Silicone Caulk, How to Remove Options

[EJP914]

I am having car repainted in the spring. Previous owner thought it would be a good idea to install all the weather stripping in silicone caulking. How do you get this stuff off? It has been on the car for about 20 years. I have tried laquer thinner, paint thinner, gasoline, MEK, fingernail polish remover, Goo-Gone, and nothing has worked. I am trying to keep from removing the paint. If the paint becomes dull, no big deal.
If anyone has any suggestions on what I can use to remove the caulking and residue, please let me know. Thanks for your help.

[Pat Garvey]

If it is truely "silicone" based, you a no choice but to remove the paint with it - to bare metal. Any silicone that may have leached into the paint underneath will render the surface unpaintable. It must be taken to bare metal & heavily prepped after that. Here's how I know....

Had my 914 stripped & repainted in late '79. All's well for about a year, then a fisheye developed on the side of the front passenger fender. Painter said "no problem, we'll fix it" (it WAS a $4,000 repaint in 1979!). Asked if I'd been using any wierd polishes & told him I'd used the same polish on all my cars for 15 years. He sanded & sprayed & called me - "you need to see this". Went over & he presented me with a 2ft square piece of dried red paint that had fallen off of the fender during the night - just slid right off!

Turns out, the mf'er of my polish had switched to a silicone-based solvent & we all know the primary purpose of silicone - not boobs! Non-stick, slippery, slicky......

Had to take the entire fender down to bare & beyond. Prepped with one of his witches brew & resprayed. Still looks perfect & is a perfect match after 25 years. He admonished me severely about using silicone-based ANYTHING on, or near the car again - I obeyed!

But, ask your painter. Maybe mine was wierd, though I don't think so. He now has a lock on Mercedes jobs in Cincinnati & is very highly respected.

He didn't even want to do my car, because it as a "914", but a very good friend (his lawyer) begged him. After that, when the car started beating Ferrari's & the like in concours, he was always around, telling people he did the "restoration" (it was only a paint job!