I went to my local body shop paint and equipment store and got a 3M rubber
disc that goes into
a drill (I have a cordless) and it took the decals off without a hitch, no
damage to the paint at all.
That store recommended a fluid that more or less loosens decals, etc. and I
used it as well.
IIRC that goes on maybe 30 minutes before then put it on again as you use
the rubber wheel.

Some here have just used the wheel and report it worked just fine.

bob

On Thu, Mar 18, 2010 at 5:55 AM, Raymond Paquette <raymondpaquette@gmail.com
> wrote:

> Hi
>
> Anybody have ideas about how to remove the reflective stripe that goes
> around the vanagon (or at least around mine)? I want to paint, so it has
> to go. On mine, and on the one in the picture, it is the grey stripe
> just below the windows, right through the door handles.
>
> http://www.vanagon.com/static/img/old/media/syncro/img/syncro_brochure_1.jpg
>
> I'm hoping there's a better way than sandblasting or scraping, as I
> hadn't intended on going to bare metal on most of it.
>
> Raymond
>