Paint correction after decal removal, is it possible?

[Rembrant]

Gentlemen,

Figured I'd ask out in the open to get more suggestions, but the story here is that I removed a bunch of decals from this old 1980 F150, and I'm wondering what I can do lighten or possibly remove the imprint they left behind? The paint is single stage, and probably 30 years old.

Can the decal areas be removed or lessoned with rubbing compound or wet sanding? I do have a buffer and various pads.

Before example...




And after...

[Machspeed]

Corey, I'd put a polisher and some good 3M polishing compound to to the surrounding area and give it a go. Outside of repainting it, I don't see another option.
 

[Rembrant]

Machspeed wrote

Corey, I'd put a polisher and some good 3M polishing compound to to the surrounding area and give it a go. Outside of repainting it, I don't see another option.

Ya, I figured about the same but wanted to ask just in case. I'll pick up some good compound as I need to do the rest of the truck anyway. I'll be repainting it (I think) and it won't be two tone anymore.

[grumpin]

You don’t want those sporty decals on there?!

[Rembrant]

grumpin wrote

You don’t want those sporty decals on there?!

Haha, NO. I could have lived with the "4x4", but the shooting stars had to go!

[ArdWrknTrk]

Cutting it back will help but I don't know that it can ever eliminate 30 years of UV fading.

You've got nothing to lose Cory!
And if need be, maybe you can get those fenders in the shop with the bed panels to do them all at once.

[Rembrant]

ArdWrknTrk wrote

Cutting it back will help but I don't know that it can ever eliminate 30 years of UV fading.

You've got nothing to lose Cory!
And if need be, maybe you can get those fenders in the shop with the bed panels to do them all at once.

Haha...no way am I bringing the fenders in to the body shop yet. Painting is insanely expensive here...it's costing a fortune to do only what I brought them.

To paint a truck like a Flareside here, assuming minimal body work is required, and the owner removes and installs some parts, costs around $8000...and then there's $1200 tax on top of that...lol. So anyway, they're just doing a couple panels for now. If I decide to get the rest done later, the truck will be losing the two-tone and will end up solid dark blue.