Removing paint from bed-cap windows

Daedalus · #1 03-13-2010, 09:55 AM

The cap that came on my ranger has those plastic bubble type windows on it. The previous owner decided to spray paint them black for some reason. This is a real bitch when trying to back out of a parking space and I cant see if anyone is coming towards me. Some of the paint has chipped off and the plastic windows underneath are def suffering. They're pretty yellowed but i still have most of a bottle of PlastiX left from my headlights and I want to give it a shot before I resort to ripping them out and putting new plexiglass in. The dilemma is this: How do I remove what is left of the black spray paint without melting the window itself with solvents? Should I wet sand it? The guy in the paint section at wallyworld said this might work http://www.painters-toys.com/krud-ku...i-remover.html

Any ideas?

1996project_ranger · #2 03-13-2010, 10:15 AM

i would take ur cap off and take a high pressure washer and see ir it would take it off i wouldnt sand or use stripper on the window cause it will etch the window i hope i was a little help

Daedalus · #3 03-13-2010, 10:39 AM

The closest thing to a pressure washer I have access to is the quarter car wash. I've rinsed the salt off with those a few times but I cant recall it doing anything to remove the paint...

What about degreaser spray?

Edit: or a mr. clean magic eraser?

1996project_ranger · #4 03-13-2010, 11:01 AM

it looks like they painted it on the inside

1996project_ranger · #5 03-13-2010, 11:03 AM

but the quater car wash is turned down pressure so it will not hurt the cars paint if u get it to close i would look for a friend that has one u can go use of something

Daedalus · #6 03-13-2010, 11:07 AM

No, the paint is def on the outside.

Yeah, that's pretty much what i figured about the quarter car wash. I'm almost positive no one i know has a pressure washer but i'll ask around....

Daedalus · #7 03-13-2010, 12:33 PM

Just got back from the car wash with no results. I had better luck scraping it with my fingernail.

The plastic it's made out of is really flexible. See how it bubbles out in the pictures? The pressure of the car wash pseudo-powerwasher was enough to make it pop in so the bubble was on the inside of the cap and a concave surface on the outside. I was able to climb in the bed and push it back out easily. Any idea what they make these things out of? With how flexible it is I don't think its lexan or polycarbonate. If I can figure out what its made out of I might be able to find a stripper of some sort that's made for it....

blueovelboy · #8 03-19-2010, 07:26 AM

why not go to tap plastics and get new windows made? you should be able to remove those and install the other and dont get bubble type do the flat glass! makes looking throu them easy and do able . with the bubble you clean it and you still want be able to see thay distort every thing to much