Removing paint that rubbed off on my car from a wreck

[messy]

So I rear-ended an old man and his wife on my way home today

Anyway, there appears to be no damage except for some light scratches and this paint that rubbed off of the storage box on the back of his trailer. The old guy was really nice. I got out my truck and asked if everyone was OK. He said they were fine and "I don't really care about that old box anyway." So we parted ways.

I'm assuming this is just a hardware store bought oil-based paint because it is not scaping off with my fingernail. Anyone know of any good products that will take this stuiff off without damaging the clear coat?

[WarWagon]

Should come off with any regular compound and polish. I prefer Meguiars brand.

[bodypainter]

Abrasive compounds are death on a clear coat. Read the bottle/can first!

[SmileyG3]

I've used nail polish remover and or Goo Gone in the past, its worked but I seriously doubt its good for the clear coat

[WarWagon]

Depending on just how stuck on it is, there are two things we used to do back at the shop. If it won't come off with any cleaners and is really on there good, we would do a wet sand with VERY fine grit paper, or use a fine cut cleaner. We'd follow it up with some medallion afterwards, and then either meguiars hand polish or swirl remover.


Or, you could try Meguiars Scratch-X

[Scorps]

Go to a coin-wash....that might work, High pressure soap!

[Moonduck]

With that much paint transfer, your clear is probably damaged. That said, WarWagon's advice is strong. The caveat is that you should be EXTREMELY careful when messing around with anything abrasive and your paint.

Realistically, it is a coupla hours worth of repair, a bumper cover R&I (remove and install), and a coupla hours worth of paint to do it right, if you cannot remove it with some rubbing compound or whatnot.

So your options are:
1) Do it yourself. This means taking a chance with a fairly expensive finish.

2) See if a Detailer can do it. A better option, as a good detailer is used to taking a finish to the edge of damage, and then making it look lovely afterward. Still, you take the chance that they will not be able to do it, and you will wind up paying for Option 3 anyway.

3) Take it to a bodyshop and have it done right.

Lastly, make very sure that your headlight did not take a knock. The direction of damage leads right to your liht. It is entirely possible that the storage box hit your grill. When that happens on Trailblazers, you frequently see cracks on the backside of the headlight. Basically, you give a good strong shaking and see if there is any movement.

[messy]

Thanks for the replies. I think my first plan of action is going to be taking it to a detail shop an see if they can buff it out somehow. After looking at more closely, there are numerous scratches all around the white paint. I'll deal with that later.

Right now though, I just want to get the white paint off.

[MSD]

Don't use nail polish remover, it will bubble clearcoat.

If you can't get it out with polishing compound, my uncle taught me a little trick: spray a small amount of WD-40 on a rag and it will dissolve the rubbed-off paint, but not the clearcoat.