Remove Paint from a Car's Finish

[Mike Cork]

Mother Nature was the lucky recipient of a white paint spill on the road in and out of town. She didn't take a direct hit but she was close enough that the car in front of her splashed white paint on her hood and front bumper/grill. For a black car this was a huge problem....

Thinking I'd have to do an insurance deal, I decided to just check and see what the internet said. After some digging I found a car guy that said to take a towel and soak (dripping soak) it in water. Then lay the towel on the paint and let it soak for an hour. If one is lucky, the paint will come up with a little bit of effort and won't damage the original finish. However if it was oil based paint it wasn't going to work.

We have a lot of new housing construction going on in the area and there are many paint trucks that have the basic white wash tools and paint to go in and do the first coats. So thinking that she may have been hit with this I thought I'd give it a try.

I laid a wet rag on the hood and went inside and watched two shows on Netflix. To be honest I forgot about it. Laurie went out and the paint wiped off with a little scrub. The next morning we finished off the hood with ease but the very front of the car (most of the bumper and the grill) is vertical and difficult to let a rag soak on it. So we would hold the rag against sections for a few minutes and then work at it. It was a little more difficult because we couldn't let it soak as long but it worked.

So if you are attacked by paint on the road, as soon as you can, get it covered in sopping wet rags and your chances of getting the paint off is good....

Other articles said to use rubbing alcohol, Mothers car only has 5k miles on it and I just wasn't ready to change the finish yet. So we used the water and it worked.

[Lee Smith]

Had NO clue lol!  Thanks!

[LgMouthGambler]

I heard Aircraft Paint remover and brake fluid will work. 


Just Kidding! DONT DO THAT!

[Lee Smith]

I heard Aircraft Paint remover and brake fluid will work. 


Just Kidding! DONT DO THAT!

But you have to use a torch..... 

[Capt. BassinLou]

I had this happen to my car unfortunately a few years ago. I haven't done anything about it because I'm sure I will have to repaint the car and that's not in my budget. But that rubbing alcohol might help... hmmmm... thanks for the thread Mike.