Paint Overspray

If lacquer thinner didn't touch it, it's not latex paint.

Lacquer thinner will soften up latex paint almost immediately. And you would have to work quickly, doing small areas at a time with very little lacquer thinner to prevent damaging the finish on the car.

I'm going to tell you this, but don't blame me if your finish gets messed up.

Part of the problem with lacquer thinner is that it evaporates too quickly to remove the paint. A product that I've used, that removes overspray and won't evaporate, is brake fluid.

Test first!

1) Fold up a soft rag and dampen with brake fluid.

2) Work in a circular motion, and do small areas at a time.........don't allow brake fluid to puddle on car finish!!!!

3) Once an area is done, immediately follow up with a water dampened rag.

4) When finished, wash car, give it a go over with car polish, followed by a good wax. Don't do any of this in direct sunlight or when the finish is hot.

One more.

If the paint actually is latex and it's been there for a year, it's become kind of baked on.

Take a bath towel and get it soaking wet in a bucket of water mixed with some liquid dish detergent. Lay it out over the overspray and let it sit for 5-6 hours, (maybe over night). If it starts to dry, mist it with a hose. The idea is to allow the latex paint to absorb the water/soap mixture and soften up to the point that it can be wiped off. This won't hurt the car finish in the least. Good luck!

Goof-off™ claims that it will remove latex paint.

Goof-off™ is 90% xylene.

I wouldn't use it on my vehicle, but.........................

I realize it's moot, now, but why did you wait a whole year to try to remove it???

Just bought the truck yesterday. Got a discount because of the overspray but it isn't as easy to get off as I thought. Right now I've got a test patch with vaseline on it and I've tried a steamer that didn't work. Worst case, repaint, but hoping to clean it off. d/

Have you tried T-cut? Used in UK, if it's not available where you are there's bound to be an equivalent. It's a very mild abrasive cream and restores gloss to matt paint eg after wet flatting. It might remove the overspray.

BTW what is latex paint? It's not something I'm familiar with, but I haven't done any car spraying for a good many years.

Cheers..........Codey

I would use no 1200 wet paper with soap and polish afterwards with P11......a very fine rubbing compound/polish.

I'm surprised the steamer did not work, it should have if the paint is truly latex. Try putting a hot steamy sponge or rag on the paint, let it rest there a little while, to soften the paint.

If it is not latex, you are in real trouble, the vehicle will have to be buffed out to remove the overspray. Have the buffing done by a professional, some car washes offer buffing.

After buffing, the vehicle will look just great, then you can have it waxed or sealed.

Go to your local Sherwin Williams store and ask for a product call Paint prep. It comes in qt bottle and is a citrus based product that loves latex. Should remove only the latex and leave everything else alone. Or go to a company called "Hurry Safe" and look up web site. Take a look at one of the products they offer (Sherwin Williams materials is from Hurry Safe).

Sometimes referred too as "Prep-Solve"

Bon-Ami works fine

O.K. guys, here's the final answer. It was determined by detail and auto paint shops that the overspray was road striping paint. Nothing we tried would remove it BUT one night I left it out of the garage and it got ice on it. By accident I rubbed the ice away and the spray came off too. So then I used a plastice 4" scraper and went over the entire truck in about three hours. Viola, it's gone. Now it does need to be polished and buffed but that saved me a $2000 paint job. I'm happy. Thanks to all for your suggestions. I tried them all. d/

Thanks for the heads-up...