How To remove Paint Transfer off your car's paint

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

How How To remove Paint Transfer off your car's paint


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 Pinnacle Advanced Compound. This is a hi tech compound that uses the latest in abrasive technology and while it will finish down like a polish it's a good idea to follow it with a less aggressive polish like the Pinnacle Advanced Finishing Polish.

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

 

[BobbyG]

Re: How To Remove "Paint Transfer"

Thank for the great illustration Mike! rops:

 

[mcpp66]

Re: How To Remove "Paint Transfer"

Would detailing clay work for that as well?

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Re: How To Remove "Paint Transfer"

Would detailing clay work for that as well?

Well...

"You never know what you can do until you try"

That said... not really. When something imparts itself onto your car like paint, it's usually during a moment of extreme rubbing under pressure and the imparted substance tend to almost become one with your car's paint, as in it's stuck on the paint like glue...


For this reason, clay won't usually work...

In most cases you need some kind of "chunky" abrasive, that's why I referred to the XMT #4 as it's a traditional rubbing compound that feels like sand in a bottle and it works great for removing paint transfer, the problem is after you finish with the #4 you MUST do some kind of follow up polishing as it will leave it's own scratches behind.

In a situation like this that should be expected as removing paint transfer is usually a process, not a single step. The idea being removing the offending paint because it's unsightly makes accepting instilling a few light or shallow scratches acceptable knowing afterward you just have to remove the scratches instilled from the removal process.

I actually had about 5 products on hand to test out and used the least aggressive product that did the job because I was following the philosophy of,

"Use the least aggressive product to get the job done"


Pinnacle Paintwork Cleansing Lotion is non-abrasive and that's where the microfiber applicator pad comes into play, the nap "can" be used as a gentle type of abrasive when used with pressure, the key is to balance your pressure so you apply enough to remove the paint transfer without applying so much pressure that you and your fingertips together with the nap instill scratches or marring in the process.

This is why if anyone reading this is into detailing cars, even if it's your own car, then it's helpful to have a few different products in the garage to draw from for situation like this.

Products, and by this I mean compounds, polishes, glazes, waxes, sealants, etc. are like tools in your tool chest. I would never attempt to remove the heads off an engine without having enough of the right tools in my tool chest first.


Paint transfer is pretty common on the front and rear corners of passenger cars as people will accidentally pull to close to a pole in a parking lot, or a fence post, or some kind of structure they're parking next to and a little rubbing under pressure and you have paint transfer on your car's finish.

I used to not like using overly abrasive products like the #4 Heavy Duty Rubbing Compound but to be truthful it's pretty hand to have in the your tool chest or arsenal of detailing supplies just because once in a while it comes in real handy. The scratches and swirls it leaves behind are easily polished out using a less aggressive product.

 

[CEE DOG]

Re: How To Remove "Paint Transfer"

Thank you Mike! I've got a bit of paint transfer on frankenstein I haven't been able to get off. I have machine polished but haven't tried this method.

 

[KevinR]

Re: How To Remove "Paint Transfer"

I once got similar paint transfer when the sheetrock ceiling of my carport fell onto the roof and hood of my VW Jetta. It finally took Meguiar's #2 with a foam pad on a rotary buffer to remove.

Moral of the story: sheetrock is not a good ceiling material for unheated/uncooled spaces. Go with plywood for the ceiling material.

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Re: How To Remove "Paint Transfer"

It finally took Meguiar's #2 with a foam pad on a rotary buffer to remove.

A rotary buffer can be used and if the affected area is small it's best to use a spot repair pad.

Most of the time the paint transfer to your car's paint will be so strong that you risk heating up good paint to an extreme in your effort to remove the offending paint. A safe approach is to remove the offending paint transfer by hand as you can exert a lot of pressure to just 2-3 fingers to reduce your footprint or worked are to focus just on the transfered paint.

Then once you remove the paint transfer re-polish using a rotary buffer or whichever electric tool of choice you use to remove any scratches or marring you may have inflicted from the hand process.

I live to do as many tasks as possible by machine but there are some jobs that are done safer by hand.

Of course use your own discretion...


:xyxthumbs:

 

[Grizzly]

Re: How To Remove "Paint Transfer"

Meguiars Macro Diminishing Abrasives, found in product like M84, M85, M04 etc, work well for this situation.

They will get the paint transfer off but most likely leave severe marring behind.

