How to Remove Paint Spots From Your Car

If you are painting around your car and little bits of paint manage to land on your car the first thing you should do is get a moist cloth or sponge and wipe the paint off of the car before it has a chance to dry.

If the paint spots are dry and have been there for a while do not worry, although it is much easier to remove paint while it is still wet, it is not very difficult to remove dry paint from your car.

The first thing you want to do is make sure the car is in a cool well ventilated area where there is no direct sunlight on it.

Next you should try to figure out if the paint spots are on your car are made of water based paint or enamel paint. If you are not sure what type of paint the paint spots are made of then assume they are water based paint spots.

With water based paint you want to take a wet cloth or towel and place it over the paint spots. Since water based paints dissolve in water, the wet cloth will soften the paint up making it much easier to remove from your car without doing any damage to the finish.

Let the wet cloth sit on the paint spots for a few hours. Check on the cloth periodically to see if it starts to dry out, if the cloth is drying out pour more water on it.

Once the paint has absorbed the water the paint spots will come off of the car with the simple wipe of a dry towel.

If the paint spots did not absorb the water at all then the paint is either enamel based or oil based. Fortunately removing oil based paint requires the same procedure as enamel based paint.

Again you will need a towel or a cloth and this time you will need paint thinner or mineral spirits. Take the towel and soak it in either the mineral spirits or paint thinner.

Now take the soaked towel and gently rub the outer edges of the paint spots working your way to the center in a circular motion.

Once the paint starts coming off wipe away any excess paint or drips with a clean dry cloth.