How to remove painted pinstripes. Its easy!

[Vortech347]

May this is resource worthy? Here's my write up....

Step #1. Supplies, you'll need 1 can of Easy-Off oven cleaner, 1 bottle of wipe 'n shine or quick detailer, 500 q-tips, a roll of paper towls, a few microfiber wipes, and of course...Beer.

Step #2. Start with a clean car. Wash the area where the pin stripes are.

Here are the supplies :beer:and Evil Pinstripes. :mad2:

I'm going to make a few replies in the thread to keep the pictures with the steps.

[Vortech347]

Step #3.

Find an area on the car that is out of plain sight to test for clear coat strength. I used an inner fender. I also used an SHO front lisence plate bracket that was painted and clear coated several times to make sure there wasn't any bad results. However if this stuff is applied to non-clear coated paint I think it will take the paint off. Because it took the paint right off my work bench.

This step checked out A-okay.

Step #4.

Spray some of the easy off in the lid of a spray can. Stur it up a little bit with a q-tip then apply to the pinstripe. Make sure its on good and not just a thin streak. Start with about a 1" section first to triple check that this will work okay on your car. Let it sit for about 1 minute till the fluid turns a little yellow ish.

[Vortech347]

Step #5. Take a Q-tip and move it in a circular motion with gentle pressure on the pinstripe, you should see....OMG...the pinstripe paint coming off!!!!:banana2: After you have done this and confirm that the car's paint or clear coat is not coming off go ahead and continue down the rest of that body pannel blotting the easy off onto the pin stripe.

[Vortech347]

Step #6.... establishing a pattern that works well....

After a few different "methods" here's what worked quickly and the best....

First blot it along the pinstripe. Once thats finished let it sit for about 2-3 minutes. Then use the q-tips and start going over it in a circular pattern. NOTE. The easy off kinda gets "chunky" and at first I freaked but my wife said its normal for it to do that.

It will not always take the entire stripe off first coat due to different paint thickness along the line. Once you've Q-tiped down the line take a paper towl and then go down the line. When a q-tip gets full of paint throw away and use another. After wiping down the line with the paper towl spray the car off with water and use a wet paper towl and go over it all to get the cleaner off. (It just bothered me to have it sit more than 3-4 minutes.) For stubborn spots I used the corner of a credit card to gently "get under" it but do not push hard, like I said some spots may take a while. I also used a small brush for a little bit but the cleaner ate it...Q-tips worked better. Just remember you'll go through ALOT.

As you go along some parts will come off quicker than others and you'll have to go over it again. One 6" section on the drivers side door I had to go over about 10 times.

This is a project that you must take your time on, It took me 4 hours for the fender and 2 doors. DO NOT HURRY.... Also I noticed that if they were pinstripes on an older car with rock chips they will be much harder to completly remove.

[Vortech347]

Step #7. Be happy.... Wipe n' shine.

After you finish a panel hit it with some wipe n' shine pretty good to make sure the area is clean and you got everything then follow up with a wax of the car when you finish.

I didn't get to much done but the progress I made I'm very excited... I honestly think this cleaner was designed for ovens that have a "clear coat" inside them so that it removes just the gunk but not the clear coat...

Hopefully this writeup will help anyone that gets stuck in the same situation I did. It did work and the clearcoat looks perfect. I'm very picky when it comes to paint and I cried at the tought of trying this but I couldn't stand the stripes. :bigcry:

If anyone has any questions post em up in here and I'll answer them.:bandit:

[TAKEDOWN]

Yaaaaaaaaay! I'm happy for ya, I know it bothered you by the sound of your posts!

[sd8683]

Good thread... Very informative, glad everything worked out for ya.

[Vortech347]

I'm happier than a 5 year old at chucky cheese....

I will try to finish the drivers side rear quarter tomorrow. Then all the passanger side on monday.

