I've bought a couple Dunlop Hotmelt-era frames (200 and 400) recently, and both have been an awful, sticky, gummy mess. The paint is fine, just the outer "coating" they put on them is just terrible.
Has anyone easily removed it? How? Normal solvents aren't working.
Plastidip those puppies. Have an iPrestige mid without this problem. iPrestige mp xl with that peeling paintHaving the same issue with the i.Prestige Mid. What an ugly mess that soft paint thing actually is. Hoping the latest Wilson paint jobs don’t follow the same fate.
Forgotabout that rubbery coating on the TT Graphites. Noticed the same on a Prince More ThunderI carefully used lacquer thinner on paper towels to remove the deteriorating rubber coating on a Prince Triple Threat, took a long time but it came out very well.
I quite often delve into the bowels of the big auction site for old graphite rackets. Goof-Off is a must, Goo-Gone is lame. I have never had an issue with Goof-Off. I often use it to clean up old handles where the base grip has deteriorated and often leaves a sticky mess. I also snagged an 8/10 original Bumble Bee OS that l saw on the auction site that looked terrible but on close examination I thought that stick looks like it is covered in crease or something. Got it for a song and Goof-Off cleaned it right up.Have you tried Goof-Off?
Yeah. I had a client bring in a 200g and it was a mess. Goof Off took care of it pretty easilyHave you tried Goof-Off? It's one of the better adhesive removers and I'd guess you'd have pretty good luck with it for this too.
That’s what I found…Are the frames just gloss paint under a clear hotmess layer?
That’s what I found…
The Hotmelt was indeed a Hot Mess! Loved the way they played but hated holding it with my non-dominant hand. I ended up scraping off the top rubber coat and sending it for a gloss clear coat. Here are my 100G's and 200G's post gloss with prostock vibes all over. haha... Plays similarly as before but SO MUCH NICER to look at and hold.
You can try using an alcohol swab to rub it down but that will take a while but the finish won't be even. It will show a semi-gloss finish underneath the rubber top coat. I simply scraped mine off with a metal ruler and the clear coat will fill the scratched up parts nicely.
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Before & After
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Those looks so good in gloss. Nice work! Do you have any photos post-alcohol, but pre-gloss? The reason I asked earlier in the thread if they were already gloss is that I bought a (well-) used Hotmelt Custom Pro squash racquet (which also uses the black/yellow cosmetic of the 200G), that looked to have had most of the rubber removed, and it was gloss wherever the rubber was gone. There were still plenty of spots where there were bits of the rubber left, so I assumed that whoever owned it just peeled off the rubber as it deteriorated, but had clearly not re-glossed it himself. It didn't look like a project; it just looked like there was a nice gloss finish under the rubber paint.
I don't own any more Hotmelt tennis racquets (used to use the 300G), but I've got a bunch of old Hotmelt Jonathon Power squash racquets (which also use the black/yellow), and I'm definitely going to try this process on the ones that have deteriorating paint. Oddly, two of them have basically not peeled at all.
I've started a thread about the dissolving vintage grips. I'm thinking a "sheet" of tape(cloth?) wrapped around the entire handle, then sliced off with a razor knife will be a reasonable approach.Hot melt is a hot mess. Tried Goo Gone, alcohol, and other stuff. Mostly still there.
Marginally worse was the decades-old grip that disintegrated in my hand...