Removing paint from truck inner door panel

[Gigem]

Truck is a 1972 GMC. It has the original door panels, and some previous owner appears to have applied some sort of paint to them. He went "refrigerator white" instead of the correct "parchment", and they look like ****.

What would you use to remove this paint? Goof off? Mineral spirits?

I am hopeful that I can get this white paint off and that the original panel surfaces will be good for this driver quality truck. I will restain/repaint with the proper color and do a better job if I have to, but I really don't want to.

I REALLY don't want to screw these up, as 1972 doors are unique and the aftermarket panels don't fit worth a damn. Original panels are expensive, and this color is impossible to find.

Thanks for any tips...

 

[jerry67]

My first thought would probably be brake fluid, but I would research further

 

[slopdog]

i would sandblast at low pressure . (40 to 50 psi ) tape off any part you dont want cleaned with duct tape

 

[Stuart in MN]

Brake fluid and Easy-Off oven cleaner were old school methods for removing paint from styrene scale model cars. I don't know if they are compatible with the plastic used for those door panels, though. There are modern paint remover products meant for use with scale model cars that may be a better choice, but it would be best that for whatever you use to try a little bit on the back side (or on another junk door panel if you have one) to make sure it won't damage the plastic.

 

[kaymccampbell]

I'd be using 600 grit to wet sand the worst of it, then goof-off to rough up the rest.

 

[The Cobbler]

it looks to me like the plastic is in very poor condition, any abrading will likely make a real mess of them.

try a pressure washer?

 

[jjkrjh]

Try some really sticky duct tape. I had door panels that were painted badly. Used duct tape and the paint came right off. It took the whole roll but worked very well. Just make sure you work/stick it really good and peel away. You might get lucky with zero damage.

 

[El_Pozzinator]

There’s a citrus acid based indoor- and pet-friendly paint stripper called Citri-Strip they sell at Home Depot. Used it on a wood cabinet door I needed to strip (because I screwed up painting it). Took some extra work to scrape and scrub off with a plastic razor and nylon bristle brush because it has zero MEK in it (which would probably eat your door panels anyway) but it worked beautifully. Softens the paint and allows you to scrape or scrub it off. Dunno how the panels were originally colored tho, so they might not come out the perfect color. Probably worth looking into whether you can even get the correct interior paint code anymore in Dupli-Color or consider having the code custom mixed by an auto upholstery shop.

As stated before, definitely recommend testing a section of the panel before going nuts with it regardless of what method you choose.

Hope this helps. Good luck!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Dumber than lumber]

Those panels have a texture to them. And you can see places where the plastic is crumbly.
You sort of need to expect to be disappointed.
Maybe you could find some kind of vinyl product to cover it.
Also, there are places that will do custom color spray paint in a can.

 

[like2wheel]

As Stuart mentioned, Oven cleaner.
I've used it to remove paint from plastic, & it left the plastic looking brand new. However it looks like those panels might have been painted because they were deteriorating as Lumber said.

 

[txvwnut]

Those panels are pretty much done for unfortunately and any paint you apply will not make them look any better.

 

[unslow1]

I'm with the idea of just trying to change the color. Those get really brittle and crumble easily. The ones on one of my cars has the same problem. They started to crumble so I just sprayed vinyl paint over them and left them alone.

 

[PWC Repair]

I have used EZ Off oven cleaner on MANY different types of plastic with no issues. Test it on the back first. Only the original formula seems to work, NOT the low fume stuff. Also the Dollarstore stuff works too. Just spray it on and leave it sit for 20 minutes or so, then rinse it off. Might also require the help of a plastic bristle brush.

 

[Gigem]

EZ Off worked great, thanks guys! Did that, then hit them with my low powered electric pressure washer. Got what I wanted.

 

[The Cobbler]

worked great.