About a month ago, I got some touch up paint and went ahead and filled all of the chips and scraches. This was before a read the "paint clinic" write up in the how to, so I didn't do any of the steps like preparing the chip for touch up paint by wet sanding and all the other things first. Is there any way to remove the touch up paint and start over? It doesn't look that bad the way it is now, but if theres a way to make it better i'd like to try.
Is it too late?
- Thread starter slowsilvy
- Start date
Accumulator
Well-known member
slowsilvy said:
Welcome to Autopia!
There are a number of things you can try (not that *I* would undo your previous efforts in an attempt to make things better, but hey that's just me
).Some people just use regular lacquer thinner; it *almost* always just removes the touchup paint without damaging the OE paint. I've always been leery of that myself though.
I've used Langka Blob Eliminator to remove previous touchups that were a lot older than ~a month, so that oughta work OK for you.
If the surface wasn't prepped really well you might be lucky and be able to get the touch up paint off pretty easily with just a clay bar. The first time we clayed my friend's car he had some poorly done touch up paint, probably from the prior owner and it all came off, we had no intention of taking it off but it just came off, so I'm not sure if claybar can take off all touch up paint but it did take off the touch up paint of my friend's car.
Setec Astronomy
Well-known member
I've used the laquer thinner trick on freshly applied touch-up and it seemed to work fine with no ill effects. Not sure if the month makes any difference (no, IMO).
It seems to me the Langka is doing the same thing with some prepared tools. As Accumlator alluded to, we don't really know anything about the paint on your car...so go carefully/slowly/perhaps try a hidden area to make sure the any thinners don't do any harm.
It seems to me the Langka is doing the same thing with some prepared tools. As Accumlator alluded to, we don't really know anything about the paint on your car...so go carefully/slowly/perhaps try a hidden area to make sure the any thinners don't do any harm.
Accumulator
Well-known member
Setec Astronomy- Some detractors scoff that Langka is just a mild polish mixed with lacquer thinner anyhow :nixweiss
One thing that sorta spooks me about the lacquer thinner is the (very slight?) possibility that a touchup is on a repainted panel. Painters I know tell horror stories of wiping a panel with lacquer thinner only to have a to-the-metal surprise that precipitates lots of repainting. I *almost* took lacquer thinner to the M3...then I thought about all the paintwork I'd discovered and I went with the Lankga instead
One thing that sorta spooks me about the lacquer thinner is the (very slight?) possibility that a touchup is on a repainted panel. Painters I know tell horror stories of wiping a panel with lacquer thinner only to have a to-the-metal surprise that precipitates lots of repainting. I *almost* took lacquer thinner to the M3...then I thought about all the paintwork I'd discovered and I went with the Lankga instead
Setec Astronomy
Well-known member
I thought the Langka was just laquer thinner with a card and some t-shirt scraps (I've never used it though) 
and wouldn't it also wreak havoc with a laquered panel? I do agree that if you don't know the lineage of the paint on the panel you're taking some risk with a wipe-down.
and wouldn't it also wreak havoc with a laquered panel? I do agree that if you don't know the lineage of the paint on the panel you're taking some risk with a wipe-down.Accumulator
Well-known member
Setec Astronomy said:I thought the Langka was just laquer thinner with a card and some t-shirt scraps (I've never used it though)
Heh heh, I've never let the Langka get too close to the Jag, so I dunno what it'd do to lacquer (but I suspect it wouldn't be pretty).
I gotta admit I kinda like that Langka stuff. On panels where I don't want to get into wetsanding/compounding/abrading in general it can be handy. Its thicker consistency makes it better than a straight solvent IMO and hey, it's cheap enough (or at least that's what I told my skeptical self when I decided to order it, and I'm glad I got it).