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

Sun Jun 17, 2012 9:24 am

me and a buddy have about 4 hours on this we was useing lacquer thinner and steel wool to get the spray paint off underneith the green is white and patina gettin there slowly but surely.

before

getting there

almost still alot to do

Wed Jun 20, 2012 3:51 pm

Here is my baby....it took me three years of working on it off and on to get the original indigo blue back but here she is and I couldnt be happier with how it turned out. This thread pushed me on when i felt like just giving up and painting her.

Wed Jun 20, 2012 7:42 pm

while mine is coming along, i will need to address my fenders as they are all non-og.

what did you guys do to match the og, esp when it has a patina going on?

Wed Jun 20, 2012 9:45 pm

well man what i personally did was i went to a paint shop and had them paint match the og paint into aerosol cans and i had em match the factory primer. two coats of each then wet sand alot until the desired patina match is achieved. i had to do it on one fender and you cant tell which...

Tue Jul 10, 2012 9:18 am

This question is for the folks that had their paint matched in spray cans and blended it back into your Og paint:
How did you get your paint mixed in the cans, gloss, semi-gloss or flat?

Wed Jul 18, 2012 7:02 pm

Some jackwagon covered my beautiful bus with white primer before she got to me. In some places it is SUPER THICK.

Observations:
-I dug in and it took me some time to figure out a system.
-Wear a respirator. I was in a ventilated area and I still have a headache
-My bus is a '73.999 and was a nice dark orange from the factory. Started removing primer and the lower half seemed a lot lighter. Since I'm colorblind, I figured it was just faded orange. Then, the "faded orange" started coming up and I started freaking out. Had some kids walking by tell me if it was orange or some other color and they told me it was peach. Looks like my bus was painted two-tone at one point. Applied the same method to the peach layer and it revealed the orange I was looking for.

Here are the results of my first night. Here's the method I settled on after playing with it. I'm no expert. This just seems to be working...

1. Spray a 12" x 12" area with heavy duty dollar general easy off. DG is $2.75 a can vs. $4.75 for name brand.

2. Wait about ten minutes and dab up the excess as it tries to run.

3. It is ready when you can lightly run the point on your plastic putty knife across it and it gouges down to the og paint. Emphasis on "lightly". I would just run lines across the entire area with the edge and where it showed the color I wanted is where I would focus my efforts.

4. Lightly scrape getting rid of the bulk of the paint. You may or may not get down to the og paint with the scraper.

5. Take a no-scratch scotch-brite pad and apply even pressure as you work in circles. Keep the area wet with easy-off or motsenbockers.

6. If it doesn't come off, do the scraper point test again and see if you need to soften it up with some ez-off. DO NOT GET IN A HURRY AND SCRUB AGGRESSIVELY!!!! Let the chemicals do the work.

7. Wipe down with a wet rag to neutralize chemicals.

Sorry for the crappy pic. Got to be night time when I remembered to take a pic. Before pic is a half hour into it.

Wed Jul 25, 2012 10:04 am

I'm using Jasco and 0000 steel wool. This thread helped alot in getting me started with this. The cargo door was done when I bought her to show whats underneath, and besides the nose damage (which isn't as bad as it looks, but there will be a good amount of attempted paint matching there), I'm hoping the rest of the bus looks that good underneath! Not sure what prior owners did, the paint is thicker in some spots than others, yet I'm finding some spots that were sanded down to bare metal... I've had really good luck so far not going through the OG paint, so I'm just going to continue to take my time, and enjoy the result!

Before:

So far:

Thu Jul 26, 2012 12:00 am

lost a little steam on mine, between color matching the fenders and the interior i got to the point where i was sorry i even attempted this feat. had a streak of good luck and found rattle cans that are an identical match to og so i have a second wind going. looking to have all the old paint off within a week and a half.

Thu Jul 26, 2012 5:38 am

1966slugbug wrote: lost a little steam on mine, between color matching the fenders and the interior i got to the point where i was sorry i even attempted this feat. had a streak of good luck and found rattle cans that are an identical match to og so i have a second wind going. looking to have all the old paint off within a week and a half. I'm sure many of us can sympothize with this. I'm saving the last area inside the beat-down tailgate until I get my "second wind". :wink:

Mon Jul 30, 2012 11:22 am

man it took me 3 years of on and off work on my 59 bug to get the OG paint back...I felt like giving up 100 times but Im so happy I didnt. Said I would never do that again and here I am in the middle of stripping back my 60 bus....I never learn. 8)

Wed Oct 17, 2012 6:35 am

i have a 59 mango someone sprayed gold over the OG paint what is the best way to get it down to OG paint.

Wed Oct 17, 2012 10:04 am

Travis Woodard wrote: i have a 59 mango someone sprayed gold over the OG paint what is the best way to get it down to OG paint.

The methods in this thread...

What works best can depend on the paint used/temperature/etc.

There are a couple good posts with products and techniques on this page above, as well as the stuff spread out through the entire thread.

Wed Oct 24, 2012 4:34 am

Here's my NZ assembled 58 SC, I am struggling to find the paint code for it... Any ideas?????

Thu Oct 25, 2012 8:52 am

I'm dying to start working on removing the crappy repaint on my bus but I'm really scared. I tried "Goof Off" on a small part of the nose (terrible test spot I know) and I scrubbed to hard...got down to bare metal in about 3 seconds flat with just a cotton rag. Now I'm a little nervous about going any further.

Sun Oct 28, 2012 12:57 am

Awesome thread, Thanks for the motivation guys, I will be posting here soon!

Wed Oct 31, 2012 11:15 am

Got up some more courage and took to the bus again with some "Goof Off". Using just a cotton cloth and some gentle rubbing I got the entire passenger, rear, upper quarter down to the OG Blue/White. I'm stoked.

My question is that in some areas I am finding small bare metal spots (quarter size or smaller) What do you guys suggest putting on those spots?

Wed Oct 31, 2012 5:09 pm

So here's where I am with this...the passenger side is hard to see the difference because I got most of it off but you can see the crappy white repaint around the cargo door bumper. I have about 2-3 hrs of total work into it. There's OG Velvet Green under the crappy blue too but that will be phase 2!

Mon Nov 26, 2012 7:45 am

Will the Grafiti remover work to get back down to a chrome bumper? I have used a spot of aircraft paint remover, it bubbles and peels, then I can shine, but how does this goof off work? thanks guys, great projects! Sorta makes me want to remove this red, but for now she holds a good shine...

Mon Nov 26, 2012 9:28 am

Yes on Graffiti Remover.

It's pretty heavy duty and may act fast but probably similar to aircraft paint remover, that stuff is strong too.

Mon Nov 26, 2012 12:07 pm

started on the bumpers with a razor this morning! I think the body guys that paint bumpers need a head exam. The chrome looks rough, but, better than red! I used the aircraft remover because I have it, worked well. Now on to the pitting and fine scratches they put in it to bond primer... Any advise there? I know that's not paint, but?....will get pics up later...