Unpainting - unpainting plastic panel....

[Ray]

Hi all

My car is a Mercedes 190E 2.0 1990 Pearl Grey and like all such cars has a darker plastic panel running along the bottom half of all the doors. This gives a two tone look as well as protecting the lower part of the doors. I do not know if this plastic is actually coloured plastic or is painted. Does anyone know? The point is that to cover a blemish sometime, one of the doors was sprayed over in the pearl grey. This is fine, except that for some reason the painter sprayed over the slightly darker plastic on that door and the paint over the plastic needs to come off. How best to do this? Sand it by hand with wet and dry? Anyone any ideas?

Ray

 

[Neil Eglintine]

Unpainting

I think the colour is in the plastic, not a surface finish. As to removing the paint, obviously paint remover will damage the plastic. However I have successfully used brake fluid to remove paint from plastic before. Also cellulose thinners can work, but be careful with this.

The body protection was intended to match the paint originally, but MB didn't get this very close, and the passage of time makes the difference greater.

 

[Anonymous]

Unpainting

Beware, the plastic panels are painted, as they are plastic they use a special based paint with a elastomer content to prevent cracking. If you use thinners or worse, brake fluid, you will destroy this finish.
If it is overspray then a mild compound may help, Otherwise its back to the bodyshop

 

[Ray]

Unpainting

Thanks guys,

Do you mean a rubbing compound - I have some standard - probably medium - compound I can try? Trouble is that by the nature of the problem there is no out of the way place I can experiment. As for the bodyshop -I think a Merc dealer was the culpit, but its a long story.

Ray