Vinyl Interior paint removal

[Dino L.]

Has anyone had success removing vinyl paint form mid year painted door skins/pads...they are black and painted black? Any thoughts of a solvent?

[Wayne W.]

Re: Vinyl Interior paint removal

Laquer thinner.

[Curtis M.]

Re: Vinyl Interior paint removal

Dino,

I used 3M Adhesive Remover to remove black paint from my brow pads. They were dark blue originally. I still ended up shooting a coat of dye over them.

[Michael H.]

Re: Vinyl Interior paint removal

Has anyone had success removing vinyl paint form mid year painted door skins/pads...they are black and painted black? Any thoughts of a solvent?

Brake fluid. Try to find the older formula non silicone. Let it soak a few hours and the paint will eventually come off without damaging the vinyl.

[Chuck S.]

Re: Vinyl Interior paint removal

Laquer thinner.

I agree with Wayne Womble, that laconic "old hand" of few words.

Lacquer thinner will cut that lacquer-based dye like a hot knife cuts butter. BUT...if you get your plastic trim parts TOO wet with lacquer thinner, it will eat your trim too. Just don't get the part wet...wipe it with a cloth dampened with lacquer thinner.

Sorry to disagree, Mike, but I would not use brake fluid. Brake fluid will surely remove the dye, but the remaining residue will be hard to remove cleanly from the part surface. If you want to re-dye the part, the contaminate film could cause problems. My experience with brake fluid on plastic has not been good.

[Michael H.]

Re: Vinyl Interior paint removal

I agree with Wayne Womble, that laconic "old hand" of few words.

Lacquer thinner will cut that lacquer-based dye like a hot knife cuts butter. BUT...if you get your plastic trim parts TOO wet with lacquer thinner, it will eat your trim too. Just don't get the part wet...wipe it with a cloth dampened with lacquer thinner.

Sorry to disagree, Mike, but I would not use brake fluid. Brake fluid will surely remove the dye, but the remaining residue will be hard to remove cleanly from the part surface. If you want to re-dye the part, the contaminate film could cause problems. My experience with brake fluid on plastic has not been good.

I've used lacquer thinner a few times years ago. It eats the vinyl and discolors it.

I've removed paint/dye from several dash pads/door trims over the years using brake fluid and it works incredibly well with no fading of color or damage at all.

Even used paint stripper once. Amazingly, it too worked very well. It did slightly dim the color of the vinyl though.

Several decades ago, I found an incredible original set of red 63 seats from an obvious low mileage car. Unfortunately, the car, including door jambs, must have been repainted and there was a LOT of heavy overspray on the sides of the seats.
I coated the areas with brake fluid and a few hours later, all of the heavy overspray came right off.
The results were amazing. The seats looked like new. As I remember, these seats wound up in Dr Shappley's Z06 a few years later.

[Chuck S.]

Re: Vinyl Interior paint removal

Back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, and I was only 15, I drew down my college savings fund to buy my first car.

It was a '41 Ford "Opera Coupe" with a rebuilt flathead Ford V8 engine that was optimistically rated at 85 horsepower. At least that's what the owner claimed....He WAS a somewhat eccentric math teacher at the high school...he HAD to be telling the truth.

Anyway, after spending hours scrubbing off the honeydew, I discovered the car was actually a tutone...ivory top over black. I think the ivory top may have been an effort to fancy up one of Ford's "basic blacks". I spent hours lovingly caressing that old Ford trying to bring up the shine...nothing worked, not Turtle Wax, not nothing.

One day after I finished working on the brakes, I looked down at this pan of waste fluid, and I thought "Man, it's a shame to throw this hardly used fluid away". Then...out of the blue an idea struck me to maximize the economic value of this worthless material!!!: Nothing else has worked to make this thing shine, let's wipe a little of this on that tired old paint and see what happens. DANG!!!...Look at that!...It SHINES!!! I wiped the whole thing down with used brake fluid, and it shined like a new silver dollar!!!

Alas, I found out a few years later that brake fluid is one heck of a paint REMOVER. But...that old Ford...I declare to you that it's paint was not fazed in spite of my ignorance...it shined up real nice (somewhat greasy look) and remained ON THE CAR. Unfortunately, the shine faded after a couple of days. During that short time, the car also seemed much more prone to collect dust.

In retrospect...the paint was that car's most redeeming feature.

[Dale S.]

Re: Vinyl Interior paint removal

Hobby shops sell a paint remover especially for plastics. I have used it on model trains. dale