Help Stripping Paint from Plastic

swanicyouth

swanicyouth

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Dear guys,

Can someone recommend a chemical I can use at home that will strip factory paint off plastic trim? It's for this plastic silver engine cover that says "Nissan":

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The paint is failing:

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...and I just want to go with the natural black plastic color underneath. I don't want to sand, because I think that would scratch it all up.

Any suggestions ???

TIA!
 
I see what you are saying, try paint thinner if not you may have to resort to wet sanding the paint off with various grades of sand paper...good luck
 
If you have access to a variable temperature heat gun, that could work.
 
Thanks for the suggestions. I'll get pain thinner and I have a heat gun.

Anyone think acid would work without damaging the plastic? I doubt it, but who knows.
 
swanicyouth said:
Thanks for the suggestions. I'll get pain thinner and I have a heat gun.

Anyone think acid would work without damaging the plastic? I doubt it, but who knows.
Click to expand...
Non-acid; and: Non-flammable...paint stripper: Captain Lee's Auto Spra'-Strip

Bob
 
As unorthodox as it may sound..….…brake fluid. Brush it on the painted areas, let it sit, then wash with a medium bristle brush and soap.
 
Tried the brake fluid overnight. It didn't work. It actually cleaned up the plastic paint pretty nice. Off to Home Depot to find something the says "removes paint" and has the most warnings or skulls and crossbones on the label. :)
 
swanicyouth said:
Tried the brake fluid overnight. It didn't work. It actually cleaned up the plastic paint pretty nice. Off to Home Depot to find something the says "removes paint" and has the most warnings or skulls and crossbones on the label. :)
Click to expand...

Interesting. I wonder if you are dealing with some sort of "coating" instead. Something like a hydro dip.
 
Dunno. It's the regular silver plastic paint that is on most plastic engine covers.

I'm wondering if brake fluid only messes with SS paint. My experience with brake fluid and paint goes back to 8th grade when my friend's brother just had his 68 Camaro restored and re-painted. There it sat in the driveway beautiful - deep metallic blue.

Then, he pissed off this guy, so the guy came at night and dumped brake fluid all over his Camaro. It turned the blue paint orange and red in spots.

We 3 sat there in the driveway speechless.
 
Ok here is the follow up to this. Found a product that removes paint easy as can be from auto plastic. Brake fluid and paint thinner did nothing. So, I went to Home Depot to look for some hardcore stuff. I found it.

My requirements:

At least one skull and cross bones and a fatal poison warning:

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And something that says don't use on plastic:

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It's this:

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All you do is spray it and let it sit 15 minutes and the factory paint sloughs off:

Spray:

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Paint falls off:

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uva7ybat.jpg


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All the paint and poison is in the cap:

ama6u2u4.jpg


So, it left perfect black plastic that I MAY or MAY not have put a few light scratches in because I was too lazy to buy a plastic scraper. But, the paint fell off so easy, I didn't think it would scratch. I did get some fine scratches. But here it is with no paint:

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e6uvy3yh.jpg


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So, I figured I had some black Plasti-Dip sitting around, why not Dip it to cover the scratches?

Dipped:

a7u7yzyv.jpg


Pretty happy how this turned out. I'll post pics when it dries overnight and I put it back on the vehicle. Plasti-Dip is supposed to be good at 200° + - so, we will see.
 
Wow! That seems pretty effective. I've used the same brand in a liquid and "paste". The aresol seems to be the way to go.
 
Looks good. I wasn't expecting that chemical to have that effect but it looks like it served its purpose quite well.
 
Thanks for following up, and for posting the "after" pix. That stuff worked great. I'd have been reluctant to try it based on the label, but it doesn't look like it hurt your engine cover at all. I have the same kind of cover, and now I know what to do when it starts looking bugly. Thanks!
 
SR99 said:
Cool result!
If anyone else tries this stuff, the warning labels should apparently be taken VERY SERIOUSLY: CDC: 13 Deaths Tied To Chemical Methylene Chloride, 3 Dead in Florida, Georgia and Michigan using Klean-Strip KS-3 Premium Stripper available at Home Depot. | BILL WARNER PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR 'CHEATERS' & CHILD CUSTODY 941-926-1926
Click to expand...

Well, I got say, you'd have to be pretty dumb to use it on your bathtub or in an enclosed bathroom. But, the stupidity of people never shocks me anymore. I'm surprised someone didn't dump it in their bathtub with some soap and figure they could kill 2 birds with one stone: strip the tub & get washed.
 
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