This morning, while doing a spray painting project (Krylon) I was careful enough to move my MINI what I thought was a safe distance away. While spraying a big breeze came up so I stopped spraying immediately and watched a thin cloud of spray travel all the way down the drive ( 30 feet) and engulf my MINI !!!!

I ran over and much to my disbelief there were teeny tiny spots all over the car. The spots on the glass, black trim and bonnet stripes were easy to see, but the specs on the paint blended in so well with the metallic they were nearly invisible.

I touched a spot and it was already dry. I got out the hose, soaked the car, washed it as normal and it did little to help. The car was still soaked, So I added the tiniest bit of mineral spirits to a well soaked waffle towel and went over the stripes ...and this removed the spots. I then quickly soaped it up and hosed it off well, then repeated. All looks good.

I was able to get the paint off the glass easily enough with a razor blade. So, that is taken care of.

I was also able to get the paint off of any chrome bits by lightly scraping them with a credit card, which left no scratches.

My questions are ...hey, you knew there were going to be questions in here somewhere:

1. What do I do about the wheel arches?

2. Would going over the paint with clay be a good idea?

Thanks in advance for your help and keeping the ridicule to a minimum.

Its been a crappy morning.

dean.

 

Clay will get it off the paint, no problem.

Not sure about the trim. Maybe the same mineral spirits you used on the stripes?

 

+ 1

 

i painted my RC car body the other day on the driveway... i was only
like 4ft from my commuter. no issues as i felt which way the wind was
blowing first. lol

clay+QD on paint and glass is good. not sure about using plastic over those
plastic chrome door handles, etc. i would've just used clay.

the arches i would check if the dressing may have kept the paint afloat.
if so, some paper towels and more dressing would probably remove it. if
not, use clay that is cold and on the brittle side and see if that works.

 

You might be able to get the paint off with some paint thinner though it will dry them out. For textured bumpers (non MINI), there is no solution other than replacement. Cleaning paint overspray is a detailers nightmare. You can't remove it from all surfaces.

In case you weren't aware, overspray can travel for miles. Someone painting a building in town using an industrial sprayer will have overspray covering everything in its path down wind. That's what we call industrial fallout and why claybar is so important even on new cars.

 

To clean the arches and other plastic components go to a local automotive paint supplier and purchase some pre-cleaner (they'll know what it is). Pre-cleaner will remove the paint and not dry out the plastic like thinner or produce an oil film like mineral spirits.

 

What about a light block -wet sand with 1000+ grit??

 

I should have mentioned that the chrome was the headlight trim. For whatever reason, the paint did not stick to the door handles. Nor did it stick to the roof's rain gutter. Go figure.

I did not know that. Thanks.

I'll give this a try and I'll clay the glass and paint.

Thanks to all !

dean.

 

def use clay like everyone says. dunno about trim maybe use a scrub pad lightly? one that's not abrasive.

 

DuPont sells a pre cleaner called Prep Sol. That should work for you. If you use it on the body you'll need to rewax.

 

Chuck, Prep Sol is what we use. Old Farts think alike

 

Several years ago I had a MB and a GMC. My neighbor got silver overspray from a fence on both of them, gold MB and black GMC. In additon, work did a nice job of tan overspray all over the GMC. Pre-cleaners, mild polishes, solvents, did nothing to get it off either one. The GMC dealer told me not to have it buffed as the black paint on GM products was really thin and would probably buff through the paint. I found an old bottle of pre-wax cleaner made by DuPont, which took the over spray off both cars with a little elbow grease. But not enough to do one vehicle near the less two. Hit every store that sold auto stuff and found they no longer made the product. The product had an amonia smell to it, soooo, I got a bottle out from under the sink, put some on a damp rag and it took off both over sprays like the DuPont did. I mixed the amonia about 2/3 to 1/3 water put it in a spray bottle, sprayed it on the car in small areas and rubbed off the overspray. Rinsed each area as I worked. Before I used it, I soaked a indented stamping under the hood of both vehicles with straight amonia for two days to assure it wouldn't eat the paint. It took the overspray off chrome, glass, paint, and rubber, and had no adverse effect on any of the materials. A chemist told me the overspary was soft enough that the amonia would soften and remove it, while the factory paint was hard from being baked and that's why the amonia didn't hurt it. Worked for me. OG, would be interesting to see what it would do on the grain finished bumpers.