Getting brown tape off paint

hoodie6029

Hi Folks,

Doing a mini restoration of a MK2 Golf over here.

One of the windows was broken on it and a plastic bag was stuck on with brown tape, the stuff used on boxes, to hold it on. Now there is a residue left on the paint from where it was pulled off.

Any idea what to use to take it for?

vectra

If it were me I would try a drop of Tardis,
Then polish it up.

joujoujou

If you've neither tardis nor its equivalent (it's just a mixture of white spirit and xylene), use white spirit or petrol. Just be careful.

JohnBoy26

Petrol and a cloth

vectra

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

Petrol and a cloth

Very carefully as I dont know what old paint like that would react to petrol.

Probably cellulose paint.

Mr Detail

I personally wouldn't use petrol. Plenty people used it for years with it the issue. There is ways a chance though.

Plenty places sell tar remover, even retail shops. It's safer and will remove it straight away.

Heathen

Could also try a bit of WD40... i have used it before for removing decals and such...

H

Beer Assistant

What you want is a Rubber eraser wheel it attaches to your drill, can be got on ebay.

JohnBoy26

vectra wrote: »

Very carefully as I dont know what old paint like that would react to petrol.

Probably cellulose paint.

If the paint is original it won't be cellulose and won't be removed by gently rubbing it with a cloth and petrol. Even a proper respray won't be cellulose.

You have a point though if someone had sprayed the area with a rattle can in the past. It would be pretty obvious if that was the case though and tbh no matter what you use in this situation you run the risk of paint removal.

JohnBoy26

Mr Detail wrote: »

I personally wouldn't use petrol. Plenty people used it for years with it the issue. There is ways a chance though.

Plenty places sell tar remover, even retail shops. It's safer and will remove it straight away.

I can't see petrol doing anymore harm than tar remover tbh. How is it safer?

vectra

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

I can't see petrol doing anymore harm than tar remover tbh. How is it safer?

What was petrol made for?

What is tar remover designed to do?

While they both can remove tar and sticky residue.
One was only designed for that job.

jimbis

I've had to remove that tape from a car before, I used auto glym tar remover. And a lot of elbow grease.

hoodie6029

Cheers for all the replies. It's much appreciated.
I have have AG tar remover so I'll try that first.
The paint is original. I'm of two minds whether to respray it or just repair the rusty patches and try to blend I all with a machine polish.

Mr Detail

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

I can't see petrol doing anymore harm than tar remover tbh. How is it safer?

Tar remover has been specifically designed for the job and specifically designed for touching paint. It may well be a crude product and similar to petrol in many ways in the big scheme of things but it is still a different product.

Advising wholesale on the Internet to rub petrol on your paint is a bad idea. Never mind cellulose paint, it can melt clear coat. I have shown how it erodes clear coat with the use of a paint Guage to many people now. Just because you don't see paint on a cloth doesn't mean it hasn't done damage. Of course people will say they use it with no problem and that's fine but people do a lot of things that are not a good idea.

Tar and glue remover can even be got in plastic safe formula and will cost less than a tenner, it's a no brainer.

Glad you got sorted op that stuff will do the job for you.

Toyotafanboi

vectra wrote: »

What was petrol made for?

What is tar remover designed to do?

While they both can remove tar and sticky residue.
One was only designed for that job.

Mr Detail wrote: »

Tar remover has been specifically designed for the job and specifically designed for touching paint. It may well be a crude product and similar to petrol in many ways in the big scheme of things but it is still a different product.

Advising wholesale on the Internet to rub petrol on your paint is a bad idea. Never mind cellulose paint, it can melt clear coat. I have shown how it erodes clear coat with the use of a paint Guage to many people now. Just because you don't see paint on a cloth doesn't mean it hasn't done damage. Of course people will say they use it with no problem and that's fine but people do a lot of things that are not a good idea.

Tar and glue remover can even be got in plastic safe formula and will cost less than a tenner, it's a no brainer.

Glad you got sorted op that stuff will do the job for you.

petrol really can't be that harmful.

i mean logically, car manufacturers are hardly going to paint cars with paint that can't withstand a reaction from petrol, because (aside from water) petrol is probably the most likely thing to be spilled on a car across it's lifetime and i'm sure they've accounted for that.

tar and glue remover for less than a tenner? petrol is only around €1.30 - €1.40 a litre at the minute, bargain.

vectra

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

petrol really can't be that harmful.

i mean logically, car manufacturers are hardly going to paint cars with paint that can't withstand a reaction from petrol, because (aside from water) petrol is probably the most likely thing to be spilled on a car across it's lifetime and i'm sure they've accounted for that.

tar and glue remover for less than a tenner? petrol is only around €1.30 - €1.40 a litre at the minute, bargain.

Tell me you never noticed any staining in the paint afterwards.

Toyotafanboi

vectra wrote: »

Tell me you never noticed any staining in the paint afterwards.

genuinely, haven't.

maybe if i had ten coats of polish and wax on the car and i spilt petrol and it stripped all those products off, there would be a visual distinction between the stripped area and the still protected area.

i once had a 94 micra, silver had around 150k miles on it, covered in tree sap and tar and i only stopped short of washing the whole car in petrol. in honesty, there was an area that had seen a lick of a rattle can and the paint in that area got a few hair sized veins in it, but it was bad with orange peel before that so was never finished properly, other than that, hunky dory .

Mr Detail

Again as I said, you didn't see damage but it was done.

The point is, even if you done it to twenty cars with no issue, there is a risk by doing it. So advising it wholesale on the Internet is not a good idea.

hoodie6029

Dug out the AG tar remover this morning. Gave the area a wash with some APC first. The AG lifted the brown stuff off with just a little effort with a piece of polishing cloth.
Gave the area another wash down afterwards.
No pictures because it was too bloody cold!
Cheers for all your input folks.

vectra

Glad you got sorted. ^^