monstrocity

Hi guys. Never posted on this section before but figure this has gotta be where all the paint knowledge is.

I'm looking to buy a DD Lincoln with Ceramic Pearl Tri-Coat paint. The car is right in every way but the previous owned had this odd "custom" pinstriping painted on each side, plus a couple little crosses on the trunk lid, either side of the licence plate. The lines are very thin.

The dealer (not local to me) says it's painted on... not a sticker. Can this be removed? If I can get the right price on the car I might just learn to like it. But if it can be removed somehow even better!

DUB

Yes, if these are painted on stripes and such...and the custom pinstriper used a product like "One-shot" lettering enamel...they will come off with "Easy-Off" over cleaner. Spray some of the oven cleaner on something solid...and using a Q-tip...lightly apply it to the pinstripe. Trying not to get any..or a loot of the oven cleaner on your clearcoat. Test a small spot before you go "hog-wild". The stripe should soften or wrinkle or lift off without damaging the exterior surface due to the lettering enamel is NOT catalyzed...and will come off. The oven cleaner SHOULD NOT harm your finish...and MAKE SURE that you do this in the shade...and NOT in the sun. Wash the areas throughly with soap and water and dry off.

NOW...due to the solvents in the lettering enamel that allows it to adhere to a shiny finish...there is a chance that even though you got the pinstriping off....you can see where it was and an impression or possibly swollen area will show where it was. There is a chance that this area could be lightly hand rubbed to remove this effect...and sometimes not.

"DUB"

leadfoot4

I agree. I had a race car at one time, and after a season, my sponsor bailed, so I had to remove some lettering. The sign painter who had lettered the car did it with "One-Shot". I was able to do a light buff, and take it off, but there were "shadows" left of the lettering...

DUB

Buffing will remove painted on pinstripes. But with the clearcoat of today being so thin as it is.....that is why I mentioned using the "easy-off" method. Because...if buffing was performed...the chance of removing more clear than you might want to remove is something I generally do not recommend.

Yeah...that "One-shot" enamel is some serious stuff. Especially for what it is.
"DUB"

03 Z-oh-6

Sorry to bring a thread back from the dead. I'm looking at a car with painted pinstripes. If I used oven cleaner to remove the stripes, but they left an impression, would compounding with a buffer remove the the impression? I have a lot of experience with rotary and DA polishers.

DUB

Yes it can...but you have to be careful....due to if the car has ONLY factory paint on it...you can easily cut a significant amount of clear off of it...which in turn will cause for your clear in that/those area/(s) to begin to "chalk-out"...which is basically the beginning of the "END"...for teh clear coat.

IF I had to do it...it would do it by hand...if the pinstripes were narrow like most pinstripes are. This is so you are really concentration on just the area you need to deal with instead of a much larger area.

DUB

03 Z-oh-6

Although factory paint is thin, if you know what you're doing, minimal amounts of clear can be removed with a compound and polish with a DA buffer. It's with a rotary where an inexperienced detailer can get into real trouble, especially around the edges. I would never attempt to wetsand factory paint as it's on the thin side.

DUB

...but MOST people have NO CLUE on what they are doing when they get a power tool in their hand and can really mess up a great paint job.

It appears that you are aware of the risk. I hope everything goes well.

DUB