Paint specks on bumper

Honest John Back Room » Technical matters
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Wed 6 Sep 2006 21:46
Paint specks on bumper - dodo
The idiots painting the outside of the house have managed to cover my Golf mk2 in specks of white paint. I can get paint off the bodywork but not off the plastic bumpers. Any ideas?
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Wed 6 Sep 2006 21:58
Paint specks on bumper - steveo3002
can you prove it was them? id be asking for new plastics

cant really think of much apart from white spirit , and i doubt that will touch it
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Wed 6 Sep 2006 22:04
Paint specks on bumper - mfarrow
I used cellulose thinners when I had some overspray on a bumper last month. Assuming yours is bare plastic black this should be OK and will displace a lot of paints. Just be careful not to get any on the bodywork. It will also rub off black bumper wax if you've used any.

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Mike Farrow
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Thu 7 Sep 2006 10:28
Paint specks on bumper - Falkirk Bairn
A neighbour did the same to mine - got it off by waiting till it dried 100%.

Then used a finger nail to get each bit off - it took ages.
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Thu 7 Sep 2006 10:48
Paint specks on bumper - Statistical outlier
I've been told a claybar will remove this sort of thing once the paint is 100% dry.
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Thu 7 Sep 2006 17:09
Paint specks on bumper - martint123
Claybars are good to get specks off metal bodywork - black plastic bumpers are something else though.
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Fri 8 Sep 2006 10:43
Paint specks on bumper - Victorbox
If the bumper is unpainted plastic you might try Autoglym's Bumper Care which may soften the paint specs just enough to loosen their hold so you can pick them off without damaging the plastic undereneath. It will take some time though. Even WD40 might do it.
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Fri 8 Sep 2006 20:18
Paint specks on bumper - Mondaywoe
It might have been a reasonable assumption that painters would probably be the best folks to ask about getting paint off, but considering it was they who put it on in the first place it doesn't bode well! Were they professional painters? If so, I would have laid the blame firmly at their door and demanded they pay to have it properly cleaned. I would have thought that they would carry insurance for such eventualities.

Of course if they were amateurs / cowboys you haven't a hope!

I'd start with the least damaging approach (something like white spirit) then up the aggro as desperation sets in!

By the way, what kind of paint is it? I'm assuming it's gloss or masonary paint (nothing worse!) If it's water based it should theoretically soften if thoroughly soaked (maybe worth trying a heap of soaking kitchen roll for an hour or so) If it's oil based of course, you'll need a solvent of some sort.

There's always Nitromors..............but for goodness sake try anything as strong as that on an inconspicuous patch!

A heat gun or hairdryer? (Don't overdo the heat on plastics!)

Graeme
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