How do I remove spray paint from multiple surfaces of my car?

[chadbrue]

The genius managers of my parking garage decided to spray paint the walls of the parking garage last weekend...and not inform the tenants of the building. My cars (a BMW X5 and a Jeep Grand Cherokee) were parked on the other side of the walls they painted and there is a 4" area between the wall and the ceiling where some of the spray paint flew over the wall and onto my cars. So, I now have a tiny amount of spray paint "dust" all over my cars. It's on my windows, bumpers, hood, sunroof, wipers, trim, you name it! I tried washing my car with a high pressured power washer with only minimal results. I can "scrub" it off in certain areas (like the windows) but I'm afraid to scrub anywhere else on the cars for fear of damaging the surfaces.

Any suggestions on a product that will remove this paint without damaging the car? Can I use one product for all surfaces of the car, or do I need something different for the windows/painted surfaces/plastic surfaces/etc.

Any help is much appreciated!!

Chad "Dusted in Paint" Brue

P.S. the manager of the garage said he'd pay for my car to be washed at the local gas station...yeah right that will work. If I can't remove this stuff relatively easily, I'm calling my lawyer!

[Mike Phillips]

Hi Chad,

Welcome to Meguiar's Online!


Have you ever used detailing clay before? If not, you're going to want to get some and clay any surface that is hard, smooth and non-porous. This would include the paint, glass, mirrors and chrome.

Anything with a textured finish or made from something porous you'll have to deal with in a different way.


Quik Clay System




After claying your paint, at a minimum you'll want to apply a coat of wax as not only will detailing clay remove all of the overspray, it will also remove most/all of any wax on the paint.

You'll pretty much want to follow the steps in the order they're listed here, depending upon how car crazy your are, you can skip the polishing step if you like, but for best results, you'll want to to do these things in the order they are listed and you'll restore a better than show room new finish to your vehicles.

Wash
Clay
Paint Cleaner
ScratchX
Wax

http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7011

Document the hours and money you invested into your restoration work and charge the managers with your labor and expense. You might even want to rally everyone else that was affected and bring some heat down on them if they don't want to see the error of their way. This will also help them to think twice before repeating this mistake.

[Superior Shine]

Hoowee! Overspray job! That is big money and allot of work. I am a pro auto detailer with over 20 years in the business and I only accept overspray jobs if we are slow. We hate'em!

Removing the spray from the paint and glass is the easy part, incredibly time consuming but the easiest part.

Follow Mike’s suggestions for the paint. Very fine steel wool can be used for the glass. Test it out on a small area and make sure it isn't scratching.

The hard part is going to be removing the overspray from the plastic and rubber trim and other parts. I recommend parts such as the cowl panel and similar "pebble grain" parts be recoated black or replaced. The rubber around the windows will be the hardest by far to clean up. Mineral sprits works sometimes but I would get them replaced if possible. Don't even think about cleaning the tires, replace them.

I would charge you a minumin of $800 -$1000 per vehicle not including the trim/plastic part replacement and don't expect the vehicles to be back to 100%.

[benhui86]

if the trim cant be fixed by detailing i'd insist that the manager pay for new trim to be installed on ur cars...... and also how bout value of a brand new paint job in cash.. .. u can tell him the paint is ruined..... i mean it is a bmw.... somehow it just intimidates ppl more when they do some kind of damage to cars like that accidently....

[chadbrue]

Thanks for the prompt replies. I will try the suggestions above...I'm ordering the Meguiar's products right now! It sounds like I'll have to make a weekend out of it.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), my neighbors have nicer cars than I do (Land Rover, Mercedes, Jaguar, etc.) Over 15 cars were affected...we're all going after the property/garage manager!

Thanks again...I'll post my results when done (and maybe some before/after pictures).

Chad Brue

[benhui86]

Originally posted by chadbrue
we're all going after the property/garage manager!

they in deep trouble now if the cars dont get fixed..... and u should tell all the car owners about the extent of the damage and that no gas station car wash is gonna fix wat the managers stupidity has done.... actually i think those gas station car washes dont fix anything ever... just causes swirls and water marks and RIDS here and there....

[Superior Shine]

It maybe a bigger job than you can perform to your satisfaction. Is so and a detailer is called in be the last inline and see how they do on the other vehicles first.