Help: Drove through a puddle...

[nuge77]

...of pink paint with a black car. :cry:

So, my girlfriend's black golf now has little drops of hot pink paint splashed along the entire passenger side. It would have happened at least 2 hours ago and up to 24 hours ago. Anyone have any idea how to get this off without damaging the original paint of the car? Or if this has been talked about before a link to that thread would be amazing - I couldn't find anything myself.

Argh! I can't believe someone would dump paint on the roadway. I'd like to believe this wasn't malicious but its tough to swallow right now. I'll grab some pics of it tonight.

Any help would be greatly appreciated guys.

[Euro_Trash]

Paint the rest of the car pink

[Tik-Tok]

If the clearcoat on her car is still good, pretty much anything should be able to take it off.

[brownchild]

try finding a product called xD, I know most detailing places carry it.

[97'Scort]

A quick polish will take care of it. Talk to some of the Calgary detailers in this forum. Teggypimp seems to do a good job!

[teggypimp95]

Thanks bud.


Is there much in the wheel well or just up the side?

[ken-gsr]

yeah with clear coat if should come off. I dont suppose you know what type of paint it was (car or house)?

[teggypimp95]

Can you pic it off at all with your finger nail? A pic would really be useful.

[zoik]

as far as i know if it's a water based paint you should be able to just use water and it should take it off.

[nuge77]

Originally posted by brownchild
try finding a product called xD, I know most detailing places carry it.

Sweet, I'll take a look for that stuff tomorrow.


Originally posted by teggypimp95
Is there much in the wheel well or just up the side?

Oh yeah, but it only seems to be on the outside couple inches of the wheel well:
http://www.mypicshare.com/thumbs/20070525/stebrnwp.jpg (http://www.mypicshare.com/stebrnwppic.html)

http://www.mypicshare.com/thumbs/20070525/pbjkhjal.jpg (http://www.mypicshare.com/pbjkhjalpic.html)


Originally posted by ken-gsr
yeah with clear coat if should come off. I dont suppose you know what type of paint it was (car or house)?

Sorry man, the paint is hot pink and that's about how much I know about.


Originally posted by teggypimp95
Can you pic it off at all with your finger nail? A pic would really be useful.
Ya but it kind of smears when I do.

She took it into an autobody shop today and was given a quote of 6 hours labour at $65/hour. They tried some thinner on it and it took the pink paint off but it marred the finish. I'm hoping that'll fix right up though with a coat of wax though.

Thanks for all your help guys. I really appreciate it.

Here's a few more pictures that I took:
http://www.mypicshare.com/thumbs/20070525/vvjptgey.jpg (http://www.mypicshare.com/vvjptgeypic.html)

http://www.mypicshare.com/thumbs/20070525/ucxqjbqg.jpg (http://www.mypicshare.com/ucxqjbqgpic.html)

http://www.mypicshare.com/thumbs/20070525/gzhrkqjd.jpg (http://www.mypicshare.com/gzhrkqjdpic.html)

[nuge77]

Originally posted by zoik
as far as i know if it's a water based paint you should be able to just use water and it should take it off.
If that's the case then it definately was not water based paint. But it did at least clean some of the dirt off so I got a better idea of what I had to tackle here...
http://www.mypicshare.com/thumbs/20070527/dqwhebfk.jpg (http://www.mypicshare.com/dqwhebfkpic.html)
http://www.mypicshare.com/thumbs/20070527/nnkahnug.jpg (http://www.mypicshare.com/nnkahnugpic.html)
http://www.mypicshare.com/thumbs/20070527/joeyyuke.jpg (http://www.mypicshare.com/joeyyukepic.html)


Originally posted by nuge77

Originally posted by brownchild
try finding a product called xD, I know most detailing places carry it.
Sweet, I'll take a look for that stuff tomorrow.
I couldn't find the xD stuff you were talking about and instead got steered towards Varsol Paint Thinner so I started there with directions to go for something more aggresive (like Acetone) if it didn't work. $10 in clean rags and $5 worth of Varsol I was ready to begin with fingers crossed. I started applying the Varsol sparingly and gently rubbing it. Then taking a clean section of the towel and rubbing again with moderate force it started coming off and wasn't affecting the clear coat (or at least not that I could tell).

