House paint overspray removal in the cold

P

Payne

New member
I have read the replies regarding removing paint (house paint or traffic striping paint) overspray from a vehicle. Is the concensus still to use mineral spirits then a clay bar?

The car is a 2007 Ford Focus with a factory clear coat. The overspray completely covers the car, you can barely see it but it is on the glass, plastic headlight covers, plastic antenna, you can feel it. A windshield replacement company cleaned up the glass using commerical glass cleaner and a razor blade like the kind you find in box cuttting knives to scrape the paint from the windshield.

Again my question is, is there a new product out there that will clean the paint off of all surfaces or am I stuck using mineral spirits? Also, this time of year the temperature drops from 48 degrees during the day to 32 degrees at night. Can I do the job now or will waiting for late spring and warmer weather allow the paint to some how set up and be harder to remove?
Thanks for any info and opinions.
P.S. I am not a professional detailer.
 
It is my oppinion that clay with some soapy water (car wash soap) should do the trick on house paint overspray, especially if it is a latex paint. I don't think the mineral spirits will hurt anything either but either way you will want to apply some wax or sealant afterward. You may want to have it polished afterward before applying the wax or sealant. Do you have any detailing tools? The clay will likely be a bit stiff and can be warmed up in a cup of hot tap water so you can knead it and flatten it out from time to time.

I would do it like this if I were you.

1. wash with warm water and dawn dish soap.
2. clay with clay magic blue clay using a solution of 20 parts water to one part car wash soap.
3. polish with a mild polish or paint cleaner.
4. wax or seal with a quality sealant or wax.

Claying your paint will remove the contaminants but will take a good bit of rubbing to achieve your results and will most likely leave some light marring in the paint. This is why I reccomend the polishing step and asked if you have any detailing tools such as a porter cable dual action polisher. If you are not used to this kind of work your arms will be tired long before you finish claying the entire car. Then to do it right you will want to do the light polishing step at a minimum.

These first two steps will leave your paint shiney but it will be totally unprotected unless you polished with a all in one polish such as Poorboys World Polish with Sealant or apply a coat of quality wax or sealant. With winter coming you really need to get some protection on your paint.

You might consider paying a pro detailer to do this for you, but if you invest in some tools and products and read up here you will be able to continue to take care of it yourself. I hope this helps. Keep checking back here as most members here are very nice and very helpful. TD
 
Having had this happen to me.....................

Wash
Clay with PB apc (ck with steve for dilution)
polish with propolish

That shold do it
 
Thank you both very much. No, I do not have any pro equipment just my limbs and hands so you are right, I bet I barely get the hood done...maybe I can do it in stages, like one body panel a week.
 
Payne its not that bad to do by hand. Also have plenty of plush microfiber towels for removal of the residue left from claying the paint. And also wax or sealant removal. I usually clay with Poorboys Spray and Wipe, thats when I buff that off with plush MF towels. GOOD LUCK and post before and affter photos.
 
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