My 4 y/o daughter smeared some silcone sealant over the paintwork of the
1985 900i I'm fixing up two days ago and I've noticed today because she put it on the back of the boot lid which I haven't needed to look at until just now (checking in the boot to get some spare parts out of a box)!
How can I remove the silicone (which is now fully cured!) without ruining the paint? Will something like acetone work? I'm not keen on using any physical device to remove it since it'll be next to impossible to avoid scratching/damaging the paint layer.
Any ideas appreciated! I'll grab some pics with the digital camera and put them online later on today (will give the link when that's done). 8-)
Depending on how it's on (rough smear is bad - a running bead is good) and what class of silicone it is (rubbery is good - hard is bad) I have a couple of options that worked for me.
Silicone is very resilient stuff, nothing will dissolve it that won't completely destroy the paint. Your best bet is probably to rub it off with your finger, that usually works pretty well.
It is as I feared, it's smeared and it looks a lot like latex silicone rather than plastic. Worse yet - that finish looks like it hasn't seen wax in a long time. So, regardless of what I suggest, be aware that you may end up with a tell-tale stain until you refinish the paint. If it is not a latex silicone, use paint thinner instead of water in the instruction below.
Where you have deep goop, get yourself a hypodermic and carefully slide sideways it under the skin - then inject as much fluid under the skin as it will take. You need to get below the silicone, but try not to scratch the paint. If you are under the silicone, the pressure should blister the material enough to break the blister and get a peelable edge from the centre. This will work better the sooner you get to it because the material is curing from the outside in. Peel away as much as you can this way.
Once you get off as much as you can by rolling out from the blister, cut yourself some plastic squares an inch or two larger than smears. Cut a couple of white paper sheets (no inks whatsoever) and soak them. Lay the paper over the silicone and tape the plastic sheets to the panels so as to seal the wet material over the silicone. If you can, leave it out in the sun or under a warm lamp for about 12-16 hours. What you are trying to do is get the humidity up in the paint finish and get the paper to bind a bit with the silicone.
Finally, remove the plastic sheet and use a heat gun or a hairdryer and warm up the silicone to as warm as you can and still touch it comfortably. If you are using thinners - let it air a little bit before heating it. Patience is a virtue here. Too much heat too quickly and you it will turn hard - too little, too long and you will dry it out.
Keep testing it at a likely edge because at some point you should be able to roll the silicone off with the flat palm of your hand. Keep working at it as deeper stuff will take longer, thinner stuff will come up more quickly.
Not that this is at all helpful at this point, but it is always *very* wise to completely paste wax an automobile before you start any deep work like pulling the engine or interior or beginning a restoration.
It would have helped you in this instance because the silicone would have bonded to the wax rather than the paint and a little heat would have seen the wax release the material. Wax is even more helpful if you splash oil on the body or leave a hand print somewhere.
Best of luck Brother Craig - for whatever it might be worth, the little one was just trying to be helpful. I'd encourage it myself as soon as they can safely work a sanding block.
rather than plastic. Worse yet - that finish looks like it hasn't seen wax in a long time. So, regardless of what I suggest, be aware that you may end up with a tell-tale stain until you >refinish the paint. If it is not a latex silicone, use paint thinner instead of water in the instruction below.
There's latex and there's silicone, they're two rather different types of caulk, it's either one or the other.
No, read the post the whole post and nothing but the post....THEN read between the lines! I know I do have a tendency to expect people to do that, but I kind of expect most people on this group to be OK with it. So far none of the regulars has exhibited the stupid gene. Plenty of people with the grumpy old men gene though....;-)
From personal experience I know silicone remover works well on ceramic tiles, etched glass and an acrylic shower tray. i.e. it gets it off without damaging any of the aforementioned materials.
It may damage car paintwork, but then if you don't use silicone remover, without actually sanding the paintwork I can't see any other way of doing it. Silicone is a bl*%dy nightmare to remove and there would definitely be a tell tale shadow on the area affected if you just picked it off. Maybe if his 4yr old had done a nice bead instead of a smear he would be better off. Four year olds, again in my personal experience, are not that clever or accommodating!
At a guess I reckon he'd be OK with the remover, but then that's what putting a post up is all about isn't it? Get lot's of ideas and pick those you judge to be the best. I'm guessing with advice from other posters above here he'll try it on a discrete under the boot floor area first to see if it has a detrimental effect.
BTW, silicone remover needs to be left on for HOURS, left it overnight, after carefully removing the big lumps with a Stanley knife...
Cheers for now
Al
P.S. OP sorry but my newsreader has lost the original post now, so if you're a she not a he, my sincere apologies!
I didn't know there was any difference - it's just normal (as far as I can tell) clear silicone sealant sold in hardware stores, etc. as 'roof and gutter sealant' since that's what the guys who did the roof were using.
I've got a day off work tomorrow and will have a go at gently trying to peel some of it off to see how much it's bonded to the paint. Some other people have suggested seeking out specialist silicone release agents so I might give that a try too and make sure it won't attack the paint before going at the sealant.
Yes that's very true, but I haven't waxed the car at all as it's not really in good enough condition at the moment. The previous owner went crazy buffing and actually buffed so much that the paint came right off on folds and edges so there is raw metal in a lot of places. I've dealt with that using rust converter, etc. and as time permits I sand and repaint with a gloss aerosol that's as far as I can tell a spot-on match for the current shade of the paint.
Yeah I know she thought she was being helpful. 8-)
That's true, but the paintwork is not that bad apart from the high-intensity buffing damage that's brought bare metal to the surface. I'm going to work on the exterior finish later in the year. Currently I'm eyeing off a nice 1983 C900 turbo that's for sale not too far from here.
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