Overspray Removal - 56k Dial-up Warning!

[Mike Phillips]

Overspray Paint Removal

A friend of mine, Garrett, had his car parked in the wrong place at the wrong time. Seems at though some outdoor painting was taking place where he worked and the overspray drifted in the air, landing all over his Toyota Tacoma truck.

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2Paint_Overspray_Removal1.jpg

Here's a shot of the hood,

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2QuikDetailer-med.jpg

Here's a close-up of the overspray. The paint was white industrial outdoor enamel used to protect some type of tanks for holding liquid gasses.

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2OversprayCloseup2.jpg

The entire truck was covered with white paint overspray.
Below is a close-up picture of the windshield.

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2OSRWindshieldCloseUP.jpg

Garrett admitted to me that he only knew the basics of car care such as washing and waxing, having been there myself, I told him I would take a look at the overspray and test it to see how hard it would be to remove. Some overspray bonds to tightly to the finish that it can be all but impossible to remove. I grabbed a Meguiar's Quik Clay System (http://www.meguiars.com/store_meguiars/product_detail.cfm?sku=g-11) kit, cleaned off the hood and then did a little test spot on the passenger's side of the hood.

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2OSRTestSpot.jpg

Garret was lucky. The overspray removed rather easily with the Meguiar’s Quik Clay system. I told Garrett how to finish claying his car and then apply a product called ColorX (http://www.meguiars.com/whatsnew/colorx.cfm) afterwards and his truck should look as good as new. I could tell as Garrett watched and listened about the different steps to follow after removing the overspray that this was probably a bigger task to for him to handle by himself. So I told him if he could bring the truck back on another day, I would give him a hand. He said, "OK".

We did clay his windshield before he left however, as the white overspray on the glass was a safety issue causing glare from the sun and making it extremely difficult to see though.


This last Saturday, July 3rd, Garrett brought his truck over for an Extreme Makeover. My goal was not to remove the overspray and restore his truck's finish, my goal was to,

Teach him how to remove overspray and restore his trucks finish himself....

First, here's a Side-by-Side, Before & After photo of his hood. To show just how much overspray was on the finish, we taped the hood down the middle and only clayed one half and then applied one coat of ColorX.


http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2OB_A2.jpg

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2OversprayDimeShot1.jpg

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2OversrprayDimeShot-med.jpg

The overspray was everywhere. This is the drivers windshield pillar,


http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2OSREverywhere1.jpg

It's hard to see, but there is little white dots of paint all over his rearview mirrors,

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2OSREverywhere2.jpg


So without further ado, Here's Garrett, learning how to Meguiarize his truck!

First Garrett removed all of the white overspray using Meguiar's Quik Clay System (http://www.meguiars.com/store_meguiars/product_detail.cfm?sku=g-11). The overspray was everywhere, so not only did he have to clay the horizontal surfaces, but he also had to clay the vertical surfaces to.

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2OversprayClayingHood.jpg

As he worked his way around the trucks finish, he also took time to clay the glass. Claying glass is safe as long as you know your clay bar is clean and contaminant free, (same as for paint). The Quik Clay worked perfectly for removing overspray off both the paint and the glass.

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2OversprayGlass1.jpg

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2OversprayGlass2-med.jpg

After claying the exterior of the entire car, we decided to use Meguiar's ColorX (http://www.meguiars.com/whatsnew/colorx.cfm) with Meguiar's G-100a (http://www.meguiars.com/store_meguiars/product_detail.cfm?sku=G-100) Dual Action Polisher using a W-8006 foam polishing pad (http://www.meguiars.com/store_meguiars/product_detail.cfm?sku=W-80) on about the 4.5 setting.

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2OversprayPCColorX1-med.jpg

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2OversprayPCColorX2.jpg

This was Garrett's first time using Meguiar's dual action polisher but he was a fast learner and was quickly polishing like a seasoned professional!

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2OversprayPCColorX3.jpg

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2OversprayPCColorX4.jpg

After applying the ColorX to the entire finish with the PC, Garrett next removed the ColorX using Meguiar’s *New* - Ultimate Wipe (http://www.meguiars.com/store_meguiars/product_detail.cfm?sku=M-9).

