TheSamba.com :: View topic - Removing aftermarket paint to get OG paint

Mon Jan 23, 2012 2:33 pm

I got a 74 super bug that I believe is a sun bug. The OG paint was harvest gold but someone painted it blue. What would be the best product to use to take off the blue paint without removing to OG?

Tue Jan 24, 2012 12:26 am

been reading through all these posts - you guys have done some amazing transformations. i bought a 66 bug in august - the body is uber straight but is painted with a 10 foot paint job in black over primer over red over the og paint - i think it's bahama blue. either way the og paint turned out to be the color i wanted to paint mine from the beginning. i will be trying the methods here and if it doesn't work, i prepped the body for paint. turns out the fenders arent original - what have you guys done to match non og panels, fenders, etc

thanks, john

Tue Jan 24, 2012 11:21 am

Custom mixed spray cans in VW colors from www.towerpaint.com If you order any of their touch-up paint transfer it to a better air tight container from the cheap plastic bottle they ship it in! My 'diamond blue' touch-up paint dried up pretty fast in the plastic bottle. :x

Tue Jan 24, 2012 7:29 pm

1966slugbug wrote: what have you guys done to match non og panels, fenders, etc

thanks, john

Custom matched paint is the way to go. I had my local auto paint store match existing paint on the car to ensure it being as close as possible. Don't know how close it would be to what was applied at the factory but in the end you're trying to match a color that has in all liklihood been changed over the years anyway.

Tue Jan 24, 2012 7:46 pm

here's hoping for the best - plan on starting this weekend
this is the blue i have, bad pic but i'm hoping someone can shed some light on the color - i'm thinking bahama blue

Wed Jan 25, 2012 6:04 pm

Looking at the archives, Bahama Blue seems to be the only color close to what yours is for type 1s made for the 1966 model year. Nice color.... :D

Sun Jan 29, 2012 12:25 am

here's hoping the rest of the car has this underneath...

Tue Feb 07, 2012 9:03 am

So it's time to start removing the primer off my OG Mango green so23. See:

It's been in California all it's life and was painted in patchy primer around 20 years ago, so the PO believes.

I took some cellulose paint thinners and spend about 10 minutes on the dog leg with the results above - the paint is pretty good but It's gonna take a long time like this to do the entire bus, well just the lower half is my target for now.

Gonna try some of the Graffiti remover now

Lee

Tue Feb 07, 2012 2:52 pm

Hi Lee
I used yellow nitromores on mine with oooo wirewool and kept neutralising it with meths mine had 4 reprays and a lot of brushed paint on it though.
Have a look in my gallery
Cheers ben

Tue Feb 07, 2012 2:57 pm

low54 wrote: Hi Lee
I used yellow nitromores on mine with oooo wirewool and kept neutralising it with meths mine had 4 reprays and a lot of brushed paint on it though.
Have a look in my gallery
Cheers ben

Cheers Ben. I've not tried Nitromores yet, but the primer is a single coat and really patchy all over. I don't want to damage the OG paint underneath, but I'll give it a go.

How does meths neutralise it ?

Lee

Tue Feb 07, 2012 6:36 pm

who would have figured 6 -8 coats of paint would be brittle. poor prep work by the guy that originally painted it ended up being pretty kickass
10 minutes and a razor blade!

Mon Feb 20, 2012 4:20 pm

You guys have inspired me. I was going to repaint, but now I think I'll go three layers back to OG L90D pastel white :)

So it begins...

Edit: Due to some damage in the lower half, I'll be repainting that (wanted two tone, anyway), but the top half is in perfect condition, and I planned on respraying it the original color.

Currently using Goof Off Graffiti Remover from Home Depot. Product here:
http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet...=202676194

I also bought a spray can of Citristrip to compare the two... Graffiti Remover does just as well, activates quicker. The Citristrip doesn't smell too bad, though.

I have some #2 and some #000 steel wool I've been using, but I think I need something in between.

The Goof Off only gets off one layer at a time, so it works perfectly.

I just realized I need to work out my arms more at the gym. :lol:

Mon Feb 20, 2012 8:48 pm

I was removing the paint on my deluxe, and there was factory dove blue underneath? When i bought it the previous owner said the paint code was unidentified. I just wet sanded lightly and buffed it.

Sun Mar 04, 2012 2:44 pm

I just found out that in the few months since i last bought a can of paint stripper they have took out the ingrediant that actually strips paint.tried three differnt ones now and they all do nothing :evil: gonna have to try and find a shop with some old stuff still in stock, really cracking on now so need to find it asap

Sun Mar 04, 2012 3:56 pm

Try mosenburg graffiti remover, at least I think that's what it is called. I'll have to check when i get home.

Sat Mar 10, 2012 12:04 pm

cracked on with the dash this week,by far the best paint so far

Sat Mar 24, 2012 5:33 pm

lammyrider wrote: I just found out that in the few months since i last bought a can of paint stripper they have took out the ingrediant that actually strips paint.tried three differnt ones now and they all do nothing :evil: gonna have to try and find a shop with some old stuff still in stock, really cracking on now so need to find it asap

I had the same problem with Nitromors - got about 1/4 of the way into stripping 5 layers of paint off my bus, ran out of Nitromors and bought some of the new formula stuff - it didn't work at all. Had to do a lot of hunting around to find some of the original. Managed to find 2 big tins on Ebay which gave me enough to finish it.

Sat Mar 31, 2012 4:43 pm

Well, I got inspired by reading this thread and decided to try it out on my late 1961 Bug. I've owned it for 20 years and it looks pretty much like it did when I bought it. It already had some gray primer on it when I bought it and unfortunately I added more primer years ago to help cover surface rust. You can see in these photos where I have cleaned off most of the front fender and parts of the hood, plus the area below windshield. I had to re-primer that spot on the fender because it was down to bare metal. It's great to see the real paint come alive, but sadly the paint is just gone in places, down to beige-pink VW primer or bare metal. Seems like somebody had wet sanded the original paint.

This is after about 3 hours of work with graffiti remover. It's going to take months! I couldn't wait to shine up the parts I did with some plain old Turtlewax polishing compound. Eventually, I think I can get some paint mixed to match the ivory color and spray the hopeless areas with a nice Paasche hobby airbrush and compressor I own, and blend them in as best as possible.

Mon Apr 02, 2012 11:22 am

I found this after taking off some paint this morning...

Mon Apr 09, 2012 1:34 pm

kenaroni wrote: Well, I got inspired by reading this thread and decided to try it out on my late 1961 Bug. I've owned it for 20 years and it looks pretty much like it did when I bought it. It already had some gray primer on it when I bought it and unfortunately I added more primer years ago to help cover surface rust. You can see in these photos where I have cleaned off most of the front fender and parts of the hood, plus the area below windshield. I had to re-primer that spot on the fender because it was down to bare metal. It's great to see the real paint come alive, but sadly the paint is just gone in places, down to beige-pink VW primer or bare metal. Seems like somebody had wet sanded the original paint.

This is after about 3 hours of work with graffiti remover. It's going to take months! I couldn't wait to shine up the parts I did with some plain old Turtlewax polishing compound. Eventually, I think I can get some paint mixed to match the ivory color and spray the hopeless areas with a nice Paasche hobby airbrush and compressor I own, and blend them in as best as possible.

My '66 was pearl white and my brothers primed it then had it painted white. I'll take your OG paint, beige-pink primer and bare metal anyday! Keep it up and post pics!