Best method for removing rattle can paint on top of factory paint?

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CheemsK1500

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On the '84 K1500 I just picked up, it looks like the previous owner got a little "creative" and attacked the poor truck with rattle cans. I've been able to cut through some of it with wet 400 grit sandpaper and elbow grease. Is there an easier to get this off without doing further damage to the factory paint? Thanks.
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bucket

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400 Grit is awfully coarse. Lacquer thinner will remove most spray paints and shouldn't hurt the base paint if it's enamel. It will still be tedious work though, and messy. It will need buffed after that.

You can also wet sand with 1500 Grit and follow with a buff.
 

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Are you just trying get to the factory paint or prep for a future paint job?
 

Grit dog

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400 Grit is awfully coarse. Lacquer thinner will remove most spray paints and shouldn't hurt the base paint if it's enamel. It will still be tedious work though, and messy. It will need buffed after that.

You can also wet sand with 1500 Grit and follow with a buff.
Why do you keep talking about me?? And there’s only 1 Grit. I don’t think I have multiple personality disorder either!
Lol!
 

Grit dog

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400 Grit is awfully coarse. Lacquer thinner will remove most spray paints and shouldn't hurt the base paint if it's enamel. It will still be tedious work though, and messy. It will need buffed after that.

You can also wet sand with 1500 Grit and follow with a buff.
Agree with ^.
Try lacquer thinner or acetone first.
Even though you didn’t say, it is inferred that you’re not prepping for new paint but rather trying to just get back to what may or may not be good factory looking paint underneath (so you dont have to wear a bag over your head taking that abomination of a camo job out in public!).
The warning.
1. You may not like what you see once you remove the meth spray bomb camo.
2. The same solvents mentioned will also not be kind to old OE single stage 80s paint. (Test this and see how much original paint comes off somewhere with the solvent).
3. There likely isn’t enough mil thickness of original paint to do much more than a quick cut and buff after you get the special paint job removed. And even then, the sunny sides of the truck have a good propensity for burning through.
4. 400 is WAY too rough

No good results guaranteed but I think I would tackle it as follows.
As carefully as your patience allows, try to remove the spray paint like @bucket said, with solvent. And don’t get ocd about every little bit of it. You’re trying to get most of it or leave what’s left very thin, without softening and eating up the original paint, as much as possible.
Then, rotary polisher, wool pad, med/heavy cut compound, work primarily the areas where some spray paint is leftover.
If you can get all the spray paint off with minimal damage and a half assed shine on the real paint, I’d stop here and consider it a job well done and a success.
Then, if it’s not shiny enough and you think there’s enough paint left to polish. Then do the same with polishing compound.

You may find some areas where a little wet sanding is preferable to get the spray paint off, but I’d be in the 1000 grit range not 400. And know that any high spot imperfections may/will burn through if you’re scrubbing it with paper, before you even notice.

I would test a method on one area.
Preferably below the trim line. This is where the OE paint will still be thickest and in best condition and also least noticeable if you have to abort the mission or re-paint. If it works there, work your way up. Bottom will be hardest to screw up. Sides will be more likely. Flat surfaces will be the most delicate/thinnest.

And if it appears it may work once you’re above the chrome trim line, get that nasty yellow trim off!
Oh and the upper pinstripes will not likely survive this procedure. Hope that you can carefully polish the spray paint off of them. If you are trying to save them. Otherwise don’t try to scrape them off. Only way they’re coming off and not ruining the paint underneath is some scraping and an eraser wheel. Those crusty old pinstripes were stuck better than anything else on my truck. And you can bank on yours being the same.

All said and done, with a lot of care, I give this a 50/50 chance of success unless the spray paint was so graciously applied over very good paint (and it wasn’t judging by the condition of the truck).

Another idea for stubborn areas as I think it would be far too tedious as a primary method is an eraser wheel. It may take that spray pAint off pretty well although I’ve only used them on decals and trim tape/glue/residue.
 

Grit dog

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Another thought is once you get a decent “test” method figured out, providing you do, then test the “worst” spot next, like top of fender or preferably the roof. See if you can get it right on the most delicate paint.
Reason being, if you can’t make half the truck look good, better to figure it out before spending hours and days on the parts that are more durable.
 

Grit dog

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@CheemsK1500, this is the REAL reason they should be limiting spray paint sales!
For anyone who has actually prepped and painted a car, the amount of effort goes up exponentially with every half assed back yard spray job of any type.
Not an issue for beater firewood trucks and those who aren’t concerned with aesthetics, but if a vehicle is a reasonable candidate for a restoration or re-paint, things like this (and worse, much worse) can be the diffenrce between
a viable fixer upper or having to take drastic measures to strip to bare metal.

But your truck, if ever repainted will need the OE paint gone anyways. The 80s and 90s were as bad for paint as the 70s and 80s were for neutering horsepower!

Now that it sounds like I’m bagging on your truck, I’m not. It looks very straight, solid and not rusty. You’ve won that battle! And the camo would be of no real significance if you were re-doing the truck. Far better than 3 earl Scheibs and 1 back yard paint job with Rustoleum to remove!!
 

CheemsK1500

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Are you just trying get to the factory paint or prep for a future paint job?
Right now, I'm just trying to get to the factory paint. Eventually this truck will see a proper repaint, but for now I am just trying to get rid of the ugly meth-billy style camo. The factory paint underneath will inevitably be damaged, but I'd rather that than this atrocious poorly done camo job.
 

CheemsK1500

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@bucket, @Grit dog Thanks for the advice. I thought 400 grit seemed a little on the rough side. I'll get some finer grit and some lacquer thinner and experiment a little. I don't think there is going to be a pristine paint underneath this, but at this point anything is an improvement over what it looks like right now. Bodyside molding, and pinstripes may have to stay off until I commit to a full repaint.
 

Grit dog

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^For sure. And you’re right, anything will be a visual improvement.
Proceed with test sections but I believe solvent will do most of the heavy lifting for you and then cut and polish.
Good luck!
Couldn’t take longer than this…
I literally peeled 95% of the exterior paint off with a razor blade and heat gun/torch!
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Grit dog

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I should add....wear gloves as this stuff has a permeating smell like Berryman's carb cleaner. Can wash your hands all you want, but the smell will linger.

If you ever have overspray (on nice paint), can use this stuff with a clay bar too. Will eat the clay bar up - dries it out - but gently works nonetheless.

:hat:
 

bucket

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I should add....wear gloves as this stuff has a permeating smell like Berryman's carb cleaner. Can wash your hands all you want, but the smell will linger.

If you ever have overspray (on nice paint), can use this stuff with a clay bar too. Will eat the clay bar up - dries it out - but gently works nonetheless.

:hat:

That's good to know! I got overspray on my car years ago, from an incident where I was trying to spray carpenter bees so I could smash them as they fell to the ground. I'll have to give that trick a whirl.
 

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Grit is just a measure of patience. To each their own.
 

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