A friend purchased his first pickup truck project . I haven’t had a chance to see it in person he sent me some pics. It looks like there is some funky pinkish color that has been sprayed or applied over what looks to be a greenish blue color underneath . I told him I’d ask around if there might be anything he could try to get some of the hideous pinkish color paint off and just leave the weathered blueish /green color . Look forward to your input . Thanks !
Start testing some thinners, see if they cut the pink but leave the green. As soon as you get into sanding the results are difficult to control.
Typical of a vehicle that has p***ed through many hands...years of touch up with grey and red oxide rattle can primer...in an attempt to keep it from getting rustier. No matter how hard you try, he'll never be able to just strip off all that red oxide primer. He has basically 3 choices here... 1) live with it the way it is (and maybe a little more rattle can primer touch-up) 2) A quick scuff job on the truck, tape it off and spray it in one color of primer for now. 3) Blow it apart for full bodywork and paint.
I think he will just live with it for the meantime . He doesn’t have enough money at the moment to do a paintjob and all the mechanical stuff . It needs a new drivetrain and some other mechanical things to make it road worthy so he’s gonna just work on that end of things first . And he will just have to decide on what to do down the road . A coat of epoxy primer probably would be his best cheap option for time being to not have to look at that pink anymore
If the green paint is original and the pink stuff is ****ty spray can primer on top, you could try oven cleaner. I've seen guys strip spray paint off with oven cleaner and not hurt what's underneath. Try it first in an area that if it ruins all the paint, it won't matter as much.
You could try a firecracker................................................................ Is it a full moon?
Very honestly If I wanted to save what was under it I'd pick an are with a lot of that spray can stuff on it and get some super fine sand paper and wet sand it just if I was colorsanding a good paint job and just work at cutting the top layer. Any chemical including oven cleaner may eat more paint than you want. A few sheets of fine sand paper, a sanding block, some dish soap and a bucket of water and see if you can take one layer off at a time.
If this were just one big spot on the middle of the door or something, I'd agree with the wetsanding idea, it's the least risky, I've done it in small spots. But the amount of wetsanding it would take to clean this truck down to whatever paint is on the base level, I think it'd be more work than a full body and paint job. I do agree that oven cleaner might be risky to the underlying paint, but at this point, what does the owner have to lose? If they try it in a spot and it turns out bad, it'll still look just like it does now, more or less. If it does work, they've got a much better chance at achieving their goal in a reasonable amount of work time.
I only used EasyOff one. When my dad sold his tractor, his name and PUC/DOT numbers were on the doors. Used it, tapped Saran Wrap over it, came back and started wiping the lettering off. Took a few times to get is all off. Then waxed the door, Couldn’t tell. But, as much as we can see, I’d be going after it with a DA.
Some types of body filler have that 'pink' color. Is it possibly a skim coat of filler and underneath is a 'craters of the moon' landscape?
How it looks is not as important as how it feels. If the truck is smooth, it is possible that pink is a layer of filler over top of craters, or primer over minor defects, which could include pealing of the green paint. If you feel the need to do anything, I think I would put some 400 on a DA and run over a few spots to see how smooth it really is. Of course, the next thought was if it really was a filler over top of the metal, how often was that filler exposed to the weather, and is it still good? It may all have to come off anyway. Saving what might be original paint under whatever that pink stuff really is, is probably a lost cause! The odds are pretty good the original paint was sanded before the pink stuff was applied over top of the paint, the green paint you see may well be all that is there that is any good.
It takes some time to understand how to strip paint with a single edge razor blade, but once you get it removing everything on top or the original primer goes quickly.
There's likely a good reason the red oxide primer, and gray primer were shot on the truck, and likely removing it wont leave it with anything he'll want to keep, and he'll end up having to shoot more over it. If he's wanting to postpone paint work, I'd consider buying some inexpensive satin black and shooting it to make it all one color for now. Then later put a decent paint job on it. Trying to save it is just a waste of more time and money.
Driveway party. A few friends, compressor & couple of DA sanders, some tunes, cold beer, hot mexican food. Cheap HVLP gun, gallon of dark grey primer. Drive it like that while you go through the mechanicals. I'd start with the brakes and steering (safety first). And the sooner the better to work in a 4" drop in the back along with taller tires and a 5" drop in the front (dropped axle, reversed eye spring, etc).
Try a pressure washer, narrow spread nozzle, held really close. That took a whole bunch of spray bomb stuff off my '56. In a lot of cases the lower layers never where prepped correctly and the bond is really weak.
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