Stubborn Clearcoat patches

[tripnfall76]

I have been stripping the clearcoat from my '66 Safari and while most of it is coming off w/ stripper and a little coaxing from a plastic putty knife there are some patches I've applied stripper to no less than 5 times and it still sticks to the trailer. Any suggestions for best way to remove this before I start the polishing process? What about steel wool or would that scratch the aluminum?

[tripnfall76]

Well, didn't get any responses but figured something out so thought I would post for anyone else that had this problem. Found that using a scotch bright pad after applying some of the stripper and letting it sit for a while will take it off. Doesn't scratch anything as long as you have a nice clean surface. I started my first polishing pass this morning w/ a 3m super coarse compound. Taking a break since my arms already feel like jell-o. It certainly doesn't make it show quality but looks good from my neighbors yard which is all I'm worried about right now so they don't feel like it is too much of an eyesore.

[KristinS]

Thanks for the helpful tip! We just stripped our '65 Overlander and have the same stubborn spots. We didn't notice until we started compounding this past weekend and the spots with some clearcoat left turned black from the Nuvite and wouldn't polish clean. I'll try the Scotch Bright this weekend and see if that does the trick.

Did you have to strip your roof too? Our clearcoat seems to be mostly gone on the roof so I haven't attempted it yet, but I wonder if I'll run into some clearcoat up there when we start polishing it.

[Inland RV Center, In]

There's stripping and then there is stripping.

There are many types of paint removers available.

Some are cheap, some are not.

Related to that, some are "sort of" and some are great.

Generally speaking the greater the cost, the better the job.

Not cheaper, but tops in my book is "Aircraft Stripper".

It costs a bunch, but does a great job.

When that stubborn area shows it's face, a second application of the Aircraft Stripper always took care of it.

No scraping, no mumbling and no cussing required.

Andy

[Melody Ranch]

I agree with Andy.

[KristinS]

Thanks for the comment, Andy. I have been using Aircraft Stripper exactly as instructed and we just had a few spots on the skin that seemed to have been damaged or chemically altered by oxidation in some way, so the clearcoat was extra difficult to get off the metal.

In particular, where we had removed emblems and plaques, and around areas of filiform oxidation. It seemed like the stripper just wasn't penetrating the clearcoat, so maybe roughing it up a little with a Scotch Brite will help.

Our trailer was in pretty bad shape, having been outside a lot, and has a lot of deep scratches and dents. We're not shooting for a mirror finish, just anything better than it looks now!

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by KristinS

Thanks for the comment, Andy. I have been using Aircraft Stripper exactly as instructed and we just had a few spots on the skin that seemed to have been damaged or chemically altered by oxidation in some way, so the clearcoat was extra difficult to get off the metal.

In particular, where we had removed emblems and plaques, and around areas of filiform oxidation. It seemed like the stripper just wasn't penetrating the clearcoat, so maybe roughing it up a little with a Scotch Brite will help.

Our trailer was in pretty bad shape, having been outside a lot, and has a lot of deep scratches and dents. We're not shooting for a mirror finish, just anything better than it looks now!

You could also have it painted "metallic silver" as we did for owners, many times in the past.

Done properly, with good paints, that would last a minimum of 30 years, with one or two coats of wax per year, depending on the climate.

Andy

[tripnfall76]

Originally Posted by KristinS

Thanks for the helpful tip! We just stripped our '65 Overlander and have the same stubborn spots. We didn't notice until we started compounding this past weekend and the spots with some clearcoat left turned black from the Nuvite and wouldn't polish clean. I'll try the Scotch Bright this weekend and see if that does the trick.

Did you have to strip your roof too? Our clearcoat seems to be mostly gone on the roof so I haven't attempted it yet, but I wonder if I'll run into some clearcoat up there when we start polishing it.

I found the roof didn't have any clearcoat on it so required zero stripping. The sun evidently baked it off over the last 40+ years
Also, I found that the coarse pass w/ the 3M quickly did away with any clearcoat blemishes the stripper didn't take off. I wouldn't waste any expensive nuvite to remove it but a few small patches here and there were taken care of on my coarse pass. Good luck! It's a lot of work but well worth it when you and your neighbors see the results.

[KristinS]

Thanks for the advice! Will try that if I can't get the last of the clearcoat off. Got some new stripper: Doradostrip 3031. Was recommended by Perfect Polish, and is supposed to be a lot safer to work with than the airplane stuff but still effective. I have some door and window trim paint stripping to do in my 100 year old house too, so I'm hoping to use any leftovers there!

[Frank's Trailer Works]

In my experience(a number of trailers and years of woodwork) safer never works better. The most toxic stuff works the most efficiently. Methyl Chloride is what takes it off and the safe stuff contains none or very little. Use what you want, but that toxic stuff works best. Marine Stripper is one step deeper into hell from Aircraft Stripper. That is all I use.

[KristinS]

Thanks for the input! I know the safe stuff usually doesn't work, but the Perfect Polish guys seem to know their polishing, so I'm hoping they're right on this one. If this doesn't work I'll go back to the unsafe stuff, but even while wearing an industrial gas mask rated for nuclear and lead I was getting headaches from the fumes.

We don't have the luxury of not living in our house while stripping the woodwork, so I'm hoping to get by with a less dangerous chemical for our safety and our pets'. We very likely have lead paint, so we shouldn't be using a heat gun indoors either. I used a heat gun outside and stripped this door of 6 layers of paint, but it took forever and the wood was slightly scorched and softened in a few places.

I'll let you know how it goes with this. It's from the same company makes De-Solv-It, my favorite adhesive remover ever. I remember using it to get gum out of my hair as a kid!