Would You Believe ??

Tony Falotico

Member
Messages
519
Location
Lake City, Florida
I still don't believe...... I'm coming home for lunch today, minding my own business in the right lane of a four lane divided highway. A young lady in a huge SUV (on the cell phone) passes me on the left. As she gets by me, she runs over a can of silver spray paint laying in the road. As the can passes under her rear tire, it splits at the seam right along the bottom, then pops from under the tire about six feet off the ground. The pressure coming out of the split puts the can into a spin (much like helicopter blades), as it passes over my truck spewing silver enamel paint all over my truck. What a mess !!!

Any suggestions ? I'm really sick over this..... the pics don't show how bad it really is ....... Its on the front end, hood, front fender, windshield, top, door and bedside. Oh, I forgot the wheels and tires also!

(No offense meant to the young lady, it wasn't her fault and I'm not sure she even realized it happened)
 

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Tony, sorry about your luck.

Whenever we would spray paint one of our classic cars or vintage tractors we would inevitably get some overspray for different reasons...touch ups, etc.....kinda the same thing that can of paint did to your truck.

Since the paint on our cars or tractors would be dried and cured we would simply wipe with a damp cloth of laquer thinner in the area of overspray and the mess would be gone.

If you have any reservations about trying this, just dab a bit in a small incospicous (sp) place and see if that works....then do the rest of the area.

Hope that helps you.
 
This is the kind of event that insurance was intended to help with. It's a "no-fault" and probably shouldn't reflect negatively on your premium rate.

That's my $0.02 CDN
 
I think this would be covered under the comprehensive coverage of your policy. It might not have the same high deductible as the other coverages have. Just an idea. Hope it helps.
 
That would be a lot of finger nail polish remover.............. does it come in the gallon jug :D

Tony, that just sucks.

Were you on the way to or from work? Maybe your work has insurance that would cover it?

How about your home owner's insurance..........?

You just never know, what is covered in it, if the truck was sitting in your yard and this happened somehow, would your home insurance cover it?

Some home insurance policies have "to and from work" coverage in them...?

Just throwing out idea......:huh:

I'd go to a body shop or two and see what they suggest, if the truck has a good coat of wax on it, the paint should just come off fairly easy, or if the truck was dirty................... see, another reason NOT to wash your truck :thumb:

Good luck!
 
That would be a lot of finger nail polish remover.............. does it come in the gallon jug :D ...
Yeppers, acetone by the gallon can be found at the Borg. (Or if not gallons, quarts.)

I'd follow Steve Ash's advice with some type of solvent and a gentle touch, after test in an inconspicuous place.
 
Thanks all, I tried a little mineral spirits and with a LOT of elbow grease was able to remove a little of it......... Tried a pressure spray, didn't work at all. I'm going to try lacquer thinner to see if it works easier, if not maybe acetone (acetone worries me, it's pretty strong). Problem is it will be Saturday before I'm able to devote the time to it, and the longer it sits the harder it will be to remove.

Any suggestions for the plastic air dam, or around the rear view mirrors?
 
Tony, a product I use on Vinyl siding to remove spots of different origins is called "Goof Off" I'm pretty sure you can buy it at Wal-Mart types of places, probably at the Borgs too.
 
Acetone will take it off without much scrubbing. Pick up some chem gloves too. Acetone will eat through vinyl & neoprene pretty quickly. The goof-off also works well. Probably won't take as long as you think!
 
The lacquer thinner as Steve suggested seems to be working well..... spray paint is coming off with minimal effort. I am getting a dark gummy residue on my cloth (I'm using a terry cloth towel) once a portion of the cloth gets gummed up I have to go to a clean section of cloth. Not sure if it's the spray paint or seven years of built up grime. I'll try a different cloth, maybe a cotton rag (old T Shirt) will work better. After cleaning a small section, I'm wiping it down with Turtle Wax Polishing Compound that's bringing the shine back. Does not appear to be scratching the clear coat. It was getting dark when I got home, so it's hard to see, I got the front fender completed and will look at it in the light tomorrow.

If nothing else, I'm encouraged that I will be able to get it cleaned up. I'm thinking I'll get it cleaned and polished by hand, then getting a buffer and putting a good waxing on it, maybe two coats.
 
I owe you one Steve. :thumb:

No ya don't....friends helping friends....happy to help when I can.

Besides Vaughn pays me real well to help out around here.

A couple of the mods are getting new trucks, tod is getting a new tranny, and I'm putting in a request for NOS on the old Chevelle SS.:D
 
Steve, if you look at the center pic in the background, you'll see my old truck -- '83 GMC last of the wood bed true step sides. It had an inline six, I bought it with 180,000 miles on it and about 4 yrs ago put a 305 in it. The 305 was a rebuild put in a van that was totaled after 16,000 miles. Couldn't pass it up for the price (as the lady yelled 'get it out my yard, I'm sick of looking at it!') I put an Edelbrock Performer Plus Cam, High Rise Aluminum Intake Manifold, Edelbrock 600 CFM 4 Barrel Carb, Edelbrock Fuel Pump, MSD Ignition System, MSD Pro Billet Distributor, MSD Plug Wires, and B&M Transmission Shift Kit.

It has a 700R4 four speed that was rebuilt just before I bought it by one of the less reputable transmission jockeys in town, I was never able to get it adjusted out right with the new engine. He plugged the 2nd gear damper so it slams second gear pretty hard. When I pull the throttle cable to soften the blow, it doesn't hit fourth gear right. Got tired of fooling with it, we needed a roadworthy vehicle so I bought the F150. Anyway, the trucks been idle for a year, thinking of selling it, unable to get my money out of it, not really pushing it,....... I just discovered that a squirrel made a home in the engine compartment and chewed out most of my wiring. So now it won't run until I re-wire it.

I have a line on a late 70's Nova with body damage and rust (not worth restoring) but with a 350 engine and 350 3 speed automatic that is mine for the taking (every time I see the guy he asks when I'm coming to get it). He says the engine was running fine and the tranny was good when it was parked many many years ago. I'm thinking of pulling the engine and tranny, stripping it to bare block, taking the speed parts from the 305 and rebuilding it. The only thing holding me back is it's one of DOZENS of projects I would like to do but just don't have the time.
 
Tony, being the guy I am, I'd be grabbing up that old Nova and finding the time if not now, later on to make the swap. Gm's are so easy to swap out and so much is compatible with each other.
I had a 84 3/4 ton Chevy that had 280,000 miles on it when I traded it in...a plumber bought it and he ran it another couple of years.


Like a Rock. :thumb:
 
If I can get my son to help (his father in law has the car), I figure we can have it home (it's only a few miles away) and snatch the engine & tranny out in a weekend. Deal is I have to take the whole car, not just parts. LOML has limited tolerance for old cars in the yard, so I'd have to have the remainder out of here in a week or two at most. Once I have the engine on a stand, I can take my time, let it sit and work on it when I want.

I had originally planned on giving the truck to my grandson for his 18th birthday .... that gives me 10 years to finish it!! :D :D

I need to quit thinking about it, get off my butt and DO IT !!
 
after lots of hours outside today (it was cold out there) I'm happy to report that I got the majority of the splattered paint off my truck. The only places I did not get is the rubber seal around the windshield, the egg crate front grill, and the plastic filler on top of the chrome bumper. The air dam (just below the chrome bumper) cleaned nicely, but for some reason the piece just above didn't. I have it washed down, but didn't get a coat of wax on it yet. I'll talk with my detail guy and see if he can do it this week.

Thanks for all the suggestions ........ Tony
 
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