Lacquer Thinner to remove paint/gunk/tar from car paint?

[JettaTDI8655]

2001 Jetta - Silver

Recently had some damage to my rear, driver side, quater panel, and have some nasty white scratches on it. Body shop told me to use lacquer thinner followed by polish, and it should clean up quite nicely.

I was just wondering if anyone else has done this with their vehicles, and if so how did it turn out?

Ill do anything to avoid the quote they handed me.

Thanks!

 

[RT1]

Lacquer thinner will dissolve the paint and presumably restore much of the color when the thinner evaporates. I do the same restoring scratched shellac finish on furniture with a touch of denatured alchohol. The key is you don't slop it on. You use as fine a paint brush as you need to fill the scratch (and only the scratch) and only enough to meld the edges of the scratch. It's not totally invisible. When the light hits it in a certain way you will see the difference but it beats a big white scratch. Polishing will bring it back to presentable.

 

[sobots]

As long as the quarter still has factory paint, you'll be fine. If the scratches are into the paint/clear, thinner won't fix that, but it will remove any transfer. Then just polish with a mild rubbing compound.

 

[Drivbiwire]

Brake cleaner...

 

[JettaTDI8655]

Ok, used the thinner. Took the bad paint right off. Used a little turtle wax polish and the paint seems a bit "hazy now". Do I just need to put more polish on?

Any suggestions?

 

[Curious Chris]

I have the same issue on my car and I am thinking of starting with rubbing compound or maybe toothpaste as they are both very fine abrasives

 

[DirtyDzl]

Ok, used the thinner. Took the bad paint right off. Used a little turtle wax polish and the paint seems a bit "hazy now". Do I just need to put more polish on?

Any suggestions?

Did you wipe the wax off with a clean dry towel?

 

[dpg]

yep, you have to move to a progressively finer polish as you go along.

 

[JettaTDI8655]

I just have used the turtle wax polish. I rubbed the bejesus out of it and then wiped with a cloth. I didnt think I would need to use anything more abrasive than that.

 

[green_bugger]

you'll need to start with rubbing compound, then a machine glaze, then a protective wax. these are all quite expensive, and to be completely honest if you take your car to a local REPUTABLE detail shop, they would most likely, spot buff the area for less than the cost of just one bottle of quality compound. I use 3M perfect-it, and it's upwards of 50.00 a bottle.