removing paint?

[gazoriginal]

i have a CCO, the previous owner tried to paint it with a yellow spray can. they used bright yellow(pretty ugly). is there a way i can try to get off this spray paint without harming the original paint. i wanted to try hitting it with the pressure washer, but thought i would post here first to see if that was a bad idea. thanks

[Mr.Jeffro]

Gazoriginal,

In the past I have use a spray chemical to remove paint and it may work for you with the ugly yellow you're trying to remove.

I have used "brake clean" in the red can that can be purchased this from your local autoparts store. Orginially, this spray substance was used for carpet and uphostry clean; however, many have found that it really works great for cleaning grease and other crap off of parts. It will soften and begin to disolve the paint and you can wipe or scrape the paint off. I used to take most the paint off and then sand with an electric sander. It worked well.

Warning - use this stuff in a well ventilated area and use eye protection. This stuff can really knock you off your feet with out proper ventilation.

I hope this helps.

Jeff

[Yosemite Sam]

The whole thing pretty-much depends on how well they preped the surface before they spray bombed it.

[gazoriginal]

i dont think they did any kind of prep work. in a couple of spots you can see where the paint is starting to come off. i know they didn't use any kind of primer. taking a sander to it, would that take off the original paint too? i was hoping to leave that intact.

[Matt G.]

Yes, a sander will take off the original paint too...it'll take everything off right down to bare metal. If the paint is fairly fresh, lacquer thinner might take it off, but test in an inconspicuous spot to make sure it doesn't take off the original paint, too.

[Little General]

Try easy off oven cleaner. It took all the paint off my Rancheros engine, I was trying to remove grease, it worked.

[johncub7172]

Yes, make sure you use eye protection. 2 weeks ago I was cleaning my tiller with simmilar stuff.....right in my eye! Believe me, it will knock you to the ground...worse than than when I got squirted in my eye with krazy glue. The spray dried my eye out instantly. Its a wonder I still have both eyes.

[gazoriginal]

so just spray it down with easy off oven cleaner then spray it off? sounds easy enough to me. hopefully the original paint is still in decent shape under all the spray paint. thanks

[Matt G.]

Try it someplace inconspicuous first...the oven cleaner may also remove the original paint.

[Cub Cadet 123]

Laquer thinner is what I use to take off any spray paint without taking off any original paint. It might dull the original paint, but you can always wet sand with 1000 grit to clean it up a bit, too.

Cub Cadet 123