You may have success with acetone to soften the bond, then use a sharp blade to cut through. Some swear by cheap baby wipes for softening sikafex.

 

Could you pop by a glazers and see if they have any magic things to take it off?

I thought fishing line was good to cut through it.

 

You need fishing trace high poundage.
Pull it through the join with a sawing action if required.
Should cut it off leaving a little sikaflex to be cleaned off afterwards.

 

If you can get the wire fishing trace it will be better as the nylon ones heat up and fail after a few inches.

 

Thanks everyone. I haven't been pike fishing for many years, but I can find some (new) trace wire and try sawing.

So: consensus is that it's not too hard to DIY?

 

Try this may help T:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WINDSCREE...DLES-CHEESE-WIRE-TOOL-6-27-/131791663430?hash=item1eaf653146:g:GTgAAOSw4T5XHPl9

 

the tool in the above post is an excellent piece of kit
I cant tell what the wire is
some is serrated which could be detrimental to your paint
I have the same tool and have been successful using 0.8 or 1mm mig welding wire
basically you are using a cheese wire to cut the sikaflex
mask the roof around your panel with 2" masking tape to prevent damage to the paint
it may also be easier with 2 people ( one on either end) and as stated previously use a sawing action
you should be able to remove it but be patient and persevere you will succeed
I've never heard of anything that will remove sikaflex that wont at the same time damage your paint so be careful if trying to use chemicals like cellulose thinners

T:

 

Lets just say its not going to be fun. .....in fact no fun at all.
Flexible solar panels are OK until they fail. Then, because they are self adhesive or sikaflexed on, they are almost impossible to remove. The chances of the paint being undamaged is slim. Either by the sika removal or the heat from the panel.
As long as your new panel is the same size or bigger you should be OK.
We had to remove one recently and we had three guys on it. Two peeling the panel back from the self adhesive backing, and one cutting the adhesive with a sharp trim tool. The remaining adhesive was taken off with a caramac wheel and sander as the roof needed repainting.
Personally I now fit a clear vinyl patch under the panels and bond to that....hopefully if we ever have to take one off again it wont be as bad.
Window fitters cheese wire will be about the best solution for sikaflex, but it may have a tendancey to cut into the edge of the panel.

The more I think about it, the more I would be inclined to fit a new one on top of the old one. I cant believe I am even suggesting that, as I am very particular about doing a professional job ....But its such a pain in the neck if its thoroughly bonded down that it may be worth considering.

 

Or just don't fit these ruddy things in the first place. Garbage!

 

Some great info here- thanks! Before your kind post, GARY117, I'd been learning about cheese wire. For anyone else in the future, look up "windscreen removal wire" on ebay. Choices are generally braided vs. square; some sources say the square-profile wire is much better for removing adhesive. I have some coming in the post.

ed-j, re-bonding on top is a very tempting proposition, especially as it's out of sight, and the panels are thin. I have access to a high-roof barn, but it's still going to be fiddly trying to remove this from the roof of a van without marking the roof too much (I'm assuming temporarily removing a Reimo roof by hand, to work on a bench is just too tricky).

I have a couple of weeks before I get some time to do this... I'll have a think about the stick-on-top option vs. the remove adhesive option.

upspex, I assume you're preference would be to stick roof-rack bars on top and then fit a non-flexible panel to those? Plan C could even be to mount a rigid panel _over_ the flexible one, assuming they use corner supports which are bonded to the roof and there's a little air-gap underneath.

 

Assumption correct on all counts