Removing Paint Spillages And Overspray From The Exterior Of A Car

The Brief

We had been contacted by a housing developer with a problem. During the construction of a new housing development one of the new house owners car had been accidentally covered in overspray whilst painting a nearby floor.

Initially the contractor had thought this may have been cement but an initial visit to the site confirmed that was paint. A quick walk around the site with the contractor and we identified an area close to the car that had been recently spray painted with a light grey waterproof membrane.

The Research

Having found out exactly what product was on the car we contacted the manufacturer of the waterproof floor coating to find out what they would recommend to remove any overspray. Unfortunately the only product they said would work was Acetone which is a paint solvent and whilst it would remove the overspray it would also remove the paint from the car – not ideal!  After testing a couple of other processes it was decided that using a claybar would be the most cost effective way of removing the grey paint without damaging the surface of the car’s paint.

The Work

With a team of two onsite for the whole day the car was thoroughly washed and dried before the process of claybarring can begin. Small pieces of clarbar are rubbed over the surface of the paint with a soap to provide lubrication slowly removing the dots of floor paint from the car. The claybar need to be continuously folded over and replaced regularly to avoid it marring the surface of the car’s paintwork. Once all the overspray had been removed from the paint, glass and all the exterior trim the car was washed again and dried. Clarbarring is an abrasive process and even with the utmost care sometimes the process can lead to a small amount of marring on the surface of the cars clear coat (the top layer of paint). In this case we decided to machine polish the roof and mirror caps to remove the marring before giving the whole car a coat of wax to help protect it.

The Results

This car was absolutely covered in overspray but results were fantastic. The owner of the car was over the moon having thought the car may have to be resprayed. With over 30 years experience in all types of paint spillages both inside and outside of the car site Auto Mobile Valet are experts in problem solving. If you have a problem with paint, concrete, lime or cement on a car please give us a call on 07836 665955.