House paint on car paint :(

[darkshark0159]

I was washing my car today, and I noticed some odd beige stuff had splashed up on the very lowest portion of the side skirt. That's when I remembered the unavoidable paint spill on the interstate I faced just a few days earlier during my 2200 mi drive. UGH

Any way to get that paint off of my car without damaging the body paint?

[Cobol74]

Protected no claims bonus? Call the insurer and get it to a body shop. Painting over the only solution I know of - sorry not much help there.

[_HighVoltage_]

Off topic - 2200 mile trip? Did you drive all the way to the east coast?

[darkshark0159]

Originally Posted by Cobol74

Call the insurer and get it to a body shop.

I've had my insurance for five days. I don't think making a claim is a great idea.

[darkshark0159]

Originally Posted by _HighVoltage_

Off topic - 2200 mile trip? Did you drive all the way to the east coast?

A rough approximation (slightly shorter) version of the trip:


EDIT: And to clarify, this isn't a big deal. You can only see the paint if you really bend down, but it would be nice to clean it up a bit.

[Nabster]

Try a clay bar first. Fingernail with light pressure second. Rubbing compound third. Reducer as a last resort. Of course follow directions on the products.

When you get it off, be sure you keep the thing waxed so future stuff like this happens to the wax, not the paint.

[darkshark0159]

Originally Posted by Nabster

When you get it off, be sure you keep the thing waxed so future stuff like this happens to the wax, not the paint.

Yeah, I had only had the car for three days so....

[Wade]

Sorry to hear that- what a shame. If it was a latex paint, maybe it will peel off? You might want to keep it out of the sun until it's off. Hopefully it's not oil based- I don't know much about paint, but an oil based paint may contain some kind of thinner or other solvent.

I ran over a caulk tube in my truck one time- that crud is still fused to the undercarriage.

[Polygon]

You do not need to paint over it.

You can try using a clay bar first to try and get them off but a clay bar is more for getting junk in the paint out before polish. If the clay bar doesn't work it will need to be wet sanded off and then polished.

[Zuhaib]

Originally Posted by Nabster

Try a clay bar first. Fingernail with light pressure second. Rubbing compound third. Reducer as a last resort. Of course follow directions on the products.

When you get it off, be sure you keep the thing waxed so future stuff like this happens to the wax, not the paint.

Thats sounds like the right plan
I have had this happen to me twice, one my neighbors did not give me warning and went ahead and panted their house and got paint specks all over the Jaguar S-Type. Took it a a very well known body shop and pretty much they clay bar the car, and wax and etc to the tune of $300 which the neighbor paid.

2nd time was by mistake trying to clean out paint brushes myself, so as I had saw what they did with the Jag i got some claybars and did it myself and got very good results. Just remember not to put too much pressure and maybe use a wax cleaner/polisher before as that could also remove some of it.
Finger nail is also not bad, I also used a little sponge they sell for cleaning bugs off your bumper in some spots. Something you can also try is some tar remover, but, be fast to act as reports are it can do bad things to paint even the ones sold for auto use like Stoner.

[darkshark0159]

Thank you for the replies, everyone. I'm driving to the city today, so I will buy a clay bar and give it a go.

[p0w3r]

Yup clay bar and fingernail (lightly) will definitely work. Same thing happened to my car too. Except my car is black and the paint was white

But the clay and picking it off with a fingernail worked perfectly.

[Steve Levin]

btw, this is a good reason to keep your car well-waxed...you can then apply a hair dryer to the areas, and the wax will melt long before the paint is damaged...so the paint on top of the wax just comes off with the wax.

Steve

[ediesbra]

You could try WD40. Sounds a bit bizzare but I've used it when someone spray painted (tagged) my rear car bumper, it does work. Mind you the paint hadn't been on that long, maybe 5-6 hours

[Nabster]

Originally Posted by ediesbra

You could try WD40. Sounds a bit bizzare but I've used it when someone spray painted (tagged) my rear car bumper, it does work. Mind you the paint hadn't been on that long, maybe 5-6 hours

WD40 is a decent tool for removing stuff from paint, just be careful and be sure you rinse and clean it all off the paint after using it. And re-wax the whole area since it strips off any protection on the paint.

[ediesbra]

^ I should have been a bit clearer about that. Use it in very small quantities, a couple of squirts on a damp (not wet) rag is what I did, rather than just spraying it everywhere, I just kept on turning the rag over - couple more squirts.

As Nabster points out, you must ensure you wash it all off thoroughly, and wax it again

[Nabster]

Good to hear, spraying it on directly will work though, you just need to be mindful of the splatters you'll get from the aerosol effect and wipe/rinse a larger area than just where you spray originally. Sometimes you need to use the direct spray for when it needs to soak a bit, a rag or cloth moistened with whatever cleaner generally takes longer and can leave more spiderweb scratches then a direct spray because of the extra rubbing involved, but a good wax afterward can usually cure that.

Anyway as you can see there are a myriad of ways to go about this, but keep in mind it's always good to get it done quickly rather than let the paint or whatever else it is you've got on the car sit in the hot sun for a couple weeks before you get around to it.

[Cowboy]

In any case do NOT do what a friend of mine did a couple of years back after getting paint on HER car......

"but it works well in the kitchen? "