Very Serious Paint Problem Need Help !!!!

[only126db]

Hi everyone, I'll get right to it.

I have a 1977 Pontiac Catalina which really has no issues and under 65000 miles, I picked it up from a woman whose husband passed and it was his garage baby.

The chrome and colored plastic side body molding was coming detached in areas and not looking 100% so I began removing it.

The foam double stick adhesive tape of course stayed on the vehicle in many areas, so I purchased a well known name brand aerosol can of adhesive remover.

It did a terrible job of removing the tape but a great job at ruining my paint!!!

It looks as though it took the clear/tint coat off, now the side of my vehicle is trashed.

There are no warnings about clear coat on the can and the paint is years old so it is plenty cured.

The only warnings it has are:

"Will not harm most cured automotive finishes"

"On verticle surfaces do not apply to the point product starts to run off"

Of course you cannot stop it from running since it is a side panel and it states to saturate it and leave it and if it drys to keep spraying it on to keep it wet.

I messaged the company through their website and explained the situation, they responded within a couple hours and asked for an ID number from the can and my year make and model of vehicle.

I sent that info....

What do I do now???

[davey g-force]

Re: Very Serious Paint Problem Need Help !!!!

Wow, sorry to hear about your dilemma.

If you can, post up some pics. It may be possible to correct your paint, as I find it hard to believe that such a product would actually strip your clear coat.

[only126db]

Re: Very Serious Paint Problem Need Help !!!!

Wow, sorry to hear about your dilemma.

If you can, post up some pics. It may be possible to correct your paint, as I find it hard to believe that such a product would actually strip your clear coat.

here is one, you can feel the ridges where it cut right through.

[Troy Fuller]

Re: Very Serious Paint Problem Need Help !!!!

Do the streaks look cloudy or hazy?

[roushstage2]

Re: Very Serious Paint Problem Need Help !!!!

Will not harm most cured automotive finishes

In all fairness, it does say most, not all.

Pictures are worth 1,000 words; they would help see what is going on exactly.

[only126db]

Re: Very Serious Paint Problem Need Help !!!!

a mod has to approve my post that has pics in it but hopefully they will get around to it

[Andy M.]

Re: Very Serious Paint Problem Need Help !!!!

How much did you put on? Did you let it sit on there? Did you spray it on? It looks like there is an awful lot of "rundown" in the picture you posted.

Andy

[THE BIG BUFFER]

Re: Very Serious Paint Problem Need Help !!!!

I hightly doubt you have any clear coat on your car. In 1977 it would be a single stage paint.(if it is original paint job) I hope you at least washed/rinsed the area with water to weaking the product you used. That's where I would start. I would try a light polishing on the area AFTER you wash it. Do you have any produts to that?

[only126db]

Re: Very Serious Paint Problem Need Help !!!!

How much did you put on? Did you let it sit on there? Did you spray it on? It looks like there is an awful lot of "rundown" in the picture you posted.

Andy

"spray liberaly on surface to be cleaned.on vertical surfaces do not apply to the point wher product strts to run off" <---this is the part that is almost impossible to control

"allow a few secomds for the remover to penetrate the adhesive.ON AREAS WHERE THE ADHESIVE IS THOROUGHLY DRY KEEP THE ADHESIVE WET FOR SEVERAL MINUTES BY REPEATED APPLICATIONS OF REMOVER.while surface is wet wipe with clean dry cloth.repeat application ir necessary"

I hightly doubt you have any clear coat on your car. In 1977 it would be a single stage paint.(if it is original paint job) I hope you at least washed/rinsed the area with water to weaking the product you used. That's where I would start. I would try a light polishing on the area AFTER you wash it. Do you have any produts to that?

as soon as the streaks appeared i thought it was the spray itself or maybe rundown making the paint hazy which could be buffed out so i wiped the area, it was very very quickly that it did this. i then noticed that the remover dried and it was not hazed paint (the remover dries in seconds)and ran my fingers across it and felt the ridges then i freaked and poored water all over the area (and my garage floor) then water and very light detergent, dried it and tried the closest thing on hand which was scratch x 2.0 and the pic is after all that. scratch x took down the edges in those streaks but nothing more.as for clear coat or single stage paint it looks different than a clear but doesnt look like standard primer it cut through to, i read they started using clears in the 70's i am unsure exactly what type of paint was used. when i polished the vehicle before i got no color on my rags so ...........

[only126db]

Re: Very Serious Paint Problem Need Help !!!!

also I have used a product from the same maker which I believed this to be, but with changed packaging, since it was bought at the same store I purchased it from last time and they only had one by this maker. the other time I used it was on a 1999 dodge dakota and I used it quite a bit to remove tar and bugs because it is an adhesive bug wax and tar remover.

[roushstage2]

Re: Very Serious Paint Problem Need Help !!!!

"spray liberaly on surface to be cleaned.on vertical surfaces do not apply to the point wher product strts to run off" <---this is the part that is almost impossible to control

Wipe any run-off, off, with a wet towel so it's not sitting on the paint?

[only126db]

Re: Very Serious Paint Problem Need Help !!!!

Wipe any run-off, off, with a wet towel so it's not sitting on the paint?

it didnt have a chance to sit, thats the thing, i would make one swipe with the spay, it is a tip that shoots a stream, at the end of the door length swipe it had already ate the paint and dried. I am thinking their mixture was wrong or something. I really dont know, it barely effected the foam tape/adhesive. Straight gasoline would have worked 1000% better.

[roushstage2]

Re: Very Serious Paint Problem Need Help !!!!

That is very odd indeed!

[THE BIG BUFFER]

Re: Very Serious Paint Problem Need Help !!!!

What was the product? Made by whom? I don't think it would be wrong to say what it was. It may help others if they go to use the same product.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Very Serious Paint Problem Need Help !!!!

only126db, from the image you posted it looks like the paint is gone down to the primer - but pictures can be deceiving. You did state, however, that you can feel high and low areas because of these streaks, just as if the paint is actually gone?

You also mentioned using ScratchX on the effected area - can you describe what you saw both on the body panel and your applicator after using it? What we're looking for here are a couple of things: did the applicator show color from the paint being transfered (a sure sign of single stage paint), and was there any noticeable improvement to the spot where ScratchX was applied?

What color is this car actually? From that picture it's hard to tell if it's white, light yellow, metallic, etc.