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2OversprayUW1.jpg

I thought I might share a little tip right here, just in case anyone reading this is new to Meguiar’s Ultimate Wipe microfiber polishing cloth. Besides be a premium quality microfiber polish cloth that effortlessly removes polishes and waxes while pampering your finish, leaving it crystal clear and streak free, on the bottom of the back side of the package is about an inch of plastic folded-over and lightly glued to the package.

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2OversprayUW3.jpg

Instead of ripping the package open at the top to remove the microfiber polishing cloth like I did for years, simply pull this lip of plastic back and remove the microfiber. Then, after your finished, if it’s not too dirty, you can fold the microfiber back up and replace it back into the bag for safe keeping. An excellent little tip for those of you who keep a microfiber or two in your truck or car for emergency and don’t want to worry about them getting dirty in-between use.

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2OversprayUW6.jpg

After removing the Ultimate Wipe from the package, refold it 4 ways till you have a nice plush polishing cloth that perfectly fits your hand.

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2OversprayColorXWipeoff.jpg

After removing the ColorX, Garrett told me the finish looked better than new!. But we wern't finish yet. Next, we applied a coat of Meguiar's NXT Generation Tech Wax (http://www.meguiars.com/whatsnew/techwax.cfm) again, using the G-100 only this time we slowed the dual action polisher down to the 3.0 setting and applied the wax using a Meguiar's W-9006 foam finishing pad (http://www.meguiars.com/store_meguiars/product_detail.cfm?sku=W-90)

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2OversprayPCNXT1.jpg

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2OversprayPCNXT2.jpg

After allowing the Tech Wax to dry to a haze, which took about 10 minutes, I showed Garrett another cool little tool, the Ultimate Bonnet (http://www.meguiars.com/store_meguiars/product_detail.cfm?sku=m-99) on a clean, dry foam polishing pad on the G-100.

This combination takes all the work out of removing a wax or polish and leaves an eye-dazzling finish!

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2OversprayBonnet1.jpg

After removing all of the Tech Wax, we pulled the truck outside the garage for some pictures of our results...

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2OversprayFinished1.jpg

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2Oversprayhoodshot1.jpg

Tree reflection shot

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2OversprayReflectionshot.jpg

Road to nowhere

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2OversprayRoadToNowhere-med.jpg

A couple sun shot's

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2OverspraySunshot1.jpg

Same camera, different exposure setting

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2OverspraySunshot2.jpg

Side-by-side, before and after

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2OB_A2-med.jpg

Product used to remove the overspray and restore clarity, gloss and a deep, wet shine.

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2OversprayFinished2.jpg

A happy camper that now knows how to fish for a lifetime...

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2OversprayFinished3.jpg

Mike

[2000]

Garrett is probably your best friend now! he did a great job.
how did you get the overspray off the mirror and the cowl? were you able to clay those items as well? I never thought about claying plastic.

[PendragonZ]

Very nice job! Will you be my neighbor? I need friends like that!

[gb387]

That is some serious overspray! Nice work! Looks great! The half shot of the hood is great.

[Mike Phillips]

Originally posted by 2000
Garrett is probably your best friend now! he did a great job.
how did you get the overspray off the mirror and the cowl? were you able to clay those items as well? I never thought about claying plastic.

We tested clays ability to remove overspray from every surface. What we found out was that the clay will remove overspray from plastic like smooth trim and the rear view mirrors, but the black plastic will transfer to the clay. I'll try to take some pictures of these areas when I see him next week. I can also take another picture of the finish to show how well it's holding up.

Mike

[2000]

Originally posted by Mike Phillips
We tested clays ability to remove overspray from every surface. What we found out was that the clay will remove overspray from plastic like smooth trim and the rear view mirrors, but the black plastic will transfer to the clay. I'll try to take some pictures of these areas when I see him next week. I can also take another picture of the finish to show how well it's holding up.

Mike
do you mean the plastic transfered llike oxided paint, or did it discolor and possibly damage the plastic?

[lig]

I had to remove some overspray from one of my cars that had come back from a body shop.

They were so bad that I don't trust them to remove the overspray without swirling up the car.

Clay worked great on the paint and 0000 steel wool worked beautifully on the glass.

If you are in Seattle - PM me and I'll tell you which shop to avoid.

(Edit: Since there is always two sides to a story, for now if you're interested in lig's story, go a head and send him a PM Thanks, Mike)