Removing RTV from Paint

Thanks, Matt, that's another idea I can try. I took the rocker guards off again today to get them powder coated, so I'll have some time this week to try & clean this RTV mess off. I looked at adhesive removers today, but all of the ones at Lowes would certainly remove paint as well.

Like he said. go to an auto paint supplier and get the 3M adhesive remover. It'll take off the silicone without hurting the paint(other than to also remove any wax you've got on there. It makes a good road tar remover also.

-- Old Crow '82 Shovelhead FLT 92" 'Pearl' TOMKAT, BS#133, SENS, MAMBM, DOF#51, SPONGER#2

Another option, if you are putting them back on, just leave it.>

Unfortunately he smeared the stuff above them, like he ran a finger along it to wipe off excess. It's stuck on there like white on rice!

The worst thing the nitwit did was mount them unpainted on the inside. I pulled them off again yesterday and took 'em to the powder coater. Cleaned it up a bit today and I've got some rust starting on the right side of the tub where it lay up against the paint. I could strangle this boob! Only thing I know to do is to have it stripped & repainted, or maybe sand it and shoot it with some rust inhibiting Krylon. Arghhhh!

I will say again. You 'cannot' have RTV there!

RTV 'will' come off with an old credit card as a scraper. RTV 'will' come off if you rub it enough with your finger. RTV 'will' dissolve in gasoline. RTV 'will' dissolve in gasket remover. RTV 'will' come off with a plastic pot scrubber.

If you hold a gasoline soaked cloth on RTV, it will turn to jelly... (as I found out with the one gas tank leak I tried to fix with the stuff, let cure, add gas, jelly an hour later)

Mike

SoK66 wrote:

"Mike Romain" >I will say again. You 'cannot' have RTV there!>

Yes, well I appreciate your thoughts, Mike, but it's RTV. After removing the thick beads of the stuff, a thin skin remains stuck to the paint outside the sealing surface. (If it was all going to be covered by the guards I'd just leave it.) Scrubbing on it's not an option asn it will tear up the paint. I like your gasoline suggestion which I'll try next.

Wonder what the remover will do to the paint?

This seems to be an option, but the process will be excruciating.

Which is why they say not to seal manifolds or carb base plates with RTV.

I get the guards back from the powder coater this afternoon, so we'll wrk on this over the weekend & see what happens. Thanks again for all your suggestions.

It could be butyl rubber, or many others. I just cant believe rtv could bond so well to a smooth surface, it rubs off with a finger. I have a 2 gallon dip can

Nah, it's black Permatex RTV for sure. The problem is that even after I sliced off the thickest parts of the bead (which was almost 4ft long) the remaining residue is thick and stuck to the paint like its shadow. I think what's confusing everyone is that it isn't like a machined surface with just a bit of RTV skin left on. Sure, it will rub off a tiny bit at a time, but I have to go 4 ft, and it's about 1/4 - 1/2" wide and still maybe 1/16" thick in some spots. So, when you just rub on it do get a little bit of it off, but it just uncovers more.

But, OK, here's what I tried today. Got some of the 3M Adhesive remover someone suggested, which didn't even faze the stuff. Then I tried a special rubber wheel (designed to attach to a drill or angle grinder) for removing tape stripe reside. All this did was rubbed it off a tiny bit, but for the most part it bounced right off the stuff. Finally, I tried some white gas on a rag and a plastic pot scrubber and .....VOILA! Took it off, if not quickly, and just left some tiny scratches in the surface which I can get after later with a buffing wheel and some polish later.

I got my rocker guards back from the powder coater today. He recommended a clearcoat over them and they came out great. The powder coat should hold up a lot better than did "Rattlecan black" Krylon.

Many thanks to all who responded with suggestions...even you, Bill!

Jerry McG. (Bill's Troll ;-)

Ahh, so I see my first suggestion worked in the end after all eh?

I apologize if I ended up being 'condescending' later in that thread.

I meant to be insulting and call you a liar and a troll only looking for attention at the same point in the thread Bill called your BS or better 'Chicken Little'.

To quote your lie:

Thanks everyone for your feedback. So far I've got "nothing", fingers, erasers, old credit cards, alcohol and gasoline

Instead I was polite.

I now know you for what you are so I will not be polite any more.

Mike

Well what do you know? Turns out Bill was right after all.

Mike

Dave Milne wrote:

Mike, you're out of line and I'm not going to submit to this from you. I asked this group a simple and serious Goddamn question in order to to solve a very troubling problem I was having that wasn't of my making. I got several kind responses, but was then inexplicably called a "troll" by Bill, apparently just for having asked the question: Jeezus!!!

