Removing Paint

[Erich]

Hi,

Does anyone have an suggestions for removing paint from my rear shocks? Someone painted the plastic covers with gray primer. I'd say about half of it has flaked off, and what's left is on there pretty good. I've chipped away as much as I can with my finger nail. I'd hate to use anything to scrape it off that would end up scratching the plastic.

I picked up my first dream last week. It's a '66 CA77. Hope to have it running real soon.

Thanks

Erich

[3BeanCrispy]

i think i'd first try shooting my hairdryer at it to see if medium heat would help to loosen the remaining paint. not sure what chemicals would be safe for the plastic underneath.

[bj]

I rubbed acetone all over the covers of my shocks before I sprayed them with plastic primer to be painted another color. After they where wiped done, I didn't notice any damage.

Good luck,

Bryan

[bigscooter]

hot, high pressure water might work(pressure washer), or maybe "goof off".

[Erich]

Well I tried a few things that didn't seem to work very well, acetone, lacquer thinner, brake cleaner.

I ended up trying a little Jasco Paint and Epoxy remover on the back of a shock. It worked great and didn't do anything to the plastic. I only left it on for a minute or 2 before just rinsing most of the paint off with a hose. It took a couple applications to get them clean. The primer was only stubborn on part of the shock because the person who painted them didn't do a very good job sanding them completely.

Now I've got clean shocks with some light sand scuffs. Next question....is there a way to polish the plastic? There are some big scratches I know will never go away. And I know even repainting them wouldn't hide the marks. I would like to shine them up a bit so they don't look so "foggy"


Erich

ps. I picked up a 2nd dream today. I think it's a 67. Missing a few things, but it does have some nice original pipes, clean chainguard and the price was right. My projects are piling up!

[bigscooter]

vinyl floor polish works pretty good on plastics. the non-wax type. you need to reapply it when necessary.
i've seen dirt bike guys use it on their cloudy plastics.

[Don in Pa]

I have a friend who polishs plastics, mainly antique radio's, for a living. I know the plastic on these things are probably different, but what is there to lose if you try a small spot on the back of the shroud? Start out with 1000 grit wet sandpaper and work your way up to 1500 or 2000. Use a buffer and some very fine compound or even wax might work, if you don't have a buffer you can tough it out by hand. Should work. I bought a bike with w/s that was all scratched up and some fairly deep ones I might add. I wet sanded it and buffed and it looks like new