how to remove another car's paint from my car?

[vshah]

so, I was parked at a home depot, and my car found itself with a ~20" scrape on the right rear door. from what I can tell, the other paint (a nasty olive green) is almost entirely on top of my own paint - scraping with my nail gets it off and the paint/clearcoat underneath seems mostly fine.

my question is, what should I use to remove this easily, but without damaging the clear/paint underneath? some sort of super mild abrasive/polish?

i'll upload a picture tonight
thanks!

update below...thanks ATG!

before:

after:

 

[NutBucket]

clay bar

 

[Elganja]

clay bar

i would try this first, and if that fails... some Meguiars #105 + #205

 

[m0r1san]

I just repaired the same thing on my wife's car (at a smaller scale). Clay bar took out a little bit, a dual action polisher and some light compound took out the rest.

 

[Black2na]

original OEM paint on your car? honestly a rag and some paint thinner then take some cleaning wax and apply it to the area. no damage done as the OEM is fully cured.

 

[Black2na]

or for the more set up home body a Buffer and some medium agressive compound that would work better but not everyone has the proper tools for that

 

[vshah]

original OEM paint on your car? honestly a rag and some paint thinner then take some cleaning wax and apply it to the area. no damage done as the OEM is fully cured.

interesting. could I dilute the paint thinner with water to slow it down a bit?

 

[Black2na]

no it will evaporate quick enough it wont do damage ive done it with yellow line paint. thinner on factory finish no issues

 

[SSSnail]

Rubbing alcohol.

 

[alevasseur14]

Non-Acetone nail polish remover. Works like a dream. I love customers that come in for scrape removal. Easiest money there is in my job!

 

[zylander]

original OEM paint on your car? honestly a rag and some paint thinner then take some cleaning wax and apply it to the area. no damage done as the OEM is fully cured.

this.
wipe it with some paint thinner and then lightly polish the area.

 

[vshah]

excellent, will try it out tomorrow. thanks!

 

[alevasseur14]

I've been thinking about your OP. If you have what you estimate as a 20" rub on your car, are you completely sure there's no paint damage under all of it?? I just can't imagine something having even enough pressure to not damage at least some CC or actual paint.

What do you think did it?

Pics or it didn't happen?

 

[vshah]

sorry, forgot to get pics. it actually doesn't seem like it was from a car. perhaps someone's cart with ugly olive green wood on it? it seems as if the pressure increased from the start to the end of the scrape, and only at the very end there's a ~1/4" bit of paint scraped off.

 

[bruceb]

Denatured alcohol with a soft rag will usually do it and not harm the paint under it. After is off, wash it with clean water and a light wax to shine it up, if needed. This has saved me many times when a scuff happened to the paint.

 

[vshah]

before:

after:

 

[exdeath]

or for the more set up home body a Buffer and some medium agressive compound that would work better but not everyone has the proper tools for that

Most normal people will burn a hole to the metal in 3 seconds if they tried to use a rotary buffer :hmm::biggrin:

 

[alevasseur14]

before:

after:

Looks really good! It's nice to see someone who really looks after their car catch a break like this. Wish I would've seen the pic earlier, looks like a slam dunk fix.

 

[Black2na]

nice job looks great!

 

[vshah]

there's still that tiny nick on the frame just behind the door. and a few scuffs in the clear which will hopefully come out with some polish

 

[SyndromeOCZ]

Give it a good rub at about 35MPH and it should come off.

 

[yhelothar]

So which technique did you end up using? Diluted paint thinner and rubbing compound?