HELP! I know the detailing gurus on here will know the answer to this one. Last Friday morning I hit a gallon sized can of white highway paint, left in the road . After 3 hours of cleaning, washing and crawling around under the car I still have white spots in the wheel openings and on the edge of the lower air dam. More importantly, I have dried paint in the treads of my new tires. It dried on the plastic and rubber in a matter of minutes, so I am thinking that it is highway paint.

I've tried goof off, goo gone, paint thinner, denatured alcohol, and soap and water. I think that the paint has dried into the plastic in the air dam and wheel well, along with the underside of the rocker panel.

Anyone know how to get this paint off the plastic and tires ?

 

I know its not what you asked for information, but I am curious. Any markings on the paint can that might identify where it came from?

 

I still have white spots in the wheel openings and on the edge of the lower air dam.

this suggests to me you have some spots left on some rough surfaces

for the lower air dam - sand it, it is a plastic piece ... I use 400, and if that didn't work 200, followed by 400 to smooth

Wheel well? Meaning the ruff wheel well liners? get yourself a really stiff brush and go to town.

 

I ran over some gray paint a couple of years ago in one of my other cars. Cleaned all of it off of the painted surfaces, but never got around to the wheel wells. It finally started to annoy me this spring, and I tried to clean it off of the plastic inner fender liners. It was such a pain in the butt just to get a little of it off, that I decided to go the cheap and dirty path - I bought some black semi-gloss paint in a small can, and touched up all the gray paint that I saw. It won't win any concours judging, but it looks pretty good to me!

 

If you take a brush to your wheel well/ fender trim or any textured plastic, be careful not to use a brush that us too stiff and abrasive. If you wear down the texture, that area will reflect more light and will stuck out like a sore themb. Would look just as bad as having the paint in the textured grooves.

 

W-d-40.

 

I Have people come to me with the white or yellow paint all the time and I have yet to find a perfect solution to actually cleeeann it off. I have told everyone to call the city or county and tell them the sittuation and 9/10 people have gotten all the plastic and tires replaced and the paint on the paint sanded and polished away at the states expense.

I have yet to try it, but I have always wondered if a little heat gun would work. Soften up the paint so it wil come off because supposidly most of the road paint is close to an acrylic type paint...