Removing paint from a car

Fodder

As I attempted to pull into our fairly tight garage I managed to scrape the side of the car against the side of the white garage, leaving a couple large areas of paint on the outside of the car. I managed to get a lot of it off, but there are some fairly thick bits that I'm not having much luck cleaning off with just the washcloth I've been using. I'm a little wary of using anything too strong and eating through the paint, but I'm getting a bit frustrated by the whole thing at this point, so any suggestions are welcome.

TexiKen

Clay bars are just great at anything. You can find them at the auto store. Just spray the liquid on the area, gently place the clay bar over the area and it will pick up everything. Then just wipe with a micro fiber towel (usually provided). Clay bars aren't rough, but they get a lot of stuff you can't really tell. I used them once to get 2 week old paint overspray off my car no problem.

You might not want to use rubbing compound depending on how old the car is as it might mess with the clear coat or paint.

Gafoto

Another option is toothpaste. It's one of the weakest abrasives out there and if you work carefully and slowly it'll remove the offending paint with little or no damage to the underlying clear coat.

Clay bar might work fine for this though.

PreludeDude253

Use a pencil eraser works for anything scuffed onto car paint

Wiley

If you know anyone with a buffer and the paint is on the clear coat they should be able to buff the paint off.

Sporked

TexiKen wrote: »

Clay bars are just great at anything. You can find them at the auto store. Just spray the liquid on the area, gently place the clay bar over the area and it will pick up everything. Then just wipe with a micro fiber towel (usually provided). Clay bars aren't rough, but they get a lot of stuff you can't really tell. I used them once to get 2 week old paint overspray off my car no problem.

You might not want to use rubbing compound depending on how old the car is as it might mess with the clear coat or paint.

Go get a clay bar kit, Mother's makes one for 15-20 bucks. It's probably the safest way to get overspray/rubbed-on paint off of a car's finish, and you WILL use it again. Just make sure the area is washed and dried before you start, and (this is the important part) keep everything well lubed with the detailer spray while you rub. If you let the bar go dry while rubbing it'll do exactly what you might think a bar of clay will do when rubbed against a paint job while dry - start to come apart and get stuck on your paint. You'll be pretty amazed with how much shit it picks up though.