Is there anyway to remove silicone from fiberglass? Will epoxy primer seal it?
AG

 

Would not want to try to paint over silicone.If you suspect you have contaminated a surface. 1 wash with hot soapy water and rinse well,2 do it again ,3 use a good grease and wax remover using several clean towels not old rags that have been washed the are not clean!! Then a good epoxy may be applied .

 

best way to ruin a glass body is to get silicone on it. your going to have a hard time getting it out of the glass. after repeated washings i would try to rinse it off with ppg first clean . it is much harsher than wax and grease remover. you have to " float " it out of the glass and rinse it off towards the bottom of the panel. how much is on it and where ?

 

Some one accidentally laid a rag that had silicon brake fluid on it on the rear deck below the fuel fill door. Made a pretty big spot before I noticed it. The surface still has the factory red oxide primer, maybe that will help some. I will get on it with some Dawn dish soap, several times. Then some PPG first clean a few times.
AG

 

better on primer than just raw glass. check it with water. as long as it beads up you have contaminate . after washing then sand off the primer ,flushing it well with soapy water. the clean it a few more times with first clean. it's a pain but can be done.

 

Thanks.
AG

 

Great question for the paint section. Use 3M general purpose adhesive cleaner or permatex gasket remover or a chlorinated brake cleaner. I think it might be a good idea after cleaning to sand the primer also. (JUST MY OPINION SUBJECT TO CHANGE)

 

I'm glad I ran into this as it means someone has discussed it before.

About a year ago, I had DOT 5 brake fluid sprayed over my fender on my '68 which was stripped to the original red primer/sealer. I immediately dabbed as much as possible off with clean paper towels to soak it and remove, rather than wiping. Then I scrubbed the area with Ivory Liquid and hot water, the orange hand cleaner and hot water, and more Ivory and hot water.

Over the next several days, I rolled the car into the hot sun and let it bake, going out a few times to wash with Ivory and hot water and occasionally taking a wipe with lacquer thinner to wipe it clean.

After a few days, it looked about the same as the rest of the body.

Now the red primer seems to have a slight oily look to it again and I'm ready to paint now, except for this.

What suggestions do any of you have on taking care of this? Should I do more washing and in the sun? A different cleaner/solvent?

Do you think an epoxy primer will stick and seal, or something else?

 

That stuff is like cancer to a Corvette .At the shop I worked at ,the detail guy would spray that silicone wheel dressing on damn near everything. His booth was right next to the paint booth and it would get on the cars that were being painted (in the booth via intake )and ruin a perfect paint job ,fisheye city .Try scuffin and buffin that out without going through ,make you a nervous wreak
I have in the past just ground it out with my trusty 1/4in angle grinder ,and layed in new glass .Just to be sure .Most of my jobs where full paint jobs ,not just blending so it was just another repair area ,and treated like I would a crack in the body .

 

you cant wash it out of primer. you must remove the primer and clean the glass . then epoxy will most likely cover it and stick. after over night dry use 2 in tape to try to pull the epoxy off.

 

As Porchdog says it is a bit difficult to get out of primer but if you do not get it out of your substrate any primer or sealer you apply is a bit iffy. If you have silicone in your substrate I would never give even a 60' guarantee. I have had pretty good success removing contaminates from fiberglass. PPG has a stronger wax and grease remover that they do not advertise or push too readily (DX440-Ditzo)but I have used hundreds of gallons in silicone contaminated projects. One project was for GM where the seat manufacture was soaking their fiberglass seats with Dow 200, one of the purest forms of silicone in an attempt to make them look better. Problem was that we had to clear coat the seats. The only product that worked successfully was Dx440. It is too harsh for normal wax and grease remover situations but great with contamination. I have had good success for instance on several hoods where there was a constant spray of oil. I first try to remove as much of the contaminate if present with a liberal amount of DX440 trying to lift the contaminate as if you were trying to pick up mercury and keep folding the rag to find a clean area. When you have removed as much as possible then I saturate a rag with 440 and let it soak into the area. I then cover the saturated area with several layers of newspaper and I weight it down with a pillowcase filled with play sand so it follows the contour without damaging the panel. The weight acts as a draw and helps pull out the contaminate. There is no magic bullet but you have to work at it because I am not aware of any paint that will stick if silicone is present and fisheye preventer is not recommended unless it is a last resort, as it will contaminate your booth. Good luck -Jim