So I stained my deck last week. Come to find out my neighbor's car two doors down got overspray on it. Wonderful. I feel like such an ***. Luckily my A4 was parked safely in my garage and I told my immediate neighbors on either side to move their cars. I never dreamed the spray would make it as far away as it did.

Anyway, I promised my neighbor I would try and fix their paint this weekend and if I couldn't make it perfect, I'd pay for them to take it to a body shop. If it is going to be $$$$, they can make an insurance claim and I'll pay the deductible. So tonight, I just did a little testing on it to see what might work. I started off with bug & tar remover. Useless. Then some scratch remover wax. Useless. So then, I resorted to my trusty Meguiars clay bar, confident this would do the trick. It kinda worked by the spray was still there. The only thing I haven't tried is my orbital buffer and a good strong cleaner wax. But, after my clay bar failed, my hopes are pretty slim.

I did some research online and a lot of people have problems with overspray on their siding - I have this too. For that, some recommend Goof Off, others recommend Motsenbocker's Lift Off #4 Graffiti Remover, for oil-based overspray. Obviously, I'd have to test anything like this in a small area first, because although it may work great on siding, I'm not sure it's safe for cars. Although, one website was showing their graffiti remover being used to pull paint off a work truck. I guess this is kinda the same as a cars paint job???

I was thinking of going to a body shop tomorrow to ask what I should do, or what they could do for us.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!!!!

 

I'd suggest trying detailers clay. Great stuff for removing surface contaminants. Here's a link to a good article on how the stuff works: How to use detailing clay. If the stain has tried, I really think this is the stuff you want.

 

Well, I managed to get it off. I washed it, clayed it and then tried buffing it with a fine compound. The spots didn't budge. Now, I was starting to really sweat. Earlier in the day, I used Motsenbocker's Lift Off #4 Graffiti Remover to get it off my siding and it worked like a charm. I was nervous to use it on the car though. So I tested in a small area and to my surprise, it worked perfectly. I was strong enough to pull off the stain, but not too strong as to damage the cars paint/clear coat. After I got all the spots up, I buffed the whole thing with some Meguiars Gold Class and the car is better than new!!!!

 

nice work! lucky u got it off their car man!

what kind of car was it?

 

It was an 02 Jetta wagon. Luckily they are big "car people" so they weren't pissed. If the event had happened the other way around, I would have blown a gasket!