How to remove paint transfer

I've dealt with this before. Maybe my method is not the best way to do it, but its worked for me every time. I just polish over the area. Specifically, I've used M105 and an orange pad.

I have an article for that...

How To Remove Paint Transfer


Paint Transfer is a term used to describe when the paint off of some other object is transferred onto you car's finish usually by some kind of accident.

My friend Rob is a Fitness Instructor at the gym I work out at and someone, somehow sideswiped his 2006 Ford Mustang GT and in so doing took off is side mirror and transferred some white paint onto his car's finish along with instilling some marring and scratches.









Luckily the damage wasn't worse!



Here's how you can remove paint transfer by hand using a light paint cleaner. For this example I'll use Pinnacle Paintwork Cleansing Lotion.

Pinnacle Paintwork Cleansing Lotion non-abrasive, it is designed to safely take off old wax, embedded road grime and pollution that washing will not remove. It prepares the surface for waxing by creating a clean, smooth, highly-reflective surface.

This is a very mild polish and because it's non-abrasive I'm going to apply and work it with a microfiber applicator pad, in this situation were using the nap of the microfiber as our abrasive along with the lubrication and cleaning ability of Pinnacle Paintwork Cleansing Lotion to gently remove the offending paint.

If you find Pinnacle Paintwork Cleansing Lotion is not aggressive enough, you can use XMT Heavy Duty Swirl Remover #4 Polishing Compound. This is very aggressive rubbing compound and after using it you will need to follow it with a less aggressive product.





Place a small amount of Paintwork Cleansing Lotion onto the face of your applicator pad...



Next work the polish and applicator against the transferred paint putting a little passion behind the pad but don't push too hard or you could instill fingermarks just from the concentrated pressure from your fingertips...




After working the product for about a minute, stop and inspect to check your progress.. You can see most of the paint transfer has been removed but not 100% of it. Sometimes you many need to repeat the process a few times to completely remove the paint transfer.






After you've successfully removed the paint transfer you can apply a protective coat of wax or paint sealant or like I've done here, machine polished the paint and then machine waxed the paint.




Looks as good as new and now Rob's going to have the mirror replaced.




Thanks Rob for bringing your car to Autogeek's Show Car Garage!



Products Used
Pinnacle Paintwork Cleansing Lotion
Cobra Indigo Microfiber Polishing Cloth
Cobra Microfiber Applicator Pads
Pinnacle Liquid Souveran Car Wax


Further Resources
How to use a hand applied abrasive polish or paint cleaner by hand


Paint Cleaners at Autogeek.net
Pinnacle Paintwork Cleansing Lotion
Wolfgang Paintwork Polish Enhancer
3M Scratch Remover
Dodo Juice Lime Prime Lite Cleaner Glaze
Dodo Juice Lime Prime Pre-Wax Cleanser Polish
Duragloss PreCleaner
1Z Einszett Paint Polish
Four Star Ultimate PreWax Cleanser
Griot's Garage Fine Hand Polish
Liquid Glass Pre-Cleaner
Meguiars SCRATCH X 2.0
Meguiars SwirlX Swirl Remover
Mothers California Gold Pre-Wax Cleaner
Mothers California Gold Scratch Remover
P21S Gloss Enhancing Paintwork Cleanser
Poorboy's World Professional Polish
SONAX Premium Class Paint Cleaner
SONAX Paint Cleaner

I appreciate it Mike! My wife had some white paint transfer from a light scuff on the bumper, she rubbed very slightly against a white pole in the parking spot. Luckily, i had the Pinnacle cleansing lotion that i traded for about a year ago never used it before, until today. I have other polishes i figured would work, but i decided to use the cleansing lotion. All the paint was removed, just a little marring from the pole rubbing the paint, but i easily polished it out with Wolfgang TSR 3.0.

You can also try paint thinner. Then compound if there is scratches.

Many thanks for writing this article Mike - I had to leave our car at a hospital parking lot overnight, and came back to find grey paint on the rear driver-side quarter panel. Clay and Poli-Seal on a white foam hand applicator wasn't really budging it; did a quick search on AGO before resorting to a more abrasive approach, and found this thread. Switched to Poli-Seal on a microfiber towel, and after some hard work, got the transfer off, without having to hit my clear with a polish or compound