hi, i need help with ways to remove plumbers silicone from my paint surface.
the previous owner thought it would be a good idea to glue the taillights in place with silicone and around the windows where they leaked.
now i have to try to get it off for paint without it getting into the rest of the paint surface...... any ideas?
also what is used to remove that wonderful black sticky windscreen sealant? i hate it any help would be great.
L&K
Silicone can be a bugger, best thing is a thumbnail and LOTS of patience.
Mastic you can scrape the bulk of it off with a rag, stick or whatever and a bit of prepsol to get the last bits off.
I started with nothing and still have most of it left.
Foundation member #61 of FB/EK Holden club of W.A.
i am sure i saw some silicone remover the other day too, might have been repco or american auto's
the black windcreen sealant should come of with solvent like prepsol, white spirit, kero, that shouldnt hurt the paint unless its only a few hours old.
Silicone sealant....... another little GEM I have been waiting to get an "airing" on this forum ...........
I have my own opinion about silicone in cars..... and will now offer this opinion as I have learned through MY experience.......
Great for bathrooms and spouting......... cars - not on your Nelly! - never again!
I used it on mine for some years - just about rid of it all now...... but every now and then on a new project I find more........ I know it was me who put it there - GMH didn't use it and the old chap who purchased my old bus new before me rarely drove it out of the garage let alone do anything but wash and polish it ...........and pay the rego 11 times.........
Dow Corning made all the stuff I used - it was a wonder sealant back in the '70's - most of us went nuts with it until it's dark side started to appear... I relate this pestilence as the equivalent asbestos carcinogenic in humans ....... but in a vehicle perspective....
Most of what we were sold was acetic, and by this nature some of it will "etch" into what it is applied to.
A plumber once gave me some industrial stuff which was non-acetic...... and yes, again I thought I'd found the cure (no pun intended) to overcome the etching issue....... alas - more rust in years to come.....
Silicone will "seal" paintwork - at least the acrylic system.
Many paints need to "breath"...... acrylic will continue to do this for years after being sprayed....... and as such, a sealing with silicone prevents this from happening..... any humidity trapped will most likely cause the substrate (metal base) to commence rusting.......or at best, any thinners (solvents) still within the paint to migrate within the layers.
I have no experience in 2K nor cellulose systems - but have had many bad experiences with silicone over acrylic.
I do not believe enamel suffers as acutely - but enamel hardens in the opposite dimention to acrylic.
Unfortuantely most of this stuff (slicone) is RTV - room temperature vulcanising..... and because of this - it pretty well cures right through in a relatively short period without maintaining a softer base where it was applied........ and the blasted stuff doesn't rot.......so it's going to stay pliable which will not allow it to be chipped off...... this is where you're at - like the rest of us.......?
I can only tell you what I have done - and that is basically as those above have posted - scrape, grind, cut, slice or cajole away to your heart's content until you get close enough to apply some very smooth surfaced edge to break the adhesion....... I was told many years ago that Methylated Spirit was a natural solvent for it...... but in all my attempts to remove it with meths - I always went back to the painstaking method of scraping......
My last attempt to exorcise this stuff from my vehicle - I honed up the edge of a thin (1 mm thick by approx 10 mm wide) strip of stainless and then smoothed the "cutting" edge down with some 1200 wet and dry - to the point (no pun intended) that I had fabricated a "chiseled" edge - but not sharp. I also rounded off the corners so that they would not "dig into" any surrounding area which became "proud".
I found I was able to keep the work area lubricated with some velvet soap (just slightly wetted enough to make a paste) - be very, very careful using household product on anything automotive - they usually contain salt and other damaging chemicals which will severely attack many surfaces on our vehicles.........
-back to the novel...... you'll have to forgive me - I haven't exercised these fingers on the forum for some time........
I found that this practice did not scratch my acrylic paintwork but.....
even after rinsing and drying off what I believed to have been a silicone free surface - a very thin film which made the initial adhesion remained - back of finger nail and a very quick rub with a soft cloth dampened (not wet) with turps removed the last of it - DO NOT leave or rub turps into your paint any more than for a nano second (OR LESS!) and wash it immediately with fresh water (even better - Meguiar's Quick Detailer) - you'll destroy the finish of your acrylic paint...... at any time you get color on rags or cloths - that's your paint ........... make sense?
I have, at times - also found Shellite to be quite effective in removing gums and other "nuisance" substances which our paintwork seems to attract..... but please - do not take this as a safe practice....... it works for me on my brand of acrylic - it may not for yours.........
One word of warning..... whatever chemical you use - be very mindful of how your paint/alloy/substrate is going to be affected........ don't nuke the planet to get rid of the foliage....... think we all know where that was done........
I have had some degree of success removing some areas with Meguiar's Quick Clay - but this is only to remove the last remnants of the blasted stuff - and of course I should also warn you - try to cover any surrounding crevices whilst you are working at removing this stuff.......... it will not degenerate in time and is a wonderful medium for blocking as many drainage apertures it can conceal itself into ...... it's also a blasted (no pun intended) nuisance for coming out when you are spay painting - little microscopic balls and flakes of the blasted stuff will continue to appear from every nook an cranny for years - regardless of how many times you wash, blow oot or drive your car around.............
Quick Clay is a great vessel for removing embedded and bonded contaminants - but to subject it to silicone and continue to use it until it is worn out surely must subject your paintwork to the entrapped silicone within........ not worth the risk of denigrating that great product, I feel.....
Guess that says enough about how I detest the use of silicone sealants on vehicles........
Hope some of this helps, Luke ....... SILICONE sealant -aarrrrghhhhhhhh!
thanks rosco, that helped heaps. you are a very informative fellow aren't you? i must admit i had to go get a coffee half way through ( not because of boredom, i needed the caffine so i could consentrate and get my brain working to remember all the info). when are you going to write a book on all this stuff?
you'd make a fortune just selling to us classic car nuts and hot rodders.
thanks again for the help,
Luke
black sticky windscreen sealant? i hate it 
any help would be great.
have you been to the beach lately its the best stuff they ever came out with but for in cars (mine) not on them
i must admit i had to go get a coffee half way through