Paint stripping with brake fluid questions..

[tubachris85x]

I've been told that using brake fluid will really work in stripping paint off of fiberglass and the like..However, I need to know whether or not I can use it on cold cast fiberglass without it eating away at the cold cast appearence. I have a Jango CC helmet I am painting, and I fear that it could somehow affect the silver/primary appearence of the coldcast. Thanks!

-Chris

 

[terryr]

I'd rather use oven cleaner than that. Brake fluid is nasty stuff, and I hate the feel of it.
Spray it with oven cleaner, put it in a plastic bag, and wait several hours. Or test it on a patch if you're worried.

 

[Trilogy]

Brake fluid will strip the paint, but it'll make a awful mess doing so. You also need to be very careful with it.
I'd personally find an alternative method.

 

[CatfoodRob]

Modern brake fluid doesnt strip paint that well, the formulas have changed over the years. Synthetic BFluid wont strip paint at all.
As people have said above, its not a good choice. Auto paint stripper for fiberglass IS available, its just not as strong as the regular stuff.
Personally I think you would be better flatting the existing paint off with fine rubbing down paper.

 

[tubachris85x]

Modern brake fluid doesnt strip paint that well, the formulas have changed over the years. Synthetic BFluid wont strip paint at all.
As people have said above, its not a good choice. Auto paint stripper for fiberglass IS available, its just not as strong as the regular stuff.
Personally I think you would be better flatting the existing paint off with fine rubbing down paper.

I would usually just use sand paper, but the way the helmet is shaped and the paint that is on there, makes it incredibly difficult and I run the risk of softening the details

 

[exoray]

Castrol Superclean...

It's in the automotive section of Walmart...

Soak the part in this stuff for a few hours or overnight and the paint should fall off pretty easy... Then it's a good idea to soak the part in fresh clean water afterwords to make sure all the stuff is gone... You might notice some slight softening of the surface resins, so keep an eye on how long you soak it, but from my experience the softening disappears after soaking it in the clean water and letting air out for a little bit returning it back to it's normal hardness...

 

[blubeetle3]

You're not thinking of brake CLEANER, as opposed to brake fluid, are you?

Brake cleaner will definitely strip paint. Matter of fact, we use it all the time to strip overspray off of rods and trunions.

 

[Too Much Garlic]

You're not thinking of brake CLEANER, as opposed to brake fluid, are you?

Brake cleaner will definitely strip paint. Matter of fact, we use it all the time to strip overspray off of rods and trunions.

It will also quite seriously damage the resin, so NO, do NOT mistake brake cleaner for brake fluid! :confused

 

[Clutch]

That super clean stuff made the paint fall off my Bowen Death Dealer. I was amazed.

And no damage to the resin. All resins are different. I've used Clean Strip in a can with success until I tried to strip a Marylin Manson bust and it desolved it.

 

[Too Much Garlic]

I've used Clean Strip in a can with success until I tried to strip a Marylin Manson bust and it desolved it.

The rare and expensive one? Man... that's a bleeding shame. :eek