Who does this and how do I fix it?

[triodesteve]

I just picked up a 2003 3.0l (my first BMW.) The original owners installed a mounting plate for a Garmin GPS on top of the dash. It is affixed (or appears to be) with double sided foam tape.
I've tried dental floss. I've tried to heat the area up with a heat gun on low. Nothing is working.
It appears that the vinyl material on the dash has pulled up and away from the substrate a little from people (me included) trying to pull the thing off (even though I've been gentle.)

Anyone have any ideas? I'm a little afraid that when I do get it removed, what's underneath may not be so great, but I'd like to find out.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

Steve

[PersonaNonGrata]

It sounds like one of the double stick tape discs that come with Garmins. Since you tried a heat gun alone, maybe try the heat gun with some Goo Gone or citrus based adhesive remover in combination and try to scrape at it from underneath using a plastic tool like a plastic putty knife.

Good luck!

[mike_dmt]

+1 for Goo Gone. If the tape is down to the foam, just let it soak in for a while before you try any harder to get it up. They make it in a gel form too, so it wont run all over the dash.

[SlickGT1]

Fishing wire. Go to a fishing supply, or marina, or something where they will sell you a little bit of it. You really only need the thinnest one, and about 2 feet of it.

Worst case, take a Dremmel and start cutting lines in that disk. Just be very careful and not hit the dash. Maybe protect around it with cardboard. And don't cut deep. You just want cuts so that the disk can be bent out of shape, and you can slip a scraper in there. Scrape against the disk, not dash. Get at the gooey shit with goo gone after.