Scratched on paint?

[sporkacus]

A while ago my wife came home with a set of long white scrapes down the side of the car (the car is black). I assumed it was going to be a body shop job due to the size but today I scratched at it with my fingernail and it came off. That's when I realised that it is mostly paint that rubbed onto the side of the car.

Like I said it will come off with my fingernails, but it is such a long scratch that it would take me hours to get it off by doing that.

Does anyone know of a quicker way to get the paint off? I tried one of those scrapers from a goo gone kit but the plastic wasn't hard enough.

 

[MarkAardvark]

First try Bug Remover or second try Polishing compound - have worked for me in the past..

 

[kcunniff]

A clay bar should be used before any compound. The clay bar will likely do the trick by itself.

 

[Tdi_Jetta_94]

Methyl Hydrate! I have used it on my parents truck when one of them rubbed up against a white painted light pole. Just don't scrub really hard, should come off easy. I didn't notice and dullness on the bumper (aside from the actual scratches), and the truck is dark blue.

 

[sporkacus]

Thanks for the options! I'll hit up the store tomorrow and report back with results.

 

[sporkacus]

Ok. First I tried the clay bar but after rubbing a while it didn't do much. I went to the hardware store to look for Methyl Hydrate but couldn't find it. Looking online it seems that it is only available in Canada under that name? There was a variety of paint thinners and other solvents but they didn't say what they had in them.

In the end I just tried a bottle of my wife's fingernail polish remover (acetone based) and that worked like a charm. It removed all of the paint and left the much smaller scratches that I should be able to repair myself with some touch up paint.

Much better than the $400 quote I got from a body shop.

Thanks all for the suggestions!

 

[Tdi_Jetta_94]

Methyl Hydrate is the name of the chemical, that's odd you couldn't find it. I always see it in the painting sections of the stores. Nail polish remover probly works the same way, good to know it worked and didn't hurt the paint!

 

[sporkacus]

Yeah, I was surprised too when I was looking on the back of all of the different solvents and spirits but none had any indication as to what chemicals were actually in it. Seems a bit reckless to me...

But I was glad that the acetone did the trick as I was starting to get a sore arm from rubbing with the clay.

Thanks again for the help!

 

[DPM]

methanol, or methylated spirits. Same stuff.

 

[sporkacus]

They just didn't have anything labeled as such here in the states. They had denatured alcohol, which I think that sometimes is denatured with methyl alcohol, but I'm still not 100% sure of that.