Progress pictures:
http://www.mypicshare.com/thumbs/20070527/ivdulfjm.jpg (http://www.mypicshare.com/ivdulfjmpic.html)
http://www.mypicshare.com/thumbs/20070527/coquwvto.jpg (http://www.mypicshare.com/coquwvtopic.html)
http://www.mypicshare.com/thumbs/20070527/gfzgoesi.jpg (http://www.mypicshare.com/gfzgoesipic.html)

So Varsol FTMFW!!!

About 5 hours of scrubbing later I got it all the painted metal pieces but that tiny little rock guard strip at the bottom of the car probably added another 2 hours for a total of 7. I imagine that one could use a harsher chemical on the rock guard material but as there was still Varsol on hand I just wanted to be done with it.

Here's what she finally looked like:
http://www.mypicshare.com/thumbs/20070527/omwqcndq.jpg (http://www.mypicshare.com/omwqcndqpic.html)
http://www.mypicshare.com/thumbs/20070527/oycmixpz.jpg (http://www.mypicshare.com/oycmixpzpic.html)
http://www.mypicshare.com/thumbs/20070527/fvinmmpm.jpg (http://www.mypicshare.com/fvinmmpmpic.html)
http://www.mypicshare.com/thumbs/20070527/rakrliuu.jpg (http://www.mypicshare.com/rakrliuupic.html)


Originally posted by Euro_Trash
Paint the rest of the car pink
This is probably the best advice that I was given but didn't end up following. I wouldn't wish this experience on my enemies but I think it turned out pretty well inspite of it all.

So any of you paint/detaling experts out there:
If there is no evident marks on the clear coat can I take that as a sign that she's all good or is that something that can only be told with time?

Cheers guys!

[Jed Bouscal]

Chances are, if you lie on the ground on a sunny day beside your car, and stare at the reflection of the sun in the repaired area, you will notice some light hazing before you go blind.

If you make sure no one lies beside your car and stares at the reflection of the sun, then it should be ok.

[sneek]

Is varsol just a brand of mineral spirits or is it something completely different?

[HiSpec]

the company i worked for used varsol as a parts cleaner

[Jed Bouscal]

Originally posted by sneek
Is varsol just a brand of mineral spirits or is it something completely different?

Varsol is a popular brand of paint thinner.

Sneek have you found any other articles relating to clear-coat failure, including possible scientific testing?

[2BLUE]

Paint thinner on clear coat :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:

[teggypimp95]

If i were you to be safe, i woud clay bar the hell out of that area then power polish it. Power polishing will remove any residue or anything left behind from the paint thinner that could cause long term damage. It will also restore alot of health oils back in the clear coat that you might have removed with the thinner.

If see that gross matted looked under peoples gas cap doors from spilling gas down the side of there car? It might end up like that if your not careful.

[97'Scort]

Yeah varsol probably wasn't the best choice there. Follow teggy's advice and polish it soon. Varsol doesn't go away like gasoline does, it has a nasty tendancy to hang around. On the plus side, I'll bet it got rid of any road tar you had ;)

[nuge77]

Originally posted by 2BLUE
Paint thinner on clear coat :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:

Ya, I know... crazy isn't it! I was a little nervous trying it out but it was either that or live with the pink splatter marks down the side.


Originally posted by teggypimp95
If i were you to be safe, i woud clay bar the hell out of that area then power polish it. Power polishing will remove any residue or anything left behind from the paint thinner that could cause long term damage. It will also restore alot of health oils back in the clear coat that you might have removed with the thinner.

If see that gross matted looked under peoples gas cap doors from spilling gas down the side of there car? It might end up like that if your not careful.

Alright, sweet thanks man! I'm out of town this weekend though and 97'Scort was saying you do good detailing so you got PM! :thumbsup:

[nuge77]

Originally posted by 97'Scort
Yeah varsol probably wasn't the best choice there. Follow teggy's advice and polish it soon. Varsol doesn't go away like gasoline does, it has a nasty tendancy to hang around. On the plus side, I'll bet it got rid of any road tar you had ;)

Really? My understanding was that Varsol was one of the lighter paint thinners. Sure probably not as much as just straight gasoline but the varsol didn't leave near as much obvious damage to the clear coat as whatever stuff the body shop used when they did a spot test. I had a couple fairly knowledgeable guys advise me to start with Varsol. Are you maybe thinking of Acetone?

