How to remove a sticker or label from plastic without a trace: life hacks for different surfaces

Today you can hardly find a household appliance or other item that is sold in a store without stickers, sticky price tags and advertisements. In addition, there are special protective films. Beautiful, bright and modern! However, it is simply impossible to remove such delights from the surface of an object. Happened? Look at the place where it was glued. There you will definitely see a trace left from the adhesive base. Then you need to know what and how to properly remove stickers from different surfaces without damaging the item.

Read the documentation to avoid voiding your warranty.

Warranty stickers are often found on electronics housings.
They can be found on game consoles, televisions, laptops and computer components. According to the law of the Russian Federation of 02/07/1992 N 2300-1 (as amended on 04/24/2020) “On the protection of consumer rights” on the protection of consumer rights, companies cannot revoke the warranty for a torn sticker, but some still refuse. Is it possible to request warranty repair of a laptop with an open seal? in warranty service. Shot: Linus Tech Tips / YouTube

In addition, manufacturers often glue seals that protect devices from tampering. They are usually placed on top of the bolts. Damage to these seals will almost certainly void the warranty. Fortunately, most often this is explicitly stated on the fillings themselves.

As for stickers with information about the product, no one forbids removing them, but it is better to play it safe and read the terms of warranty service.

Tools at hand: 11 tricks

For many cases, simple methods and means that are always at hand will do. This is convenient at home. And you won't have to spend extra money.

Mechanical cleaning by hand

Sometimes the price tag can be easily removed by hand. If there is a mark left, you need to rub it with your finger: roll the glue into rolls and shake it off. If necessary, wipe the plastic surface with a damp soapy sponge.

Scraper or plastic card

First, thoroughly wet the sticker with water. Then carefully clean it off with a scraper.

If you don’t have a scraper, a plastic card will help you wipe off the price tag. Surely there is at least one that you wouldn’t mind using.

Vegetable oil

Fat dissolves glue well. Sunflower, olive, rapeseed and other vegetable oils are suitable. How to remove a label: you need to soak it in fat, leave it for at least 15 minutes and remove it with a plastic card, a scraper, or a rubber spatula.

Mayonnaise is also suitable, because it contains vegetable oil.

Essential oil

We proceed as in the previous recipe. By the way, the remaining oil is removed with baking soda: it absorbs fat well. Then wipe with a cloth - dry or damp with soap.

Peanut butter

Peanut butter will help peel off the price tag. Apply a little to the desired area and leave for a few minutes. Afterwards we wash it with a soapy sponge.

Soda

Add some water to baking soda. Apply the resulting paste to the label and wipe with a cloth or sponge.

In more difficult cases, leave the wet soda for 5 minutes after application. Then we peel off the sticker and rinse with warm water.

How can you strengthen soda? Vegetable oil. Apply the mixture to the sticker and erase it after a few minutes.

Lemon

Lemon juice is good at removing glue. Take a piece of lemon and squeeze the juice onto the price tag. We wait 3–5 minutes. Remove the sticker and wash the surface with warm water.

Detergents containing citric acid are also suitable.

Vinegar

It’s good to peel off price tags with 9% table vinegar. We process the desired area and wait 3-10 minutes, then remove it without any residue.

Carefully! Vinegar may damage the plastic slightly. If appearance is important, then first test the method on a small, inconspicuous fragment.

Melamine sponge

A melamine sponge will help you remove the price tag without leaving marks. Just wet the label and wipe it off with a sponge.

Carefully! Not suitable for handling dishes and requires working with gloves due to the content of harmful substances in the composition.

Heating with a hairdryer

First, warm up the sticker with a hairdryer, and then remove it. You can pry the paper with your fingernail or knife. If it doesn’t work the first time, then repeat the procedure.

Important! Evaluate the strength of the plastic: how hot air it can withstand.

Steam cleaning

The method is only suitable for plastic that does not deform from high temperature. You will need to keep the surface with the label over steam for 2–5 minutes. Afterwards the sticker will easily come off on its own. You won't have to think about how to tear it off.

You can use a steam generator, a steamer, an iron with a steamer, or a boiling kettle. We steam the sticker and then wash it off with a soapy sponge.

