Got home after a visit to the dealer and found white paint all over the car. It wasn't on the nose so must have run over wet lane stripes. It came off the paint very easy but the arches and rear lip have paint all over them. It looks like a latex paint. What can I use to remove from the black trim. Any help would be appreciated.

 

As I said in my PM, you will want to deal with this now, and not tomorrow. Have you tried hitting it with warm water? Have you tried taking a towel soaked in hot water and placed it on the trim to see if it could soften it? I'm not sure what kind of paint is used on a road stripe--not sure if it would be latex based.

Might try using a mild solvent, start with some rubbing alcohol, then try some paint thinner--very carefully. We used a Media Reducer which is basically the same thing to remove graffiti off paint--not sure how it would work on the textured plastic. Usually paint overspray is very difficult to deal with on plastic--often times replacement being the only solution--I realize this is fresh splattered paint.

Once you've dealt with this, you might want to back track your steps in daylight to see where you picked this up--might have some recourse with the city or highway transportation...

Richard

 

About 20 years ago I was parked downwind of a street repair where one of those tack sealent spray trucks was spraying the road all day. When I got to my car it was covered with tiny black dots of tack sealent. I didn't know what to do and in my panicked state I went to a gas station and after donning as much rubber as I could get my hands on I gave my car a gasoline wash. I then washed it thoroughly and numerous times to get the gas off with dishwashing liquid. Perhaps it was dumb luck, but that car never looked as clean as when I was done. The gasoline didn't hurt anything and took the sealent off really well. Not sure what the experts have to say about it, but is sure worked for me back then.

 

Give WD-40 a try, it has worked for me.

Mark

 

Paint used on the road can be an oil or acrylic based mixture, but it all contains ground glass. This is what gives the paint the reflective quality.

WD-40 is a diluted acetone and should take off the paint. If it does not, use acetone (Goop-Off) to remove the paint and then treat the trim to some Black Wow.

Whatever you use, just be careful not to get that paint on the painted surface of your car as it will scratch the poop out of the paint.

 

One thing I would have liked to have tested...but it's too late of course--is I think if he had Black Wow on the trim before it got hit with paint, he probably could have just hosed off the paint as it wouldn't have stuck in the first place. Not sure 100% though--something I need to test.

 

I can just see OG driving all over SoCal looking for road painting operations to test his theory.

 

Haha, the only problem with that is I don't use BW on my trim all the way around--meaning I usually leave portions of it ragged so I can give do a demo on it. =)

Had a customer come in the other day, and wanted to use a PC, so I let him practice on my MINI--had him polish the rear quarter panel and he got Swirl polish all over the arches--that weren't treated. Looks pretty bad, but just wait till I do a demo. =)

Richard