Acetone Vs Lacquer Thinner VS Mineral Spirits
Thread Starter
Pro
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 585
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From: Royal Oak MI
Acetone Vs Lacquer Thinner VS Mineral Spirits
For all you painters out there, I am getting ready to start stripping the vette and I have read a few posts where everyone says to strip and then use lacquer thinner to clean the fiberglass and neutralize the stripper.
Well, I have a gallon of acetone from cleaning the gas tank and I have plenty of mineral spirits. Will all of these do the same thing or should I stick to the lacqure thinner?
Thanks All
Well, I have a gallon of acetone from cleaning the gas tank and I have plenty of mineral spirits. Will all of these do the same thing or should I stick to the lacqure thinner?
Thanks All
Melting Slicks
Joined: Dec 1999
Posts: 2,116
Likes: 156
From: Mid West
Cruise-In III Veteran
Stick with lacquer thinner. Mineral spirits will leave a residue and definitely don't use acetone - it's the thinner in fiberglass. I've used it to remove fiberglass from parts before when the resin dripped on them.
Race Director
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 11,874
Likes: 263
From: Arlington Va Current ride 04 vert, previous vettes: 69 vert, 77 resto mod
when i paint cars...not often about 5 so far i have always used the "system" approach and only used the cleaners,primers, reducers, thinners etc that were made by the same company as the final paint....i wanted to ensure compatibility
Melting Slicks
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 2,131
Likes: 4
From: May help you? You can sure as hell try!
Use lacquer thinner. Acetone dries too quickly to do a good job of cleaning. Acetone won't hurt fiberglass after its cured. It's only a thinner for the uncured resins. Mineral spirits won't do a thing but make a mess and leave residue. I have used mineral spirits for cleaning off undercoating but it won't cut auto paint--even paint that has been softened with paint stripper.
Safety Car
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 4,653
Likes: 6
From: North Royalton, OH
St. Jude Donor '06-'07
STOP STOP STOP!!!! Lacquer thinner is also a carbon-based petroleum product. It will leave a film just like mineral spirits will. Unless your paint products specifically call for lacquer thinner, use an alcohol-based solvent for wiping the surface clean, i.e. denatured alcohol (not rubbing). 
Instructor
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 197
Likes: 1
Go with the laquer thinner the flash rate is higher than mineral sprits and won't leave a film behind, The denatured alcohol will evaporate to quickly.......But if you already have it you can use it, you'll just use more.
When you take your car in for paint your painter will use prepsol on the car prior to priming so don't worry what you use to clean up the car after stripping.
Have fun!!!!
B
When you take your car in for paint your painter will use prepsol on the car prior to priming so don't worry what you use to clean up the car after stripping.
Have fun!!!!
B
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Melting Slicks
Joined: Dec 1999
Posts: 2,116
Likes: 156
From: Mid West
Cruise-In III Veteran
Originally Posted by LemansBlue68
Use lacquer thinner. Acetone dries too quickly to do a good job of cleaning. Acetone won't hurt fiberglass after its cured. It's only a thinner for the uncured resins. Mineral spirits won't do a thing but make a mess and leave residue. I have used mineral spirits for cleaning off undercoating but it won't cut auto paint--even paint that has been softened with paint stripper.
