Looking for tips on removing paint from rhino grill..

[Chuck Brown]

'Morning folks,

With great anticipation, I just received a rhino grill in the mail that I had bought online-sight unseen, and although it was listed as "VG condition" when it showed up, the excitement quickly died, and I had the posture of the kid whose only baseball got lost over the tall fence.

The structure is in pretty good shape overall, without dings and bends, but the grill looks like the PO had tried to primer AND paint his rig with rattle cans WITHOUT taking the grill off first. Essentially, the face looks "ok", but the perimeter of the grill is coated with primer and what looks like black semi-gloss.

Now, before I go ahead and start with the fine steel wool and acetone, Im coming to you wise old timers here to lmk if Im headed down the wrong path or if maybe you can tell me what successfully worked for you all in the past. I dont care how bizarre it sounds, Im open to just about anything here, so please bend my ear as youve got my full attention here...

Thanks as always Constant Reader,

Chuck Brown

[J4GRAND]

Get some "zip-strip" or other jellied paint stripper. I had a razor that a DSPO had painted flat black and I just soaked it in stripper, hosed it off and voila! It was perfect underneath. You may want to try a small test patch but I don't think it will hurt the chrome.

[dlowrance]

Ditto on Patrick's post...save the elbow grease and jelly it up....I have a dip tank I use in the shop for smaller parts...for the big ones just coat and wait...

[Chris Langdon]

thats what i am going to do to mine.

about 75 bucks to have properly done here in Georgia by a chrome shop

[Chuck Brown]

Thanks a bunch, guys! Thats what I'll do.

I prolly sound like a goof here, but Ive never heard of zip-strip...what form does it come in (tin gallon, jar, etc...) and is this a specialty store product, or can I get it at NAPA/UAP or a common home paint shop?

You guys are the best...thanks.

Chuck Brown

[Elliott]

thats what i am going to do to mine.

about 75 bucks to have properly done here in Georgia by a chrome shop

That's a pretty good price, is that chromed for $75... ??? if so, please send me the contact info.

[skeletor]

just use lacquer thinner it'll come off.

[Chuck Brown]

Ok, scratch the first question...found the format...just need to figure out where to find it.

Chuck Brown

[willam]

Any Hardware store will have paint stripper. Just look at the label, the more toxic and cancer cuasing the better it will work.

[waynestiles]

depending on the kind of paint used any number of solvents will work. A real good and real cheap one is simple spray on oven cleaner---it'll cut through all sorts of stuff and is a WHOLE lot less $$$ than the paint department "stripper" yet it uses basically the same chemicals.

set the unit out in the sun to get warm, spray on the oven cleaner, cover it with some plastic to keep all the chemicals from flashing off--throwing a black plastic trashbag over it works good. let stand for a few hours and then hose off---repeat if neccessary

[janie]

LOL, well I'm not all that wise, and not yet an old timer, but here's what I've done to remove paint from a rhino grille.

Let some goof-off(the product/not your neighbor:D ) soak on it for a bit. Then get some .0000 steel wool and lightly rub. I've had excellent results doing it this way, and no scratches in the finish.

[billyrb]

I use EZ-Off oven cleaner to remove paint quickly. Costs about $2 a can and will strip paint quickly / easily, and rinse off with water.

[Zorm]

I'm going to try this on my son's VW baja, check out this thread

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=167756

kinda like the Easy Off, first I'll dose the grimy engine, then maybe some paint spots on the body. Heck, at just $3.00 a bottle, its cleaner and less toxic than the "paint remover" stuff.