and the combo from the website also gets added to the list. Even though this particular case is the only one near me, in the next city theres a bunch of candidates for a little product testing.
If cleaning it pristine, how to prevent new stickers from sticking so tight?
Teflon-containing car wax?
Vaseline?
- Teflon-containing car wax?
  Let's not put more PFAS out intl the ecosystem.
- That wasn't something I considered yet. But how realistitc that is obviously comes down to price and the weather resistance of those substances. Have you used those before, or are that only suggestions?
  
  Only suggestions based on other experiences:
  Car wax makes dirt easy to wash off, even brake dust off wheels, and the teflon variant feels super slippery.
  Adhesive tape sticks poorly to greasy surfaces, and "vaseline" (petroleum jelly) is highly water resistant, it takes soap to remove from skin, and takes many washes to remove from clothes.
  This approach might fail if the semi-solid / liquid-like sticker glue slowly dissolves the wax or grease it touches and goes through it to touch the paint underneath.
Goo Gone (or a similar petroleum-based product), a plastic scraping tool, and a lot of elbow grease.
- Nah, give it about 10 mins to work and it slides right off
  
  Not in my experience.
Beyond the various oils and things, you need a cordless multitool. They all come with scrapers designed for this sort of thing.
Bosch
Fein
Milwaukee
If abrasive marks are ok, then you could also get a wire brush for drills like this
- That looks pretty interesting, haven't really considered those yet. I would love to leave as few marks as possible and don't really know how easily that is doable with a multitool. (Haven't used on yet) In case I find someone near me that happens to own one, I will see if it works for that purpose!
A battery powered heat gun would help peel those off.
- I don't doubt it, but that would a bit to heavy duty for my use case, especially considering the price. If someone I know owns one though, I will ask them if I can borrow it!
Probably easier to just paint over rather than remove them.
Can of spray paint and just a sheet of cardboard to shield anything sensitive you don't want to get damaged.
- Thanks for the reply! Wiping the slate clean is technically a solution, and a quick one for sure. And I know, that I didnt specify that I would like the machine to look "normal" after I am done. Yeah I know, they already did quite the number on it with their own paint. Picture related. The goal is to keep the machine looking as usual, and just not have everyone thats buying a ticket stand right in front of NS-Propaganda
  When it comes to additive approaches, putting a few less hateful stickers on the thing is probably the most I would consider ^^

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