After all the responses I received, I did not LIE (where the Hell did you get that?), I simply recapped all the suggestions everyone had given me and I then tried them one at a time. Subsequently I posted the results. Sorry if that offended you.

The fact that you took my reposts the wrong way is your problem, not mine. You took it the wrong way, I suspect, because that's what you wanted to do, for heaven knows what reason. I can't for the life of me understand why a poster on this PUBLIC newsgroup asking honest questions has to put up with this, but it's your choice to be a jerk if you want to be.

After every other suggestion the good folks had given me to remove the RTV from my Jeep's paint had failed, the last thing I tried before trailering the Jeep over to the body shop to have the damn RTV, paint & all stripped off & re-shot, was your idea to use gasoline. I saved that one for last because I simply didn't want to fill my enclosed garage with gas fumes and risk blowing my friggin' house up! I had to remove a a stripe of RTV almost four feet long and 1/2 inch wide. In the end it took A LOT of gas-soaked rags, a lot of time, a lot of scrubbing, all the while I'm inhaling the damn gasoline fumes hoping nothing such as the lights, etc. in the garage causes a spark and blows me to kingdom come.

The gas got it off. Yes, Mike, your idea worked, and I thanked you for it as the earlier posts will show.

I didn't need to be insulted in the process, and I will not accept your condesending attitude without comment. Go ahead and rationalize your inappropriate behavior on this forum any way you like, but I didn't, and don't appreciate it.

We all participate here because we have a common interests in Jeeps and things automotive. If you feel the need to attack people simply beacuse they have the audacity to ask questions that you don't happen to like, or think are stupid, you may want to examine your own motives before you go off on people.

Aga>>

Perhaps we should start keeping scores of how many people we have managed to verbally bitch-slap in this forum so we can can congratulate ourselves later.

The whole point of the goddam forum is so people can ask questions and get the answers easily. They answer might appear in Google (practically everything does after all). But now we seem to be going in a mean-spirited direction where newbies or less-experienced people's questions are regarded as trolling. Frankly, the amount of abuse in reply is more troll-like than the original question. If you don't want to answer the question, then don't. No need to launch off on a tirade !

In this situation, Sok66 is either confused (which is why we can help him) or very intelligent in trolling. If the former you have given the answer in an insulting and condescending way as you admit. If the latter, he's obviously more intelligent than you, I and Bill ...

Dave Milne, Scotland '91 Grand Wagoneer, '99 TJ

Thanks, Dave. There was no justification for the crap I took in asking this simple question. I had RTV, normally used to seal machined components used inappropriately on a finished surface and I just needed some ideas on how to get it off without damaging the paint. Most, including you, kindly offered useful suggestions. Unfortunately, two decided to be jerks, for God knows what reason. I've got about $50k involved in this YJ, and another $25k in a CJ retoration, I have better things to do with my time than troll usenet Jeep groups.

Bud, you played 'Chicken Little' and lied off the bat on this thread. That is why Bill called you a Troll, he was right and spotted it.

I was really patient and tried to walk you threw it slowly figuring you were some 16 year old with his first Jeep or something, only to have you come back and call me 'condescending.'

Here is your lie quoted:

Thanks everyone for your feedback. So far I've got "nothing", fingers, erasers, old credit cards, alcohol and gasoline. Something has to work!

End quote.

This means to me anyway, you have tried all the above and nothing worked. Right? I mean what else 'could' it mean?

This is in response to me saying: 'Maybe an eraser? If it 'is' RTV, it will rub off with your finger. An old credit card works. You can also get a liquid gasket remover stuff that is supposed to dissolve it. Gasoline will dissolve it, but it takes a little while.'

End quote.

Then I came back and said: 'Then you don't have RTV there'..

Bill said the same, Roy figured the same, Snow figured the same, Paul figured the same.

If you had of just told the truth that you never tried squat, instead you just were too busy complaining, we wouldn't be having this exchange right now.

Then when I insist on still politely calling your bull s*it, by saying once again: 'I will say again. You 'cannot' have RTV there!' Then 'you' call 'me' condescending and a know it all.

All this BS because you told us a lie.

I will leave this alone now, hopefully you get the point.

Mike

SoK66 wrote:

How about

"I have a number of things to try, hopefully one of them will work" ?

Dave Milne, Scotland '91 Grand Wagoneer, '99 TJ

Clearly not :-)

Hell, I just like to give people the benefit of the doubt, unless they are blatently rude.

Dave Milne, Scotland '91 Grand Wagoneer, '99 TJ

There you go trolling again. I don't blame you for not signing that BS babble, what a wimp. God Bless America, ßill O|||||||O mailto: snipped-for-privacy@aol.com