With the amount of physical scrubing required I don't think anything less harsh than varsol would've worked anyway. Thanks for the warning though and yes, I will get it polish as soon as I can to lessen the chance of premature clear coat failure.

[sneek]

Originally posted by Jed Bouscal


Varsol is a popular brand of paint thinner.

Sneek have you found any other articles relating to clear-coat failure, including possible scientific testing?

I used to know of one by Auto int, but I can't find it at the moment. It is too late now anyways. The clear will most likely look good for a couple of years but then it may start to "check". I have a microscope that I use to inspect paint, but I doubt you would be able to tell. I predict that he will find the paint microchecking under 30X magnification after about a year.

Depending on what kind of paint it is, I would say that the safest way to do it would have been to clay the car with a mild clay to get off the small bits, then slowly attack the bigger areas with a strong chemical paint cleaner such as MPPC (discontinued, but I have some :D). It would take a lot of patience but it would work well. I guess if you were in a real hurry you could hit it with MPPC and a rotary on the lowest setting and a wool pad (doesn't load up as badly as a pad). Then go over the area with a finishing polish such as Optimum polish by DA or PC with a polishing pad to remove any light marring induced by claying and to make sure the finish is free of buffer trails.

I doubt that this clean up would have been as difficult if the car was well protected. IMO the next safest solution would to wipe down the area with WD-40, but it may or may not work, as this depends on what type of paint hit the car. If WD-40 didn't work, I would feather sand the car, but this is also a pretty time consuming process.

:( I wish I had the time to detail cars again. School > Time. Hopefully this summer I will get a detailing job.

[sneek]

Originally posted by teggypimp95
If i were you to be safe, i woud clay bar the hell out of that area then power polish it. Power polishing will remove any residue or anything left behind from the paint thinner that could cause long term damage. It will also restore alot of health oils back in the clear coat that you might have removed with the thinner.

If see that gross matted looked under peoples gas cap doors from spilling gas down the side of there car? It might end up like that if your not careful.

How does power polishing remove residual paint thinner?

To my understanding Mineral Spirits is a paint thinner that won't harm lacquer finishes. Varsol is aggressive on all paints. Varsol is a pretty safe cleaner to use on non paint surfaces. ( google FTW) Anywho, I think the only way to stop it would be to use a neutralization system, but that doesn't guaranty anything. If anything, I would try and get someone with a high quality coatings thickness gauge to see if the Varsol has removed any film build. I think that the best thing that he can do now is keep his fingers crossed and hope that the Varsol he bought was cheap/less potent

[alloroc]

Varsol is the stuff most old school mechanics use to hand clean engine parts. An inch or two in a bucket, and a 1" paintbrush and your ready to tackle even the grimiest engine.

It is also the thinner used in many household oil based paints. Not so sure I'd want it on my car.

[nuge77]

Damnit! You guys are making me nervous now! hahaha....

Well, the Varsol was definately cheap - I think it was $2.99 for a 1.5L container at Home Depot. As for potency, who knows? There's still some left in the bottle I could always take it down to the Cecil and get one of those guys to chug/huff it and ask how it compares. :dunno:

So the plan is now to clay bar the whole car and have her polished up. Its not like I was dumping the stuff liberally all over the car here either. I had one corner of the rag that I would dip in Varsol and then apply in gently. Then take a clean section of the rag and giv'er - hopefully removing most of the excess Varsol in the process.

Hey Sneek, you sound like a pretty knowledgable guy with this stuff. What would did you mean by "neutralization system"? Or I guess maybe I should be asking what product I should be looking for that would neutralize the Varsol? I realise this isn't a guarantee but if its just something I can pick up for cheap it wouldn't hurt to be cautious.
...although, from what I'm hearing I guess were passed the point of being cautious now.

I had suggested using WD-40 to someone as well but then was reminded of the hell of a greasy mess that would need to be cleaned up after. I was also told that, as Varsol and WD-40 are both considered "solvents", they would essentially have the same effect depending on the dosage and exposure time.