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This is probably off topic, but I need a way to remove shoe polish from car paint and rubber. My wife's Impreza got shoe polished at our wedding, and it ran down and got on the paint and black rubber. Needless to say, it's putting up quite a right. I was able to get it off the windows, but not the paint.

 

If anybody has any tips they are greatly appreciated. I've tried soaking it in 409/simple green, but I think I need something stronger.

 

Thanks,

 

Tyson

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Guest Legacy777

hmm.....I don't know of any cleaner, what you're going to most likely have to do is get a clear coat polishing compound or something like that, It's white shoe polish right?

 

I think I'd smack someone silly if they did that to my car....wedding or no wedding

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What exactly is clear coat polishing compound? I'm not very adept at waxing cars; that's why I've been hesitant to try something like that. It would be okay if the car wasn't hunter green...shows up very badly. They got my (white) MX-6 too, but it doesn't show up nearly as much except on the rubber.

 

Tyson

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Guest Legacy777

Well here's a quick break down of polishes, cleaners

 

The most gritty stuff is a rubbing compound, No.7 makes a good one, 3m also has some good stuff. What the fine gritty particles do is remove scratches swirls etc from the paint and such.

 

A polish is a finer grit, for less badly oxidized paint and such.

 

And a clear coat polishing compound is even finer grit.

 

The main thing here is that if you had a car that was pretty oxidized you would use rubbing compound to cut the heavy oxidation...then go to polishin compound and so on...the progression of finer grit is what makes the difference. Like using sandpaper. I built my speaker box, and used plexi glass, I polished the edges to a mirror shine, used sand paper, went finer and finer, then to like a 600 or 1000 wet, then to a rubbing compound, polishing, and so on....till it was baby butt smooth. Toothpaste is also like this, very fine grains.

 

How good is the paint on your car? has it been taken care of very well. If you use a clear coat polishing compound on just that area and the rest of the car is slightly oxidized that area will look better then the rest of the car. Ultimately then you should do the whole care then re wax it. As the polishers usually strip the wax, even though they leave a smooth surface.

 

You may want to see if you can pick up Wax shop's cleaner or polisher....don't remember the exact name, it's in a white bottle, very good ****.

 

Take a look at some of the pics of my car on my page, and you can see the shine on it. You can't tell that car is 11 years old with the original paint job from the paint's shine.

 

Shoot me an email if you have any questions about polishes or cleaners.....

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Guest VDCHawk

Polishing compounds should work, you may want to try bug/tar remover. Don't go with the heavier oxidation removers, just find a good polish. Hate to repeat myself but, try pinnacle paintwork cleansing lotion, it and many other products are available at www.properautocare.com click on the POLISH tab on the left. I had a very bad experience with Eagle One scratch remover, it caused more scratches in the clearcoat, the Pinnacle product polished these scratches away. Good Luck

 

Edit: Call them, it's an 800 number and they will most likely know what to use.

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Guest bajavwnsoobnut

might also try a wax stripper and then rewax the car cause shoe polish is basicaly carnuba wax in which car wax is made out of too

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Guest remarcable

It will take care of your shoe polish problem for sure.

 

However, unless your vehicle is specially shielded with secret government alloy materials then the electro-magnetic pulse from the detonation of a nuclear warhead will render your car inoperable. If you do not wish to go the full warhead route, and just wish to try using plutonium as a buffing compound, then I would suggest investing in a class 5 robot to assist you. This would be a wise investment as if you are close enough to see any amount of unshielded weapons-grade plutonium you will be dead in a number of hours.

 

You may also want to invest in a loaner car as yours will most likely be declared a localized disaster area by United States hazmat team and quarantined for the next few thousand years.

 

If you are still interested, you know where to find me.

 

PS- I generally recomend you use a motorized buffing machine as it can do a much better job than you can by hand. Be careful not to leave it on any one spot too long or it can burn away the paint.

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I'm afraid it doesn't have any special alloying elements, just a plain ole low-carbon steel used for car bodies.

 

One of the more serious replies inquired about the condition of the paint. The car is 5.5 yrs old but the paint is in as-new condition, still looks great when clean. That's why I'm hesitant to do anything drastic.

 

Thanks for all the replies. I'm gonna try some of them this weekend when I have more time to do car stuff.

 

Tyson

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Guest bajavwnsoobnut

well as I said try wax stripper cause it is better for the car to get rid of the wax cause too many layers of that stuff will do damage to the paint

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Guest Crashton

Just a thought. Try calling your local auto detailer. I bet they've dealt with this before & have a solution.

 

Good luck

 

Chuck

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Well I decided to try the hot iron first; it seemed to be the safest. It worked flawlessly....just was hot. It did strip off the wax for sure and left the paint looking dull. I was able to wax it and make it look a lot better though. Looks new again!

 

Thanks for all the help.

 

Tyson

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