EngineerNate
New member
- Aug 24, 2017
- 40
- 0
Hi Mike and everyone else,
First post here. I've been detailing cars for fun for years but recently had a few friends express an interest in having me do their cars so I've been branching into paid work.
The last car I did was a silver 06 BMW 330i that had really bad paint overspray on the RHS. It was black and nothing wanted to touch it. I hit it with Tarminator, the McKees clay, and a bit of compound by hand and nothing. The process I found that worked and settled on was the following:
1. Soak the corner of a cheap MF with lacquer thinner.
2. Hold/rub/dab on overspray for a few seconds.
3. Spray with clay lube concentration of N-914.
4. Clay somewhat aggressively, watch for reduction in size of overspray blob.
5. Spray with generous amount of N-914 and wipe with clean cloth to prevent over-exposure of clear coat to thinner.
6. Repeat until blob is gone.
I originally tried to use a nail to "pop" the softened overspray off the clear coat, but I had one large blob that unfortunately took a small portion of the clear with it using this method. This method was recommended by another local detailer I took the car by when I was unsure how to proceed after clay didn't work. They also recommended using the lacquer thinner.
I have three primary questions:
1. How likely is it that a more aggressive clay could have avoided the need for such a strong solvent?
2. On the spot that compromised the clear when the overspray popped off, is that most likely due to the long amount of time the overspray was allowed to bond, my applying a strong solvent, too aggressive a fingernail, or some combo of the three? This panel was far from perfect so in the grand scheme of things it's not a big deal, but I obviously want to avoid adding to the damage when I work on cars moving forward.
3. What would your hierarchy of techniques for overspray look like, from gentlest to most aggressive?
Thanks!
Nathan
First post here. I've been detailing cars for fun for years but recently had a few friends express an interest in having me do their cars so I've been branching into paid work.
The last car I did was a silver 06 BMW 330i that had really bad paint overspray on the RHS. It was black and nothing wanted to touch it. I hit it with Tarminator, the McKees clay, and a bit of compound by hand and nothing. The process I found that worked and settled on was the following:
1. Soak the corner of a cheap MF with lacquer thinner.
2. Hold/rub/dab on overspray for a few seconds.
3. Spray with clay lube concentration of N-914.
4. Clay somewhat aggressively, watch for reduction in size of overspray blob.
5. Spray with generous amount of N-914 and wipe with clean cloth to prevent over-exposure of clear coat to thinner.
6. Repeat until blob is gone.
I originally tried to use a nail to "pop" the softened overspray off the clear coat, but I had one large blob that unfortunately took a small portion of the clear with it using this method. This method was recommended by another local detailer I took the car by when I was unsure how to proceed after clay didn't work. They also recommended using the lacquer thinner.
I have three primary questions:
1. How likely is it that a more aggressive clay could have avoided the need for such a strong solvent?
2. On the spot that compromised the clear when the overspray popped off, is that most likely due to the long amount of time the overspray was allowed to bond, my applying a strong solvent, too aggressive a fingernail, or some combo of the three? This panel was far from perfect so in the grand scheme of things it's not a big deal, but I obviously want to avoid adding to the damage when I work on cars moving forward.
3. What would your hierarchy of techniques for overspray look like, from gentlest to most aggressive?
Thanks!
Nathan
