Removing a California Clean Air Vehicle (CAV) Decal from a Hyundai Ioniq 5

The end of the CAV program means that this eyesore can finally be banished from my beautiful and well-loved 2022 Hyundai Ioniq 5. The adhesive used in these stickers is really impressive - it is meant to stick forever, and it does a darn good job at it.

After reading through a few threads, I set out to gently remove these without damaging my paint, and to my delight the procedure worked like a charm.

Certainly will work for other cars… but I wanted to tag the i5 specifically just in case anybody else is worried about damage Hyundai’s finish. No damage at all from this procedure in my experience; all good in the hood, G.

Materials:

Hair dryer (and extension cord to reach the car)
3M Adhesive Remover (https://a.co/d/dOpOngQ)
Plastic/rubber scrapers (https://a.co/d/grD1nW8)
Microfiber cloth

Time Required:
1.5 hours (-20 minutes per sticker)

Procedure:

1. Warm the sticker by using the hair dryer on a high setting. Move the hair dryer around so it doesn’t cook the paint. Heat 2-3 minutes for the small stickers and 5-7 minutes for the large stickers.

Note: Do NOT use a heat gun - the extra heat is entirely unnecessary and you will risk damaging your paint. Use a common hair dryer on high.

2. Using your fingernails or a scraper, lift one corner of the sticker. Keeping the hair dryer running, gently begin to peel back the sticker, allowing the sticker to guide you.

3. With the “VOID” pattern adhesive residue now exposed, liberally spray with 3M adhesive remover. Wait 5 minutes for the solvent to work, then scrape with the scrapers and buff with the microfiber cloth.

4. Repeat the spray/wait/scrape/buff procedure 2-3 more times, until all of the residue is gone.

5. Repeat the procedure for the other stickers.

6. Take the car for a wash and make sure to scrub the front bumper & quarter panels, or wherever the stickers used to be. :-)