The car I just bought had a $100 used car lot paint job. One of the worst I have ever seen. There is overspray on the wheels. But the worst part is that they just painted over the black plastic body trim instead of taping it off.
What can I use to take off the paint without ruining the trim?
I suspect you are out of luck. I doubt there is any thing chemical you can use to remove the ppaint without damaging the plastic but you can try Scotchbrite pads. They are available from auto paint suppliers.
SCOTCHBRITE GRIT CHART 3M Scotch Brite Nylon Pads: 7445 - White pad, called Light Duty Cleansing - 1200-1500 grit 7448 - Light Grey, called Ultra Fine Hand - 800 grit. 6448 - Green (?), called Light Duty Hand Pad - 600 grit 7447 - Maroon pad, called General Purpose Hand -320 grit 6444 - Brown pad, called Extra Duty Hand - 240 grit 7446 - Dark Grey pad, called Blending Pad 150 grit 7440 - Tan pad, called Heavy Duty Hand Pad - 60(?) Blue Scotch-Brite is considered to be about 1000 grit.
I would start with the white or light grey and then try something more coarse.
Might try this stuff.....I've seen it remove the paint from the body of model cars. Generally, you had to soak the part in a pan/bowl/whatever of it, but it might work spraying it on and leaving it for awhile?
No guarantees...just a thought, as I've seen it work to remove paint from plastic without damaging the plastic.
Comes in spray bottles, or gallon jugs. Walmart is supposed to have it.
Don't know if mineral spirits would be of any use, or tupentine....never tried turpentine on plastic, could melt it?
Other than that, what Mike has outlined will work just fine, just take a while and require some elbow grease!
Another thought....you could tape it off and use trim paint to just return it to black....but when when it does start "peeling" (and it will) you have a worse problem to deal with. LIke I said, just a thought.
Good luck!
HAGO!
[This message has been edited by Sage (edited 06-08-2023).]
If they didn't properly prepare to paint the plastic... Paint may Peal off the plastic. Polypropylene and some other plastic types don't like many paints, primers and even many "glues" and won't stick long.
------------------ Dr. Ian Malcolm: Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should. (Jurassic Park)
If they didn't properly prepare to paint the plastic... Paint may Peal off the plastic. Polypropylene and some other plastic types don't like many paints, primers and even many "glues" and won't stick long.
They didn't prepare it at all. That makes it even a worse problem. If I do nothing it will just start peeling off and look even worse.
I will probably end up ruining the current trim and then posting on here asking how to re-paint plastic trim.
Remove the trim and use brake fluid on it. Old modeler car trick for removing paint from plastic.
I would use scotch brite on it as that will scratch the plastic - although you could eventually buff it out.
The trim will not likely break, you will most likely break some of the mounting clips - just note, depending on the year/model of the car - not all trim can be removed and is molded with the piece (doors and rear quarter for sure).
[This message has been edited by Mickey_Moose (edited 06-08-2023).]
The trim will not likely break, you will most likely break some of the mounting clips - just note, depending on the year/model of the car - not all trim can be removed and is molded with the piece (doors and rear quarter for sure).
My Haynes manual is in the mail. Not touching anything until I get that to consult..
My Haynes manual is in the mail. Not touching anything until I get that to consult..
I am not sure how good the Haynes manual is for removing trim, you would be better off with the factory service manual for your year. These can be download as a PDF off the net. There is also the body manual that may be of some use (also can download).
Yeah, as others have said, the trim (depending on where) is held in place a few different ways. The turn signal/parking lights in the front are held in by torx or philips head screws (cant remember), same with the ones in the back. The trim on the doors and fenders are held in with special clips. These clips WILL most likely break because they are old. There are new ones at The Fiero Store (www.fierostore.com) and Rodney Dickman's site also has a lot of stuff (www.rodneydickman.com)
There's a special way to remove them, and the service manual and Hayes repair manual will go into detail. Just go slow... likelihood is that at least half the clips will break, but again... you can find replacement ones, just need to look.
As for getting the paint off... the trim on the front and rear fender are literally part of the fenders (if I remember correctly), so that doesn't come off, and you may need to just paint that separately. The other items all come off, and you should be able to soak them in water and use a green scrubbing pad to get it off. You won't ruin them, but likely you will want to paint them. They probably needed to be anyway.
Front and rear side parking lights are often heavily faded... in cases like that, it's probably just best to replace them anyway. Fiero Store has new ones of those too.
[This message has been edited by 82-T/A [At Work] (edited 06-08-2023).]
My Haynes manual is in the mail. Not touching anything until I get that to consult..
quote
Originally posted by Mickey_Moose:
I am not sure how good the Haynes manual is for removing trim, you would be better off with the factory service manual for your year. These can be download as a PDF off the net. There is also the body manual that may be of some use (also can download).
PDF Manuals https://fieroinfo.com/ The "Body Service Manual" is the body section (a smaller file) from the 1986 Factory Service Manual
Originally posted by fierosound: PDF Manuals https://fieroinfo.com/ The "Body Service Manual" is the body section (a smaller file) from the 1986 Factory Service Manual
Thanks.
Chilton's was what I wanted to begin with, but I have downloaded the other service manuals also. The Haynes is not as detailed as I remember from when I was in high school 50 years ago.
