Removing Graffiti

[thetobymac]

Hi

Can anyone advise how to remove new(ish) graffiti spray paint from the boot of a 1970 morris minor,. it has lovely aged Smoke Grey (blue) paint....
Some local cretins went to town when it was parked in the street. before I bought it.....



Thanks in advance

Toby

[myoldjalopy]

Could you carefully T-cut it out? Of course, this may affect the 'patina' you refer to, requiring you to T-cut the whole boot lid. Others may have different suggestions............

[philipkearney]

Possibly a couple of options. Some/most of it might lean off with cellulose thinners and good rag. Rubbing it all with a very fine wet and dry - 2000 grade or similar to remove what's left and then probably a good polish with T Cut or farecla cutting compound. Hopefully a combination of these should remove the graffiti. Just be careful not to rub through paint, particularly on the panel edges.

[simmitc]

Make sure that you know what your "real" paint is - if using thinners to remove the graffiti, you don't want to remove the paint that you want to keep. Always test a small, inconspicuous area first.

[svenedin]

I’d first give it a good wash with soap and water. You may find the graffiti paint has not adhered well. When you have a feel for how well stuck the graffiti is maybe progress to T-Cut. Gentlest approaches first. WD40 is quite good at removing loose paint (it gets between the layers) and it won’t hurt your original paint. Also consider what type of paint the graffiti is. If acrylic then meths/isopropyl alcohol might work without harming your cellulose paint (although these solvents will harm new cellulose paint).

[Chief]

I agree with svenedin the first thing is to try washing it with a normal car sponge, bucket of hot soapy water and have a hose on stand-by or bucket of fresh cold water for rinsing if possible - Oh, one more thing if you've never washed the boot of a Minor before, you may get soaked to the skin

I would advise against anything that will bite into the underlying paint such as T-Cut, wet 'n' dry etc. as after my car got its' roof painted (spotted) when our neighbours house got painted (right after said car was back from a full respray too of course). My attempt looked fine, until the water I was using to make sure I didn't scratch the paint dried out and revealed all the new visible scratches.

Anyway, based on that I think if there were a next time I'd try my go-to paint remover, it's eco friendly and very gentle at first (takes 1-24 hours to do anything - though really after 1 hour if it's done nothing it's time for scraping and a new coar of the stuff, 24 hours really makes no difference).

https://www.toolstation.com/home-strip- ... ver/p70267

It may be cheaper/in smaller tubs than there, but I knew you can get it there

You can remove thin paint (and I'd imagine new paint) as easily as applying some paint remover to a cloth and just rubbing on the paint work, then rinse off with warm water, then wash the car.

Of course without photos we don't know how bad it looks or how much paint they 'went to town' with.

[thetobymac]

thansk everyone, I will start on this job soon!

[svenedin]

thansk everyone, I will start on this job soon!

The longer you leave it the better adhered that graffiti paint will be. You’re certainly in no hurry

[thetobymac]

thansk everyone, I will start on this job soon!

The longer you leave it the better adhered that graffiti paint will be. You’re certainly in no hurry

Been on their about 10 years I dont think its going to get any worse!

[geoberni]

thansk everyone, I will start on this job soon!

The longer you leave it the better adhered that graffiti paint will be. You’re certainly in no hurry

Been on their about 10 years I dont think its going to get any worse!

Ahh, so presumably the car might have been washed a couple of times in that period....

[les]

You initially described it as newish !! After ten years, surely it’s part of the car now !

[JOWETTJAVELIN]

Not a Banksy is it?