Any ideas - getting rid of interior spray paint

[krazyrabbit]

The guy who owned my '96 GT before me must have spay painted some of the interior parts and not done proper prep work first. The paint is scraping and rubbing off the driver's side air bag and the door panel inserts. How do I remove this paint? Some of it comes off with my finger nail, but some is stuck on pretty well.

I really don't want to buy a new air bag and the steering wheel I bought to replace this saddle is charcoal black, so I'd like to get rid of the peanut butter color anyway. I tried using packing tape, as someone suggested, but that didn't work. Also tried heating it up with a hair dryer - nope.

 

[chris91]

I think anything that will eat the paint off will also discolor or even melt the plastic. Might be able to get away with using Denatured Alcohol. Id test a very small spot though.

 

[ster302]

Start with something mild like alcohol. I accidentally spilled wax and grease remover on a painted interior piece and it melted the plastic.

 

[MustangChris]

eeeee. lol.

 

[Orange 94]

tnt

 

[krazyrabbit]

tnt

That's what I feel like doing to the a** hole who sprayed the paint to begin with.

 

[JKady]

Carb cleaner, spray it on a rag, wipe the paint off. I've used carb and brake cleaner to clean interior parts more times than I can count. Biggest thing is to spray the rag not the part, to avoid damage. And obviously test somewhere not obvious first.

 

[whiplash473]

Shouldn't need to be tested if you've done it plenty of times^

Rabbit - try rubbing alcohol..that will cut some things but has really no qualities that will change the plastic pieces..things like brake clean or lacquer thinner will actually discolor and disform (if that's a word) or melt plastic pieces.......it's a lot better to have to work harder with alcohol than have it done quicker but with the pieces messed up afterwards


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[chris91]

Whippy whats the difference between Denatured Alcohol and Lacquer Thinner? Guys that used to do the interior dyes on our details use to use the hell outta it.

 

[CC'S95GT]

Alcohol and thinner are completely different chemicals and used for different reasons.

 

[chris91]

Denatured Alcohol isnt like your Average Rubbing Alcohol as it contains Naphtha(used as lighter fluid, safe to use on plastics) and a couple other chemicals . They are both used for removing paint but I was wondering which does what. Like of course I know Lacquer Thinner is for Lacquer based paint, but wasnt sure what paint Denatured Alcohol was used for.

 

[whiplash473]

Lacquer thinner isn't just for lacquer based paints..it's a powerful cleaner that gets used big time in paint shops..at my work there's 2 55gal drums of it at all times..the parts cleaning tank and gun washer are the two main things

Lacquer thinner is on a different level than alcohol..thinner will strip paint if its not factory sprayed..will clean up anything..if thinner doesn't clean it up then its not going anywhere


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[krazyrabbit]

Thanks for the info, I will try Rubbing Alcohol first as it seems safer.

 

[whiplash473]

Yeah you can find it anywhere too


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[PikesPeakPony]

No problem to fix this! Use light thinner on a rag(it will take some time) once the paint is gone prep as usual. Hit up late model resto and get the sem viny DYE. The paint he used is for the plastic parts only not the soft vinyl. 3 coats and it will look like a brand new interior piece.