Am I going about this right? Overspray removal

[ShaneB]

I want to be sure im doing this right as its new territory for me.

I went to the airport today where I got a call from a guy saying some cars got paint overspray on them. Got my first look at one of them and after some trial and error it seems the first car is pretty bad. The paint settled on the car in a bunch of little specs (should of taken photos) and baked in the sun all day before the owner noticed (inside at work). At first look I was thinking my nanoskin fine grade sponge would take it right off, but apparently the paint has seemed to settle into the clear coat (its been a few days now). The sponge smoothed everything out but it has seemed to have sheared the paint specks off rather than remove them. Like I said the test spot I tried was smooth as glass after the sponge, but specks remained.

So heres the question now, and I want to be sure im going about this the right way. Since the paint specks are now embedded in the clear coat, is the right approach to polish them out? I figure the thinner mixed in the paint so it could be sprayed assisted in the paint burrowing into the clear coat. My order of testing was to first try HD polish on a polishing pad with my PE8. That seemed to work well but didn`t get it all (remember just a test spot, hence the PE8). So I tried to see what luck I had with my Rupes 21 with a green buff n shine pad and HD polish. That combo did almost nothing. OK now I tried polish with a buff n shine orange cutting pad, minimal improvement. Went all the way up to trying HD cut with a orange pad and again didn`t get nearly the improvement as I did with the PE8. So the Rupes had minimal effect on the specks so it looks like rotary is the way to go (seems weird to me that the rupes couldn`t handle it). So I tried the PE8 again with a cyan hydro tech pad with HD polish and ta da! All specks came out. A quick run over with the rupes with a green buff n shine pad and HD polish cleaned up the holograms left from the cutting pad. So it looks like im going to have to do a full 2 step process on the bulk of the car to get the paint off. Going to bring out my Makita and go to town all day. I would of tried the Makita today but I didn`t bring it with me as I was just meeting with them to see what needs to be done.

Am I going about this the correct way or is there other options I should explore besides polishing?

On a good note for the owner, hes getting a full correction basically on his car for free basically. The airport is paying for the work to clean up the mess. I told him lucky for him cause all the water spot etching on his hood should come out along with it. If all goes well, he said there are 3-4 other cars that got overspray on them that will need to be cleaned up. All in a similar situation where they sat in the sun, so im worried about that. One of them is a really nice Subaru WRX that looks pretty clean that im looking forward to working on. It didn`t get the overspray as bad and he may of had some sort of wax or sealant that should help with the removal.

[Stokdgs]

Great process of elimination !

I use the Lake Country Hydro-Shred Cyan Pads on everything and they really clean and polish down if you work them long enough on a Rotary..
That`s all I ever use..A 5" Cyan, compound or a good polish like Optimum Hyper Polish, a little moisture, pressure, low speeds on my Makita, and like magic, its beautiful, clear, level, and very glossy..

Another option, perhaps, is to find out what type of paint was sprayed, then find out what thins it, make sure its not going to thin out automotive paint, and use this to remove the overspray..

Perhaps if this worked out, then a light polishing might be all that is needed, but without seeing all of this, there are too many variables to your world that we dont know about..

Good luck ! I am sure you will rock this and now will have a bunch of new Clients who will be very pleased and will refer their friends, etc..
Dan F

[ShaneB]

According to what I`m told, it was an automotive paint, so I can only safely assume that the same thinner that will remove it would harm the clear as well. Not sure I want to take that risk.

i only have the hydro tech pads in 3" and have buff n shine orange pads in 5.5" so I`ll have to use those. I may have to buy some pads going into this project. Hopefully the buff n shine pads work just as well. If not I`ll be buying a bunch of hydro tech pads in 5.5"

[Stokdgs]

Shane,

You`re doing it the right way - great thought process..

I have had the Hydro-Shred Cyan and the sister Tangerine pads since they first came out, a long time ago..
They went through initial velcro lamination issues, and shredding easily, but they finally got it straightened out - well, except for the occasional shredding I can still get if they get too hot too long on my Makita..

These pads have always performed very predicatively, and this European foam type works really great for me, as said earlier..

They work so good, i have never had or felt the need to try other lines like Buff n Shine, etc... Why fix it if it aint broken ??

All my client`s vehicles have extreme clarity and gloss - I don`t really need anything else, thank you..

Good luck with your research - I am positive you will find your place, your pace, and your skillsets will just keep growing !

I have to think that if these pads quit selling, L/C would phase them out, but I don`t think they are... I`m glad I have a LOT of them..
Dan F

[jmsc]

Very interesting. I guess I am going to go a different road.

1. Curious why you did not use an aggressive clay at step 2? Clay was developed specifically for overspray if I`m not mistaken.
2. At step 3 I would have used the PE8 rotary plus MF pad. Instead you went less aggressive. Why?
3. If you try a plastic baggie test now, the paint surface should feel like glass or does it still have grittiness?

That was a lot of work. But in the end it was successful.

[ShaneB]

Aggressive clay wouldn`t of done it any different IMO, I could be wrong but either way even the fine grade was able to grab the paint specks and shear them off level with the surrounding paint. Maybe I could of tried my coarse grade nanoskin mitt. Actually when I go to do the whole job, I will be going over the car with a medium grade nanoskin mitt as im not worried about a little marring when I will be polishing anyway.

I didn`t bring any microfiber pads with me as I didn`t expect it to get to this extent to remove. Even then I`ve experimented with MF pads on a rotary on my test panel and besides the fact they are near impossible to control, they get VERY HOT VERY FAST. I wont touch a car with a MF pad on a rotary. At least not at my skill level. I may bring my MF cutting pads with me and give it a shot on the rupes when I go back. I don`t see where I went less aggressive though... After exhausting what I had on hand for the rupes, I went back to the PE8 and went to a cutting pad instead of a polishing pad using the same HD polish as before with the polishing pad. The additional cut of the pad got me the results I was looking for. For some reason as I got more aggressive with the rupes, it didn`t get me very noticeably different results. The higher cut did get a little better, but I was still only getting maybe 50% removal. The rotary just seemed to do a better job in this case

Ill have to bring some baggies with me, forgot them today as I was in a hurry out the door. With my bare hand the surface felt like sandpaper before using the sponge, after it felt like glass. There may have been some left over though. Ill do a little more testing when I go back but today was simply just a consultation to figure out the extent of the work required to get the job done.

[Stokdgs]

I learned in the Paint Shop to feel with my clean, dry, bare hand and fingers defects in the panel and on the paint..
Your fingertips are especially sensitive to change in what you feel on a panel..
Have never seen the reason to put a plastic bag on my hand and do this..
To me, its like taking a shower with a raincoat on, or something..
I was taught by some of the best Painters around to just close your eyes, and feel the panel, to feel the defects..
Good luck with this awesome project !!!
Dan F

[CoolFloridaCars]

Have you tried using non chlorinated brake cleaner. Usually that and a little pass with the da after and your back in business. Quick easy and cheap. And in my experience doesn`t harm the paint, are they new cars?

[EdLancer]

Removing over spray takes time and different methods depending if it was the same type of paint used like if it was enamel or lacquer based paint used on top of the OEM acrylic base paint.
If it was an enamel or lacquer based paint sprayed on top of the OEM acrylic clearcoat, then you can use lacquer thinner to remove the feathering over spray and then use a buffer with cutting pad and compound to feather and blend it in.