Remove old labels with soap, alcohol, or vinegar

Sometimes it is not possible to get rid of labels by simple physical force. In this case, all kinds of solvents will help. First, go over the stickers with a cloth soaked in soapy water. If this is not enough, try a solution of table vinegar or alcohol. At the end of the procedure, wipe the gadget with a dry cloth.

Do not use concentrated vinegar, 100% alcohol or acetone for such purposes: they can damage the case, and their vapors can get inside the device and damage it. Moreover, when using acetone and vinegar in a closed space, there is a risk of inhalation poisoning.

How to remove a sticker with a hairdryer?

Don't worry that the glass surface may supposedly distort under heat: glass is made at much higher temperatures, use your hairdryer

not scary.
Direct hot air onto the label to soften the glue again. After 30-40 seconds, you can try to gently pull the sticker
by the corner.

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Method five: sunflower oil

What's the point? You will need a bottle of sunflower oil, paper and wet wipes, and a plastic card. Refined or unrefined oil does not matter.

First, tear off the top layer of the sticker. Then saturate a paper napkin with oil and place it on top of the remaining base for a couple of minutes. When the paper is soaked, carefully pry it up and remove it. A colleague recommended this method to us for single stickers, and, oddly enough, it works. We tested it only on Dells; we didn’t dare to cajole MacBooks.

Method six: blade

One of our colleagues removed stickers without soaking. He took the blade of a stationery knife, picked up the edge of the sticker and cut it clean off. If there were any traces of glue or paper left, I wiped them with solvent. This technique works on single stickers and is suitable if you don’t want to wait. But it only works for MacBooks - their surface remains fine, but the Dell covers get scratched.

Disadvantages of the method. You can accidentally cut off more than just the sticker. Before trying this method, consult a specialist.


Starter pack of a fighter with stickers

How to remove glue from a sticker (on a laptop)?

Lenovo B50-30 laptop made of cheap crappy plastic with a bendable keyboard. I bought it after the “crisis”.

Gasoline, or acetone if gasoline does not help (but gasoline is better)

Alcohol or xylene, but be careful with xylene, it makes some plastics cloudy

Ok, I'll try. Won't this make the plastic age too much?

Electronics stores usually sell a special, smelly “label remover.” Very effective.

PS you can try vegetable oil.

90% acetone will make the plastic cloudy. If not worse.

90% acetone will make the plastic cloudy. If not worse.

Worse. He washed off the top layer of paint from the body and completely removed the inscriptions on the beautiful sticker. Plus, the plastic was covered with some kind of gray coating and seemed to be starting to crack (cracks appeared along the surface). I rubbed the sponge with acetone tightly over the surface a couple of times.

There was no gasoline in the store; it was a long way to a gas station.

There was also xylene and various solvents.

Acetone can corrode plastic. It was a bad experience.

In general, don't do this.

This is After 1 (first sticker), After 2 (second sticker).

I rubbed the sponge with acetone tightly over the surface a couple of times.

Lesson. You need to start (or better yet finish) with cotton swabs.

I removed the stickers with a hairdryer, heated them and peeled them off.

Don't bother with acetone. Kerosene cleans up ok, but is very smelly. I had profoam 2000 at work and it cleans almost everything. It doesn't seem like a lot of money.

No, nothing will happen to the plastic, the glue will erase and that’s it.

You can roll the glue off the plastic with your hands. The main thing is not to be dry.

I wanted to suggest the same thing with wd-40. but I have never used it for these purposes.

does it really work?

Otherwise, recently nefras (a regular universal degreaser) didn’t work out very well. The glue felt like it had come off, but in fact, apparently it was spread over a large surface in just a thin layer.

"Label OFF" by CONTAKT CHEMIE

if the dimensions allow, the stickers come off well in the microwave, info 146 (no)

Do not listen to anyone. Take a dishwashing spring and acetone. Traces of glue will disappear instantly.

Do not listen to anyone. Take a dishwashing spring and acetone.

lol Immediately use an emery machine to clean the surface

You can also use an angle grinder. But I gave advice based on accessibility. From improvised means, so to speak.

Have you already advised me to erase it with an eraser?

If not, then you go to the stationery store and buy a rubber band like this: red on one side, blue on the other. Where the blue one is harsher, and in school times it was used like “to wash the pen.”

In general, don't do this. This is before cleaning. This is After 1 (first sticker), After 2 (second sticker).

Ahhah, the most interesting thing is that the inscription “https://www.lenovo.com” was not even damaged

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