Stripping Paint From Bruiser Window

[3speeder]

I have a bruiser window that someone painted black. Is there any way to remove the paint with out messing up the window? Easy off or brake fluid or ?

[30cms]

try brake fluid. dot 4.

[3speeder]

try brake fluid. dot 4.

The brake fluid wont fog the glass?

[30cms]

i don't think so, but i have never tried it on a clear plastic.

brake fluid seems pretty kind to plastic.

you can leave abs plastic in brake fluid for weeks on end, and it doesn't do anything except remove the paint.

if it were my window, i would try the brake fluid.

maybe try and test a bit on another bit of clear plastic, maybe a headlight lens?

[TamiyaDan]

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[3speeder]

Sand it don't use any stripper on clear plastic, it will fog it or worse craze it.

you could use ELO stripper on it but it will fog it and then you will have to sand it anyway. get a Micromark polishing kit or a novas paint polishing kit, 2400, to 12000 grit sandpaper, then wet sand it down with the 2400 to remove the paint and then work your way up to 12000 and finish off with a polishing liquid.

yes it will be very labor intensive.

also keep in mind, people painted the clear plastic usually after a roll over and the plastic cracked. usually people glued the window cracks then sanded it and painted it black to cover up the damage.

so you could polish all the paint off and discover the plastic is cracked anyway.

it looks like a perfect window that someone painted the inside black, no scratches or cracks. I thought about wet sanding it, just didn't know if there was a faster way, thanks I will give it a try.

[Guest Greg67]

Sanding can be rough to do, and takes a long time, the results can be bad. It can cause the whole window to look fogged. At least in my experience.

[30cms]

don't use any stripper on clear plastic, it will fog it or worse craze it.

definately.

i'd still try the brake fluid though. that is not a paint stripper, although it does strip paint. but not any caustic type stripper.

if you sand it, you will wreck it.

try it on an inconspicuous area first though

[Live Steam Mad]

It is absolutely NOT true that sanding the window will wreck it. It depends how experienced and / or skilled you are.

I had a Ford Ranger F150 XLT front window that was fogged with what I imagine was superglue residue, plus a mountain load of really bad scratches. I removed them all completely and returned the window to clear (in fact a bit too clear, to the point where you could hardly tell anymore that there was actually a window there at all ) by using first P400 grade Silicon Carbide abrasive sheet used wet, making sure that under daylight the surface was uniform and all the major scratches had been removed, you can tell by putting water in it temporarily as well, then I used P600, P800, P1000, P1200, P1500, and P2000. Then I used Turtle Wax Car Polish to remove the cloudiness that was left, and I had a crystal clear window. Picture to follow in a while when I get back access to my desktop PC.

BTW Later on I tried Novus Plastic Polish no.2 with amazing results on some of my hi-fi flourescent displays and realised it would be good for this sort of thing, and I found grade P3000 on Ebay which was good for flatting back lumpy paint ready for gloss coat, without reemoving the paint down to the primer underneath which kept happening with P2000. My local car paint shop had P400-P1200, and Tamiya sells P1500 and P2000. When they clog you just wash them very briefly in warm water and it unclogs them in seconds so you can re-use them until they wear out. You can feel when they stop cutting (the sharpness of the grit goes and the paper feels different when you use it).

Cheers,

Alistair G.

[Live Steam Mad]

Found a couple of old pic's to show what the XLT window looked like after I had sanded it with P400 through P2000 and polished a couple of times with Turtle Wax polish. The deep scratches and fog from glue residue is completely gone. This procedure also worked with a Sand Scorcher 1979 window (I believe that material was PMMA not Styrene, the XLT window is Styrene I think).

Cheers,

Alistair G.

[shawn67mustang]

Alistair G. is correct.. In automotive industry we lightly sand and then polish clear plastic headlamps all the time. Same concept only we finish with UV protectant. Be patient and you will prevail!

Sincerely,

Shawn C.