Removing enamel painted on top of the original paint. Any tips?

[sjcprojects]

The previous owner of a bike I just picked up has filled in the lug cut-outs with enamel and I’d like to remove it if possible, but obviously I’m wary of damaging the original paint underneath. I guess I would try acetone first of all, but does anyone have experience trying this?

Any tips greatly received.

 

[Canuk]

You could try acetone, but it will probably damage the paint underneath also. It's strong stuff. I would try and sand down the offending green and then find a reasonable colour match for the original and touch it in. Nail varnish is my go to for small areas of restoration like this - it's available in thousand of colours and usually quite good quality, and it's generally cheap. A lick of clear on top and it'll be good as new.

 

[LondonClassic]

I would try a demel with a copper brush and go slow and steady. You will probably still have to live with either a trace of enamel of some minor chewing of the paint below. I suppose if you got lucky there would be a nice thick layer of laquer between the enamel and base coat - which would mean you could totally remove the enamel and re-coat with laquer as needed.

 

[Guinessisgoodforyou]

I've had some success with White spirit and cotton buds, slow but removed all the incorrectly gold lined lugs

 

[sjcprojects]

Thanks both - I guess slow and steady is the key. I'll try some white spirit or acetone first and see if that softens it all. I'm not sure I have a small enough attachment to get into the cut-outs well enough, but I'll take a look if I run out of patience...

Green and purple is not a particularly winning combination in my eyes, but obviously someone thought it was

 

[Jonny69]

It might not be enamel, it might well be cellulose. Try cellulose thinners first as acetone might attack the original paint. Cotton bud is good for getting into the corners

 

[Corduroyboy]

That looks like something a child did with their paint-by-numbers set. Blindfolded. Have you tried washing it?

 

[Tobias Rodriguez]

I’ve had success using No Nonsense paint stripper from Screwfix. It’s quite weak. Dab it on sparingly and wipe it off when you see signs of the paint breaking down. Don’t let it sit for too long. Several applications like this have worked for me. Then sometimes a wipe over with white spirit when a few stubborn areas are left can help.

As always, proceed with caution!

 

[sjcprojects]

Thanks all. I've had a go with some isopropyl alcohol on a cotton bud, alternating with a bit of light scraping away the softened paint with a very small flathead screwdriver. It's worked well on some areas so far:



Here's the full glory of the headtube:



Hopefully removing the green paint from the dark purple areas will be a bit easier compared with the white ones. There are also some areas of badly matched touch-up paint which is coming off easily enough with just cotton buds and a wipe with a cloth afterwards. It doesn't seem to be damaging the paint underneath as long as it gets wiped off straight away.

Arguably this isn't even the oddest thing that's been done to this bike, as will be revealed when I do a build thread at some point.

 

[Canuk]

It's a pretty hideous colour combo to be fair!