Understanding Types of Road Line Paint

To properly remove road paint from a car without damaging the paint, you will need to also understand what road paint is made from and how it works. Reading this article will teach you how paint thinner breaks the bonds within the acrylic resins. This process frees the solid materials, allowing you to remove them with a microfiber towel.

Typically, road paints are made from acrylic resins. Acrylic road paint is a good option. It is strong, long-lasting, and resistant to weather. Additionally, it is flexible and dries fast due to its water base.

Yellow Road Paint

Contains Lead chromate which is used in road paint as the yellow pigment. Lead chromate has been largely phased out due to its toxicity, however it is still used today in some yellow road paints. When removing yellow road paint from a car, be sure to wear protection from lead exposure.

White Road Paint

Contains Titanium dioxide which is used in road paint as the white pigment. Titanium dioxide is approved by the FDA for food consumption and has been since 1966. There are arguments on this topic so it’s probably best to wear protection due to the harmful solvents anyways.

Finding the correct solvent for the task

For this topic, we will be using a solvent named JT501 from a brand called ShopLine made by PPG. Some solvents, like Denatured Alcohol, cannot break down acrylic paint, even though they are safe for a clear protective coating.

Test the paint thinner on a hidden spot with a terry cloth to make sure it won’t harm the factory finish. We do not recommend testing inside door jams or under the hood. This is because these panels do not have the same protective coating as the outside panels. As a result, the test will be inaccurate.

Prep & removing road paint from the car

Tape off the affected area with painters’ tape and use no bleed through paper to drape and protect plastic trim parts. Next get thick nitril gloves and a couple microfiber cloths for car detailing. Lastly, be sure to have a respirator type mask.

Fold the towel in half twice. Then, dip the corner into the solvent solution. Keep dipping until it drips off when you remove it. Pick a road paint spot and wipe the cloth back and forth with firm pressure.

You must know that every swipe with the cloth will break more bonds in the road paint resin chemistry. The bonds break and releases the pigment. The cloth can then pick up and remove the solid particle from the car. It is best to always keep the cloth saturated as you work.

Even though the road paint spots are slowly melting away, at some point it doesn’t seem to work anymore. Turn the cloth to a new spot, keep it soaked, and keep wiping the road paint off the car. If flipping the cloth doesn’t work, wrap it around your finger and scrub the road paint directly with your gloved hand.

We scrub only seriously stuck paint spots, applying direct pressure because this will cause paint scratches on the protective finish. By waiting for the right time, you minimize the scratching event time frame. Scratches that do occur will need labor time for later repairs with wet sanding. Remember that we are removing the road paint from the car in layers.

Keep the microfiber cloth wet with solvent at all times during this phase of removal. After finishing the whole panel, you might feel frustrated as you have spent hours on it. There are scratches all over and stubborn small road paint spots remain. Wash the area with soap and water and take a break.

Be attentive when removing the road paint moving forward, as there is a final step that may result in deeper scratches. Double wrap a pine wood paint stir stick in cloth to make the scrubbing point sharper. Now scrub carefully, dot by dot.

Keep the microfiber cloth wet with paint thinner at all times and rotate the cloth often to keep the fibers from tamping down too flat as your scrub the paint spots away. Single wrap the cloth for any tiny spots that are leftover.

Wet sand and buff to a shine

Wet sanding is not safe for removing road paint from a car. The acrylic road paint is harder than the urethane factory clear coating. The two types of paint will wear off at different speeds. The factory finish will be removed faster than the road paint, causing a breakthrough event and ruining the cars paint job.

Wet sanding serves as the final task if the paint spots are completely gone or reduced to the tiniest of specks. Try not to leave specs behind while in the paint thinner steps. It’s not wise to hope wet sanding will finish up unless you have that experience already. You can also level up your knowledge in our article about how to wet sand a car.

Wet sand scratched areas and then wet sand the whole area to blend scratch removal spots with the general scuff look. Buff the area until 75% complete, then use 91% isopropyl alcohol and a microfiber towel and clean the area. This will reveal the true oil-free surface. If there are scratches, repeat the wet sanding process to make them blend into a uniformly scuffed area.

Buff the painted surface again at 75% completed and then clean with alcohol. If there is only the soft scuff of wet sanding and no scratches leftover, then simply buff to a shine.

If wet sanding doesn’t work, the only choice is to remove the paint and repaint the car. Most will agree that if paint thinner can sometimes remove road paint, then it is worth the try.