Lacquer removal from plastic spoiler

Honest John Back Room » Technical matters
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Mon 20 Sep 2004 22:00
Lacquer removal from plastic spoiler - r_welfare
Car in question is a '92 Audi 80 2.0E, fitted (from new as far as we can tell) with a Hella rear spoiler. This is painted and lacquered in the same colour as the car itself (a dark metallic green).

After 12 years and 120k miles, the lacquer is giving up the struggle and slowly detaching itself from the spoiler. Currently a largeish patch has "lifted" from the spoiler, looking for all the world like a blister, and can be chipped away to leave the metallic paint underneath.

Is there a simple way to remove all the lacquer in order to then spray on some new stuff? Would cutting compound (the gritty stuff you get in a yellow tube from Halfords, being more abrasive than T-Cut) do the job? I'd like to take advice from the assembled before I begin, and not ruin it...

Thanks
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Sun 26 Sep 2004 14:44
Lacquer removal from plastic spoiler - steveo30
unfortunatly you cannot make a good repair like that...you'd be best to rub it down with wet n dry and repaint (color and laq) the whole thing
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Sun 26 Sep 2004 14:55
Lacquer removal from plastic spoiler - dieselhead
Give it a rub down with a very fine cutting compound - if you rub too hard the metallic paint will shear and you will have to repaint with basecoat + laquer. Then give the area a few very thin coats of laquer. If you build up enough, you should be able to polish up the laquer to achieve a satisfactory repair.
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Sun 26 Sep 2004 17:27
Lacquer removal from plastic spoiler - martint123
If it's lifting in lumps like that you could try a high pressure jet wash - they're good at lifting paint when the adhesion starts to go.
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