snatch

I'd like to try and refinish my tailights on my hatch before I go buy new ones. They have a few coats of Candy Apple Red Testors paint on there, along with a couple coats of clearcoat. Any ideas how to remove the clear coat and paint?

Tried paint thinner/mineral spirits, nothing. Just gets it wet.

Thought about using aircraft stripper, it says do not use on plastics.

Thought about wetsanding, like to try and use this as an absolute last resort.

I saw some flexible parts stripper, something you would use say on a bumper or similar flexible item on a car, and it's obviously safe for plastic, but it said do not use on rigid plastic. I would consider tailights to be rigid plastic, so is that a no-go?

Any ideas how to get this **** off?

Thanks.

92civichatch1

well i would start at a body shop and ask them what they would do. there has to be one near u. i dont think u would wanna sand them. wat about like one of those razor scrapers u use to get the white paint they use at the track to mark your car. use that to scrape it off. use a more gritty cloth when u use the paint thinner like maybe steel wool or something. im just throwing out ideas bro.

EG2Driver

testors paint is like an annoying gf....doesnt come off. U could try some thinner from testors or even brake fluid. Maybe some oven cleaner....but that stuff is strong and might make ur tailights cloudy. Easiest way is to live with it or get new tailights. Luck to you bro

iluvmyek

TRY SANDING WITH 600 THEN 800 THEN WITH 1200 AFTER THAT TRY BUFFING IT OUT

snatch

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 92civichatch1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">well i would start at a body shop and ask them what they would do. there has to be one near u. i dont think u would wanna sand them. wat about like one of those razor scrapers u use to get the white paint they use at the track to mark your car. use that to scrape it off. use a more gritty cloth when u use the paint thinner like maybe steel wool or something. im just throwing out ideas bro. </TD></TR></TABLE>

I don't know about using a razor to remove it. It might work, but on a lot of the light there might be too much curvature to do it without scratching the lens.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by deadend9009 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">testors paint is like an annoying gf....doesnt come off. U could try some thinner from testors or even brake fluid. Maybe some oven cleaner....but that stuff is strong and might make ur tailights cloudy. Easiest way is to live with it or get new tailights. Luck to you bro</TD></TR></TABLE>

Isn't this the damn truth. LOL. I tried brake fluid as well as oven cleaner. Oven cleaner for about 20 minutes soaking, and the brake fluid for maybe 5-10 minutes. I was frustrated by then.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JSTAEK &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">TRY SANDING WITH 600 THEN 800 THEN WITH 1200 AFTER THAT TRY BUFFING IT OUT </TD></TR></TABLE>

I'm thinking about wetsanding with maybe 1000 or so. It seems to be that the only problem is the clearcoat. I think the paint is still good, so maybe I could just lightly sand off the clearcoat and then reapply that portion, and I'd be good.

I found some 99-00 hatch tailights on ebay for a whopping $44 + $15-$20 shipping, I guess I'm just a little leery.

Thanks for the replies guys.

snatch

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ****** &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
I saw some flexible parts stripper, something you would use say on a bumper or similar flexible item on a car, and it's obviously safe for plastic, but it said do not use on rigid plastic. I would consider tailights to be rigid plastic, so is that a no-go?

Any ideas how to get this **** off?

Thanks.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Any more ideas on this? This clearcoat is so damn tough I think only sanding or a chemical is going to remove it. I would use this flexible parts stripper except it says do not use on rigid plastics. Rigid plastics are defined as having tensile strength greater than 100,000 psi.

I'm not going to strength test my tailights.

Think this **** will work and not ruin the lights?