I would also like to add. DO NOT DO THIS in the sun or with a hot car. Make sure the side you are working on is in the shade. This can make the clear coat soft and more prone to issues. I talked to my body shop and they said its actually a method they've used before which gave me a little more confidence but told me they had one car that was a honda and it was disasterous. My father, friends, wife, told me I was nuts for trying this... you may get similar ridicule.

[ImpalaSlayer]

good to know but i think id take it to a shop that way if it gets effed up i can yella t them lol. you got more balls then i do puttin that stuff on your paint

[Vortech347]

I agree but they quoted me $500 at least to even try. I figure I'll just spend that on repainting a pannel. LOL

[03blackvegas]

Another way, is to block sand the stripes with 1500 or 2000 grit Wet-n Dry paper. When finished, slide over the areas with a low speed buffer and a low cut compound. I know this takes some skill and experience, but it does a good job, with little impact to the clear.

[jdando]

Glad you are getting the car cleaned up! It is looking good. Thanks for the write-up.

[freakstatus]

I'm still trying to figure out... who puts pinstripes on a Marauder in the first place??

[Iowa Rick]

I'm still trying to figure out... who puts pinstripes on a Marauder in the first place??

Probably people who like to paint their calipers. ;)

[sd8683]

Probably people who like to paint their calipers. ;)


What's that suppose to mean??

[justbob]

Another way, is to block sand the stripes with 1500 or 2000 grit Wet-n Dry paper. When finished, slide over the areas with a low speed buffer and a low cut compound. I know this takes some skill and experience, but it does a good job, with little impact to the clear.
Thats what i would have tried first. Chemicals and paint scare me.

[2,4shofast]

Lookin good Matt, wish I was there to help or at least help with the beer drinking! :beer:

[Vortech347]

Jason you missed a crazy ass shindig last night. Our buddy woke up with skittles tapped to his face.

I finished up the rear quarter this morning. It took 1.5 hours and about 10 passes with the cleaner the paint was REALLY thick. My wife is going to help me tomorrow so hopefully we can knock out the passanger side stripes in about 2-3 hours.

[Iowa Rick]

What's that suppose to mean??

It means that people don't care to leave their cars stock. It also means that putting a pin stripe on a car is no different than painting calipers. It is a form of personal expression. No hidden meaning. Rick

[Vortech347]

I worked on the car yesterday and got the remaining side off. I did notice this. The first time I did it it was warm outside and they came off okay. Yesterday it was cold and raining so I did it in the garage. We made next to nothing with progress. I would actually recommend making sure the pannels are warm, but not hot. The sky cleared up and I put the car in the sun for about 30 minutes then tried again. Worked perfect. The car is now pinstripe free!!!

[Vortech347]

Update to this old post. No apparent long lasting damage ever happened. Still looks great.

[Paul T. Casey]

If nothing else, I nominate you for the Large Testicle Award 2011 for having the guts to put Easy Off on your paint. Even better, it seems to work. I wonder how it would do on acid-rain stains?

[tbone]

Step #8
Crack beer #24, chug it down, take a leak, puke your guts out all over the bathroom and pass out on the couch because the wife is pissed.:mad2:

[Vortech347]

If nothing else, I nominate you for the Large Testicle Award 2011 for having the guts to put Easy Off on your paint. Even better, it seems to work. I wonder how it would do on acid-rain stains?

Worth a try?

As I mentioned I did check it on a few clear coated items to make sure it wouldn't ruin anything. I let it sit on that clear coated SHO plate cover for like 30 minutes before coming back. I even hit it lightly with a screw driver to see if it made anything soft.

Even now I can't believe it worked. But yea, she's awesome. No evidence that was even there. I would still like to go back to Texas and punch him in the balls for lying about the pin stripes, the dry rotted tires (that damn near killed me), and the scratched dash. Which is now all fixed.

[TAKEDOWN]

^^^ Glad to hear everything went as planned! ^^^

[jerrym3]

I removed a roughly three inch tape stripe between the front and rear wheels of a 68 Cyclone GT with a sunlamp and patience.

Once heated up, the tape peeled off.