OK, here's another one!

In my stash of used parts I have a set of white headlight surrounds that some idiot painted glossy black! Don't think it's very good paint, since there are some ships w/white showing. But, they aren't damaged & I'd like to try to strip them of all paint, back to white.

Should I throw them away, or is there some magic goo that will remove the paint & not damage what's underneath? Hate to pitch any kind of spares, but they're worthless like this & I'm certain that original white surrounds have long since gone bye-bye for availability.

I would try some rattle can paint stripper and see if that will remove it in short order. Have a bucket of water and a stiff bristled brush ready. If you were going to throw it away anyway, why not give it a try?
Don

How about soaking them in white vinegar for a week?? wont hurt the plastic that way.

You might want to try "Goof Off" graffiti remover.

OK, vinegar it is. Will try this "for a week" & see what happens. If that doesn't work, I'll try Goof-Off. If that doeesn't work, there should be nothing left, so problem goes away.

Vinegar, huh? Will tell you how it worked next weekend. Wierd!!

5% acidity in Vinegar, it works great on cleaning nuts and bolts.

Pat,
When you're finished with the vinager, add a little of any crankcase drippings you may have clinging to the underside of your car, and voila.....a nice salad dressing(oil & vinegar).

Not a bad idea! I have a cat litter pan collecting oil under the drivers' side right now; could throw in the vinegar, some tomatoes, lettuce & croutons & slosh it all around. Maybe a dash of brake fluid to liven it up a bit - Good Eats! Though I might end up like Snots from Christmas Vacation, after he drank a case of Penzzoil!

One of the surrounds has been soaking in vinegar for about 18 hours now & I don't see any signs of it working, but I'll give more time.

LOL @ salad dressing. Works real nice for cleaning up rusted parts, maybe it will work for paint removal too. Worth a shot aye? One of friends bleeched his faded white surrounds and they turned out quite nice.

The bleach thing sounds interesting. My white ones are not-so-white from age. Think I'll try that with them. I'll start with about a 10% solution & see how it works. Thanks for the tip.

Brush on Orange Gel Paint stripper from Wally World......Use the LEAST caustic..
Which is the furniture one...>CitriStrip<..Brush on and leave it 10 or so mins
and remove with a semi coarse steel wool..repeat as needed..And use gloves!!!
Have done 6 to 7 sets like that..Just keep an eye on it as it can start to melt it..
Spaced one day and left it on for an hour..They still look ok!!!
BTW if the white is stained from years of use..The stipper will not bleach that out..
I have about 4 or 6 sets of whites...of those some turn to a sleight beige..

Ummm, not wanting to sound like a fool (hard for me), but Wally World? Sounds like another "vacation" movie. Or, do you mean Wall Mart? See, I'm not as stupid as I tell myself!

By the way, almost 48 hrs in the tub-o-vinegar & ain't nuthin' going on. That black paint is still shiny & chipped. I said I'd give it a week, but beginning to get impatient.

Ahh, well it worked well on cleaning up rust.. maybe go with one of the other guys solutions

YEPPERZ..Wal Mart..Just did not want a politcal backlash.
Good rust remover there too....Krud Kutter 16oz is in that same row!!
Purple Power Degreaser in the automotive products row is awesome..
I have tried the bleach trick on the lens shrouds..(white)never got it to work
to get them white...A BIG bucket of 409 at full strength soaked for two days has helped a bit..Costco on that..(I put the shrouds through the dishwasher first)
There is my Public Service Message for the day..
:Let us know how it turns out...

OK, 72 hours in vinegar may work for nuts & bolts but it had zero effect on the bezels (I know, I was supposed to gine it a week, but I'm impatient). There was some minor bubbling in that paint, but scraping that just got down to the primer coat - the PO must have been serious about making them black. If they were painted bahia red I'd keep them for fun parts.

I'm off tomorrow, so I'm on to "Wally World" (I love that!) for Citri Strip - will let you know how it works.

How about an update?

Well, here's the update......nothing! As you know, the vinegar thing didn't do anything. Went to my local Wally World, which looks worse than Dresden when we were finished with it. No Orange Gel -vitually nothing in paint strippers. The 16 year old kid with the worst case of acne I've ever senn suggested I use acetone "cause it'll eat anything off of everything". Of course that would also melt all of the plasctice off of the headlight surrounds, leaving me with a blob of goo.

Been too busy the last few days, but am going to Home Despot tomorrow - surely they have something. Second worse case, I sand them down. Worst case, I pitch them. They haven't been usable for over 15 years anyway & no loss.

Pat G

I wonder what would happen if you brushed a little ............BRAKE FLUID on them? Considering what it does to normal auto finishes, I'd think it would take the paint off right away. Maybe even melt the plastic. That way, you won't have to worry about it any longer and we can all go on with our lives and not take up so much time and computer space on 914 h/l surrounds.

I'll tell you what won't work...

Acetone
Goof Off
Brake Fluid

I tried all the above on my white surrounds. Goof Off and Acetone works but, you'll be there for a couple weeks scrubbing away and, correct, Acetone will damage the plastic as you get right down to the final layers. Brake fluid may work if you let it sit long enough, it seemed to have a minor effect. It seems like the paint really bonds to the plastic.

One thing I haven't tried is plastic media or walnut... might work but, I'd be willing to bet that will scar the plastic in one way or the other. The best bet "may" be to find a paint that would match more closely. I got started on this venture because I had some white surrounds that were painted black. They did a damn good job and it was hard to even tell...

"computer space"? You just wait my friend....your resto hasn't even started! We'll see how much "computer space" YOU waste then. For now, I'll beat my horse!

To the non-club: Paul & I go back more than 30 years, so I'm just busting his chops. No meanenss here. Thought I'd say that before the flames began. PG

"computer space"?

"No meanenss here." Why would you stop now? You've been "mean" for 30 years. And yeah, my computer space is filling up fast with h/l surround paint removal posts. Jeez, everytime I go to the Concours Forum.....ANOTHER h/l surround post. Go to another part, Pat!

Umm, you COULD click on something else! Gee, sorry to be using up your "computer space", whatever that is!

Pat have you tried putting some "Gimp" on them... I heard that stuff works miracles

OK, I'm stupid! What's "Gimp", or am I being sucked in again?

Why... I never!

OK, I DID get sucked in...sometimes my fingers are quicker than my brain. Most times, actually. Temporarily fogot that thread. Good one Eric! Ya got me!

Gimp...

OK, I'm slow, but I'm.......old, yeah, that's it, old!

Found some CitriStrip in aerosol form today. Did a 45 minute test section on the back of one of them & it came off like butter. Won't have the time to do the whole thing until Sunday, but it looks like I may come up with some nice spare parts. Thanks for the tip!

Finished w/number one. Used Citristrip aerosol (would recommend brush on) and some elbow grease after the paint was removed. Think they'll be OK for spares, but we'll see how number 2 comes out. tried the bleach thing - no effect.

Were these things ever really "white"? My orig's, after 34 years, are what I'd call ivory. Don't remember if they were really white when new - anyone have some new ones to settle this?

Number 2 is about to undergo "macroabrasion". Even bought another set of these things, because you never know.......

I agree that they are not pure white. More of an off white. I used a paint stripper 10 years ago on my resto. Came out good. Painted them in off white or a light egg shell using a rattle can. Can't tell the difference. I'm happy.

Don

Cool! Then they'll make excellent spares. Did you use a flat or satin finish?

Congrats!!!!! They Look Great!!!

THEY are different! Because of this I'm starting a new topic. Really hate to belabor this thing, but I'm now confused - see new thread.