Removing paint from car

writeorwrong · Mar 30, 2006

Hello everyone,

For my work-in-progress, if one wants to ruin the paint finish in small areas of a car, what common household product (or food) may be used?

What's the active ingredient that removes the paint?

Thanks. A wealth of information here!

alleycat · Mar 30, 2006

Draino or oven cleaner would probably do it. Lye is very caustic.

I hope you're using this in a story, and not planning a prank.

ac

katiemac · Mar 30, 2006

A couple years back at my high school, the seniors pranked the juniors by silly-stringing and egging their cars.

The eggs basically ended up baked onto the cars since they were sitting out in the heat all afternoon before anyone realized what happened. Quite a few paint finishes were ruined, too, although I'm not certain if the actual eggs were the cause, or instead it was the students trying to scrape off their cars.

Maryn · Mar 31, 2006

Nail polish remover--the main ingredient is acetone--will also strip paint off a car. (I didn't know that lye would.) I grew up in southern Arizona, and I can confirm that either the baked-on eggs or the efforts to remove them damage paint.

Maryn, living in a place where kids don't egg cars or toilet paper houses and yards

alleycat · Mar 31, 2006

Just adding for clarity . . . the question was "ruin paint" not remove paint. Even gasoline can damage an auto finish.

ac

MadScientistMatt · Mar 31, 2006

And there's mechanical ways of damaging or removing paint too. The most common one for vandals is keying - scratching it up with car keys. A body shop would remove paint with a power sander or sandblaster.

Eggs are definitely the most popular one for chemical damage. I'm not sure what the chemical is in them that attacks paint, though. I'm pretty sure it is not the effort to remove them that does the damage; I've had a car egged and I was able to remove the eggs with soap and water. (The paint finish had been ruined long before it was egged.)

Lyra Jean · Mar 31, 2006

Bologna. or so I heard.

writeorwrong · Mar 31, 2006

alleycat said:
I hope you're using this in a story, and not planning a prank.

ac

Hee. It occurred to me later that some of you might wonder that, and why not? This is the Internet. But let me assure you... as a middle-aged lady with bad knees, I'd make a pretty sorry prankster. The MC of my novel is another matter.

Great responses here. She'll probably do it with acetone... Thanks!

alleycat · Mar 31, 2006

You could have her write something in the paint (using acetone). . . .like "Driver is a jerk".

Removing paint from car

writeorwrong

alleycat

Still around

katiemac

Five by Five

Maryn

I Tried

alleycat

Still around

MadScientistMatt

Empirical Storm Trooper

Lyra Jean

Two years old now.

writeorwrong

alleycat

Still around