so this pin stripe that was put on my car by the previous owner has been annoying me lately. i went to a detail place today, to have it checked out cause i was pretty convinced it was paint and not a decal

turns out it is in fact painted on, honestly who does that these days still!!! so i want it gone, he said he can take care of it for me, the "right way" but its gonna be about 3+ hours at a shop fee of 95/hour

thats a good chunk of change, what are my other options to get the pained nightmare off my car? im all about the clean look and i think it breaks up the lines of the rx8 too much and makes it way too busy

body shop? DIY? what do you guys think

here it is below....

 

you willing to sand it and all that other junx?!?

 

no way, unless theres some magic way of getting it off myself, i want someone who knows what there doing to take care of it

paint thinner, compound, abrasives and my paint scares me!!!

 

only way to do it is to sand it down. but sanding enough to not go deep into the factory paint. then wet sanding it with fine grit and polish. then applying clear coat. get it professionally done...

 

You can pay your guy to do it right, which i guess will probably involve sanding off the stripe and re-clearing the door.

Or you could do it yourself, sand through the clear and into the color, possibly through that as well, and have to take it to your guy for a much more expensive paint job.

Spend the money. It's worth it in this case.

 

oh no i completely agree i should have someone do it for me

my question is would a body shop do this at all? and possiblely at a cheaper rate?

EDIT: i just dont know if a body shop does small dinky things like pin stripes or is a detail place more experienced?

 

they have mobile touch up guys that could probably do it for cheaper. most of them worked in bodyshops anyway.

 

Depending how it is applied, I've been able to use lacquer thinner on a rag and it will rub right off. Then apply a good wax over it, because it will make the paint dull. Sometimes you may have to actually buff it with a rotary buffer.

If it doesn't budge, I will wet sand it off with 2000 grit and buff it back to a shine. You shouldn't need a repaint unless the pinstripe was cleared over, which I doubt. If I were you, try thinner on a rag, if it does nothing, take it to the detail guy. You can't really hurt anything unless your are rubbing the crap out of it. It takes a lot to remove fully cured clear coat.

 

^^^ 05rex8 is right.

When I worked at a dealership we had all of our cars striped (painted on). If a customer didn't work, we'd just take some paint thinner on a rag.... very little paint thinner, and rub it out.

No sanding involved. Like I said though, very little paint thinner, and yes, do wax afterwards.

If paint thinner scares you... if you have a rotary tool. You can go buy an eraser wheel, and erase it off. Either way will work. We did it ALL the time.

The stripe is just painted on with a brush... there is no clear over it.

And everyone is doing it. Dealerships will mostly likely paint them on, unless it comes from the factory with taped stripes.