 

[KevinR]

Re: How To Remove "Paint Transfer"

I live to do as many tasks as possible by machine but there are some jobs that are done safer by hand.

Of course use your own discretion...


:xyxthumbs:

I agree completely. Unfortunately I was getting nowhere with the various polishes I tried by hand. Plus, this was several years ago, before I began learning new tricks via autogeek...

 

[StoneRaizer]

Re: How To Remove "Paint Transfer"

For a tiny job like this would the Griots 3" mini polisher or 4" foam pads for the PC work as well as applying by hand?

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Re: How To Remove "Paint Transfer"

Meguiars Macro Diminishing Abrasives, found in product like M84, M85, M04 etc, work well for this situation.

They will get the paint transfer off but most likely leave severe marring behind.

Actually, M85 and M84 use Microscopic Diminishing Abrasives, this is why these products feel more like a hand lotion than a rubbing compound.

M04 came out in the 1920's I think and uses Macroscopic Diminishing Abrasives and does in fact work quite well for removing paint transfer by hand. Note the formula has been upgraded dramatically since when it first came out but it still uses MDA, not mDA.

What you need to remove paint transfer is something kind of chunky, that's why the XMT #4 or the M04 both work so well for removing paint transfer BUT they also will leave scratches in the paint.

My normal habit and practice is to type, teach and practice myself,

"Use the least aggressive product to get the job done"

So while I know that XMT #4 or M04 will excel at removing paint transfer, I still try using something a lot more gentle in order to leave the most amount of paint on the car while solving the problem and in so doing teaching that practice.

In the example of this thread where I removed white paint transfer off a 2006 Mustang, the Pinnacle Paintwork Cleansing Lotion together with the "nap" of a microfiber were aggressive enough to convince the paint transfer to come off while gentle enough to not put scratches in at the same time.

That's a Win/Win deal.

If it had not worked, I had the XMT #4 in my tool chest, or in other words, if the least aggressive product didn't work, I could substitute a more aggressive product. This is called testing and as I always tell my son,

"You don't know what you can do until you try"


For the same reason that a chunky abrasive will remove paint transfer, a chunky abrasive will also remove water spots and road film off glass, but make sure the abrasives used in the "chunky product" doesn't scratch glass. I'm pretty sure the abrasives in XMT #4 are non-diminishing, the abrasives in M04 are diminishing, I haven't tested XMT #4 on glass so I don't know if the abrasives will scratch it or not, being from Oregon, I've been using M04 for decades to remove water spots and road film off glass with no problems, but I digress... just wanted to tie in the "chunky" aspect because there's a lot of confusion over this topic.

For a tiny job like this would the Griot's 3" mini polisher or 4" foam pads for the PC work as well as applying by hand?

No, would hardly work at all and probably not at all. First it's because if you push too hard on the 3" mini polisher the pad will stop rotating and thus nothing will be done. With enough time, a 4" pad on a DA on the 6.0 setting with an aggressive compound would eventually remove it without the heat problem of a rotary buffer but you can do this in seconds by hand... and be safe while doing it.


If you put a small pad on a rotary you'll be able to rotate the pad but the bond between the transferred paint and the car paint is so tight that in most cases you risk heating the paint up in your effort.

Again... back to the benefit of working by hand...

By hand you can use 2-3 finger tips on an applicator pad and exert a lot of force to a small area which will remove the offending paint transfer without creating the heat you would create with a rotary buffer.

Not saying rotary won't work because it will, heck throw on a 8" wool cutting pad on a full size rotary, slap on some abrasive compound and you can take everything off right down to bare metal if you want... I'm not recommending this, just making the point of what can be done.

This article was to show the majority of people how to fix a common problem with something they already own... their hand...

Having an assortment of products in your detailing arsenal is like having tools in your tool box, after reading this if you don't have any of the above then maybe stock up your tool chest...

:laughing:

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Re: How To Remove "Paint Transfer"

And just to update this thread with a link to the end results...


Before and After - What you learn to do in our Detailing 101 Class

 

[lordeldor]

Re: How To Remove "Paint Transfer"

I know I'm bumping an old thread here, but I just wanted to say thank you for inspiring me to try and clean up a mishap that happened while my car was parked and unattended.

I was shopping one day, and when I came back out to the car I came out to this...

When I looked at it I figured my only option was to paint it. But after reading this article I decided to take a whack at removing the transfer.

After some elbow grease and some 3M Rubbing Compound this was the result.

