This is something that has been bothering me for a while. When I traded my dad out of this truck (97 F150 4x4) I noticed that he had parked it in an area where somehow it got tiny splats of white latex on the hood, fenders, and cab. What would be the best way to remove this? I not sure what to do out of fear of damaging the paint. Any help would be appreciated.

 

It's on paint correct?

The material that will do the trick is detailing clay. You can find clay at most respectable automotive shops like Pep Boys, Auto Zone, etc...

Several brands are out there on the consumer market and, from what I hear, most are pretty good items.

If you have any questions about clay, let us know. You can also try searching within this forum for the word 'clay' and I suspect that you'll have multiple hundreds of hits.

RP

 

Thanks for the advice, but what about if I have the truck wet sanded and polished? Would this work or would there be a high risk of going through the clearcoat resulting in having to have a fresh shot of clear put on?

 

I tried the clay bar with mixed results. While it did remove a lot of surface blemishes from my paint, it didn't do much as far as taking the latex paint off goes. Would the wet sand/polishing do the trick without harming the clear? If its okay, what would be a good price for a body shop to do this? Any help would be appreciated.

 

Wet sanding will always harm the clear but, if done correctly, it won't harm the clear to the point that it can't be corrected. You may occasionally hear the word 'compound' tossed around within this forum and that's typically where one would be utilized. For example, after I sand a painting imperfection, I'll typically go back across that area with Meguiar's #84 Compound Power Cleaner to remove the majority of the scuffs. Following that step, I'll typically have to go back and correct the micromarring that the #84 has caused (because it's VERY aggressive (as it has to be to remove sandpaper scuffs in the paint)) with a product like Meguiar's #80 Speed Glaze or Meguiar's Swirl Remover 2.0.

Another suggestion before you go to an extreme of sanding the paint off of your clearcoat...

Take a soft rag and utilize WD40 as a solvent to remove the paint. Keep in mind that this solvent based product will remove all of the wax that is on your paint and thus, you'll be required to re-wax these areas as a precaution to ensure that they have adequate surficial protection.

There are a bunch of alternatives short of sanding the paint. This is typically utilized to remove a different type of surfical imperfection other than 'stuck on' stuff.

RP

 

Thanx for the help. I'll have to open up the tool box and give the WD-40 a whirl. Oh yeah, the clay product I used was Meguire's Quick Clay. Is it pretty good? I'm going to do the entire truck with it anyway despite it not being able to get the paint off.

 

:: awkward silence ::

Um, if I'm not mistaken, latex paint will just peel off. I dunno exactly what it looks like, but latex will normally just peel right off of it. Did you try your fingernail?

If not, goo-gone should work just fine. Or krudkutter (correct spelling?). I believe they are both clearcoat safe (but double check) as they should get out latex paint. I'm pretty sure they both say paint on the label.

 

I pretty sure its latex, but the problem is that it has been on there so long. If it's oil based, what do I do?