Stripping paint from plastic

The castrol purple cleaner at full strength works and I have had great result using oven cleaner, dont get the cheapo brand, never any harm to the plastic.

You guys need to understand that all plastics are not created equal, some are resistant to nearly any chemicals while others will melt big time with solvents mentioned here. You need to know which plastic you have before using paint removers...PERIOD.

The part mentioned by the original poster is ABS, what I mentioned will work, anything else...BE CAREFUL! Oven cleaner is bad news to ABS or any other styrene based plastic

Check out SEM paints web site for some good directions on what solvents to use with what types of plastic.

I am in the process of completely re-doing the interior of my coupe...so far they stuff has worked great!

Great! Thank you to everyone for the input!

My interior is black so I figured that I can at least spiff these up and find a good home for them.

Best of all, I learned something new in the process. I should have thought of the DOT 3 brake fluid before.

Hey there is one thing that worked great for model cars that I have used to strip all paint no matter the age of paint 409 house cleaner. stick it in a container and submerge it walk away it will strip it

Preston

Why not 600 grit sand paper?

You have to watch with that castrol super clean. I tried some on some plastic parts years ago, that stuff turned them to mush. So be careful with what stripping agents you use on what kinds of plastic.

Scott,
What would you recommend for an original shaker bubble and e-body door panels?

Thanks!

Darren

Fiberglass safe paint stripper on the bubbles. On door panes (Polypropylene) is pretty much impossible to melt with chemicals ( in fact most plastic jugs that hold chemicals are made of Polypropylene) so you can use most anything on the door panels. It's always a good idea to start with something mild like laquer thinner and work towards stronger chemicals should it not get the job done, Acetone would be my next try if LT doesn't work.

Here's a bubble I recently stripped for repairs.

Next step, add paint stripper to one half and let it work it's magic

I stripped one half at a time for demonstration purposes plus it's nice to have a dry area for handling it. This is after the first layer of stripper was washed/scraped off.

After anoher coat of stripper followed by some elbow grease and a non scratch version of scotch brite and water rinse.

Repeat the above on the other side and presto! Shiney original bubble material with no sanding scratches (which is what ruins the tiny original details). After doing basic spot repairs (cracks etc.) I use a good sandable primer to coat everything, when sanding stop when you see white show through and you'll avoid damaging the original material which is VERY easy to sand away, it's like chalk.

This stripper worked well. I've also used the made for metal "Aircraft" stripper with similar results, non had any adverse affects on the original base material no matter how long it was sitting on the part.

Do it in an open area far away from anything painted or nice because if it gets on pretty much anything it's toast!

ALWAYS wear eye protection and full cover of clothing, it spatters and splashes easily and always goes where you least expect....And...IT BURNS YOU FAST! BTW, Latex gloves WILL MELT when in contact with paints stripper, I used PVC gloves which resist it much better.

Thanks Scott... Next time you are in Florida why don't you stop by the house and repair mine for me?

Darren

Tell you what? You strip it and send it to me, I'll repair it and send it back with a bill?

Or......You can let me strip it, repair it, paint it, and send you a BIGGER bill.




It's your call, your money or your flesh.

Loss of flesh is the reason I charge extra for paint stripping, it's my least favorite thing to do. It took me roughly 5 hours to completely strip the example above, time varies with every example but the mess is always the same.

I have to give a shout out to Scott at Harm's Auto for the brake fluid tip. It worked like a charm!

Thanks to everyone else for some great tips working with other materials as well.

What would work on stripping paint off of items such as plastic grilles and such?