Dried on silly string.

jonn127

jonn127

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A potential customer stopped by the shop today, he had been out of town for awhile and someone vandalized his car with silly string. Well it's completely baked and dried onto the paint. I told him I would do some research and let him know.

Anyone have any experience with this or have any ideas?
 
I dealt with this once (although it was relatively fresh). I used a bug scrubber pad with an APC and then clayed the whole car. A bit tedious, but it worked well.
 
I had to google it to remind myself how this worked LOL

I would think that saturating it in something and then using a plastic razor blade and taking it off would work. Perhaps saturate and heat up a lil?

I don't think that scrubbing will be worth it as it will mar the paint.
 
Heat....probably a good idea. I tried a 3m adhesive/tar remover as it seems to work on about anything I've tried but it didn't have any effect.
 
You can try using Wax and Grease Removers:
-3M Adhesive Remover
-PrepSol
-Klean-Strip
-Mineral Spirits
-Naptha

Always test in as small and inconspicuous place as possible.
It may take more than one application.

Good Luck!!
As Silly String dries/cures...(its resins become a "plastic")...there's the chance that it will bond to CC-paint (also a "plastic")...Often "eating" through the CC to the substrates.
This is probably applicable to other paints as well.

Damn those: Dirty Rotten Silly-String-Scoundrels!!

Bob


Note:
Years ago we'd use R-12 refrigerant to remove the Silly String of that era.
Then they went to a more VOC compliant refrigerant (R134A), and Silly String propellants.
Then along came the noncompliant Chinese imported Silly String. All bets, using refrigerants to remove this "type" of Silly String, are now off.
 
Been there before. Lesson learned. Never make a redhead mad. Or better yet... go back to her place not yours. Wax and grease remover and a plastic razor blade. Clay bar then polish. Took me about two attempts with the wax remover.

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using AG Online
 
The gas in the can is flammable.One night while working at a restaurant a birthday cake complete with burning candles was presented to a young woman with long flowing hair.The party of ten or so thought it would be funny to shoot the string at her.Needless to say her head became a ball of fire and they rushed her into the closest rest room which was the men`s room.I bet it was difficult for her to go to work the following Monday.
 
Keep us up to date and let us know what works. I have a young son, so I'm sure I will be coming across this in the years to come.
 
Mike lambert said:
Contact the company,see what they recommend .
Click to expand...


That's my suggestion too.... this has to have come up in the past?


That or water is a univeral solvent for most substance, the key is,

How to get the water to stay on the car for a duration of time?


Here's a way....

Tips & Tricks: How to remove dried bug spatter or bug guts


Bug Spatter can actually eat through and remove paint if left on too long...
BugBGoneTest003.jpg



Tip: Water soften the dried bug guts and splatter with water first.

Trick: Use a towel to hold water in place on a vertical panel.​

Here's a tip I posted in 2005, the idea being to use the towel to hold the moisture onto the paint and thus the bug splatter where it can go to work softening and loosening the splatter. A large beach towel works well for this...

This was my Honda Pilot in our garage where I would also wash the garage because it's pretty hard to wash a car in the desert without the dry heat or the wind drying water before you can dry your car.

Take a wash rag and saturate it with water or your car wash solution.

2WetWashRag.jpg



Place the wet wash rag on top of the dried bug splatter and allow it to sit for a few minutes. A variation of this would be to use warm/hot water.

2WetWashRag2.jpg



To speed up the process, apply some gentle pressure while drinking a cold soft drink and if need be, hum or whistle a little diddy.

2WetWashRag3.jpg




A variation of the above but for a larger area would be to use a larger cloth such as a bath towel. Saturate a clean, soft 100% cotton towel with water and place it over the affected area.

2WetTowel1.jpg


Another variation for headlights and fenders...
2WetTowel2.jpg



Big Picture
The idea being to use some type of bath towel or microfiber towel or even wash cloth or wet chamois to trap and hold water onto the dried bug splatter in order to soften and re-liquefy it so you can more easily remove it without causing damage to the delicate, scratch-sensitive clear coat finish.


I don't know if hte above will work but one thing for sure it's very safe to try.


:)
 
Hello AGO,

Sorry to bring up an old thread. I wanted to bring up something up and hopefully it is not a bad idea. I think in a previous response to this someone had used APC and clayed after to briefly put. I had a similar situation about this matter recently. What ended happen was that the silly string was baked onto the pain REALLY nicely onto the paint. I had a VERY difficult time trying to wash it alone. Then I moved on to see what else worked. The thing that I only had at the time was a multi-purpose cleaner & a degreaser as it states on the label (this is only one product btw). Of course the main objective was to Carefully remove the silly string without scratching the paint.

Of course I did a test spot with the following method:

I sprayed the solution on. Then I used a debit card to scrape off the dried silly string. I IMMEDIATELY wiped the area off with a quick detailer then clayed it after. It seemed it work fine. so I proceeded with the rest of the car.

my question is. Based on keen observation I felt comfortable enough to do this and didn't leave marks at all. Either way bottom-line is that this worked for me.

My next question is: Should I be paranoid about if this did damage the paint?
 
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