How to get cement off a car?

Jngrbrdman

Jngrbrdman

New member
I've got a potential customer at work who has some concrete specs on his car. Apparantly he was parked near a sidewalk project and he got some splash on him. The number of "drips" on his 4 Runner are countable, so there really isn't that much on there. The spots are large enough that I don't know that clay is the thing to use. What would you use to get this off? Is it something that would be best to just carefully use the point of a knife or something? Is there some industrial product from autoint that would be better to use? I've got a fair amount of my autoint supplies left if there is something they have that would do it. Its a "white" 93 4 Runner that has more wrong with it than just a few concrete specs so it will be a project. I hate it when people neglect white cars. this one looks more grey than white at this point.



I can go out and take some pics of the damage and post them if that will help.
 
You can try clay. It sounds like it wouldn't work.



Do you have any plastic razor blades on hand? They can be used to cut off the cement specs. Time consuming yes, but safer than knife or finger.



AutoInt has some New Car Prep that may work, but I doubt it, not strong enough.



So my plan of attack would be clay and some New Car Prep. The razor blade should do the trick if the above fail.s
 
I may have to try that. I'll post some pics in a minute. I've got a question about price. I've never done something like removing cement off a vehicle before, so I'm not sure what to charge. The whole truck needs to be clayed and at least AIO'd. I'm pretty cheap so I would charge $120 for the exterior job without the cement problems. I figure that is a good 3 hour job and $120 meets my $40/hr rate. Do you think it would take another hour for the concrete? If I estimated it at an hour do you think I would be ok or should I figure more time than that because there may be extra damage under the cement? It starts to not be so cheap when you figure all that in. I haven't had a $200 dollar job for quite awhile. I don't know that I would charge him that much for it, but do you think I would be ripping myself off if I charge $160 and just eat the difference? After all, he is a guy I have to work with every day.
 
Here's an example on the side of the door right under the window. Its not terrible damage, but there are spots this size all over this side. Maybe 5 to 10 spots per panel.
 

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I would use clay, but with the amount of cement on the car I fear that it would do more damage after picking it up than was there to begin with. I will still have to clay it but I need to find a way to get as much off first as possible. What other products might soften it up a little? How about Goo Gone? I've still got a full bottle of that stuff. It works like crap on sap but it does really well on adhesive residue. Do you think it would help on concrete?
 
Venigar..................got lett it soak tooo.........will dissolve it and allow wash away with out scratching so much
 
I second the vinegar, or the Autoint acid solution (from the A) because the acid to dissolve most of the cement, allowing you to just wash the rest away.



I am pretty sure someone posted something about cement removal a while back....maybe a detailed search will turn up something?:nixweiss
 
OooooH!! Good find. After all this time it is kind of embarassing to be told to search and then finding out that it really would have helped. :lol I guess that is proof that although I try to read as many threads as I can, I still can't read them all. :doh Thanks for the help! This should be a piece of cake if that works.
 
I had concrete splatter, very watery, more like paint drops but with a sandpaper texture. Clay does take it off, but you have to be VERY careful about scratching. Suggest breaking the clay into small pieces, as soon as some concrete is picked up, turn it. Kind of like a cube with 6 sides. You can fold it a couple of times and then discard.
 
Jngrbrdman said:
After all this time it is kind of embarassing to be told to search and then finding out that it really would have helped.
Click to expand...



Now that you're no longer a mod...it's open season! :sign
 
...ouch. :sign indeed :o >covers head in shame and hides under bed<



2wheelsx2 said:
Now that you're no longer a mod...it's open season!
Click to expand...



I may not be a mod, but I'm still longer. :D Be vewy vewy quiet!
 
http://www.visualpollution.com

They make a product called Dissolve which is supposed to take off concrete and not harm paint. I don't know anything else about it though...just stumbled across it using google



Also my search turned up a solution...spray sugar water on it and keep it soaked for a few hours. No clue on that one...
 
If vinegar and water doesn't work - use muriatic acid (AKA hydrochloric acid) available in most hardware stores for about $1 per gallon. Mix 10 parts water to 1 part acid in a spray bottle. Spray on rag and apply solution to cement splatters. It will dissolve the concrete without harming the paint.



Note: Wear gloves AND eye protection. Muriatic acid is wicked. When you first open the gallon container of it - it will look like smoke is pouring out of the container's opening.



Onthespot
 
it greatly depends on how long the cement has been sitting, i've tried vinegar (distilled, white, red it doesn't matter) muriatic acid (diluted to pure)... if it's settled, it'll take a whole lot of scraping to get it off...



if it's fresh, it can be removed relatively easy by plastic razors.
 
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