Needless to say there was more than just some paint transfer going on there and it will need some paint work. But for now I am happy enough with the results that I can wait untill I have the time to get the paint work done without feeling like my car is hideous.

Thanks for the inspiration!

 

[prisonerofcs]

Re: How To Remove "Paint Transfer"

I just removed some white paint transfered on my black mustang gt rear bumper. I didn't have a paint cleanser, but XMT swirl remover #1 worked wonders!

 

[Al1515]

Re: How To Remove "Paint Transfer"

My white Acura TL-S received a long door ding from a large black SUV. It resulted in paint transfer similar to what you saw in this thread (except opposite colors). Claying did not help. Menz SIP applied via PC 7424XP worked beautifully, followed by OCW as the LSP.

 

[xtitan1]

Re: How To Remove "Paint Transfer"

Mike,

Sorry to bump an old thread, but I just had to say thank you so much for this article. My father just turned 66 and for his birthday I wanted to detail his silver blue 3 series BMW. I was using a medium grade Nano Skin wash mitt and somehow the mitt made two separate inch long black streaks on the paint. I was so upset I almost started crying (I'm very sentimental lol, it was about screwing up something for my dad, not about the paint job). Anyway to get to the point, I searched google for autogeek and paint transfer removal (technically this wasn't paint transfer but I figured same idea).

I found your article and got out a MF towel (I didn't have any MF applicators) and some BF SRC Finishing polish. Prior to this I had tried everything short of just going full out with my Flex. But using your technique I was able to wipe off the marks with only a couple of swipes with the towel (folded four ways of course) using a medium amount of hand pressure. Genius! Never would have thought of that!

I was so relieved I yelled out "Mike Phillips I owe you one!" At 4am in my garage. I was able to finish the job just hours before my dad goes to work. He doesn't even know I was working on it.

Thank you,
Rob

 

[Calendyr]

Re: How To Remove "Paint Transfer"

Thanks Mike, will have to get some of that stuff.

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Re: How To Remove "Paint Transfer"

Mike,

Sorry to bump an old thread, but I just had to say thank you so much for this article.

It's never wrong to bump an old thread or any thread when it's relevant to your detailing project.

It practice writing articles that are timeless, that means the information is just as helpful and accurate today as they were when they were written.



My father just turned 66 and for his birthday I wanted to detail his silver blue 3 series BMW. I was using a medium grade Nano Skin wash mitt and somehow the mitt made two separate inch long black streaks on the paint. I was so upset I almost started crying (I'm very sentimental LOL, it was about screwing up something for my dad, not about the paint job).

Anyway to get to the point, I searched Google for autogeek and paint transfer removal (technically this wasn't paint transfer but I figured same idea).

I found your article and got out a MF towel (I didn't have any MF applicators) and some BF SRC Finishing polish. Prior to this I had tried everything short of just going full out with my Flex.

But using your technique I was able to wipe off the marks with only a couple of swipes with the towel (folded four ways of course) using a medium amount of hand pressure.

Genius! Never would have thought of that!

Sometimes the old fashioned method of working by hand still comes in handy... (no pun intended)

Just to note, anytime I want to find one of my own articles, I type a few key words into Google and then add my name Mike Phillips and in most cases the article I'm looking for comes right to the top of the list or in the first few search link returns.

I was so relieved I yelled out "Mike Phillips I owe you one!"

At 4am in my garage.

Now that's funny! I wish there was some video captures of that moment! :laughing:

Hope you didn't scare the neighbors or the cat or dog for that matter...

I was able to finish the job just hours before my dad goes to work. He doesn't even know I was working on it.

Thank you,
Rob

Bless you're heart Rob...

What a touching and funny story... thank you so much for sharing...


:dblthumb2: :dblthumb2: :dblthumb2:

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Re: How To Remove "Paint Transfer"

I know I'm bumping an old thread here, but I just wanted to say thank you for inspiring me to try and clean up a mishap that happened while my car was parked and unattended.

There's nothing wrong with bumping an old thread.

If the information in the article is accurate it will stand the test of time so age does not matter.

Needless to say there was more than just some paint transfer going on there and it will need some paint work.

But for now I am happy enough with the results that I can wait untill I have the time to get the paint work done without feeling like my car is hideous.

Good to hear!


:dblthumb2:

 

[tenblade2001]

Could you also use p21 paint cleansor since it has abrasives as well?