Paint stripping plastic?

[Moa]

I'm in the process of rebuilding an NSR250. The plastic bodywork is going to get a nice new paintjob. I would have just sanded/scuffed the old paint and gone over the top. However, it's been re-painted before (badly), and the top layer of paint is chipping off. I'd really appreciate some advice on the subject from the more knowledgeable folk out there, cheers.

 

[BIG E]

I saw on muscle car (tv show on spike (powerblocktv.com)) that you can use brake fluid to remove paint from plastic. Anybody else try it?

 

[Big R]

From my understanding, there actually is a paint stripper made specifically for plastic parts. I've never used it myself, so I can't say who sells it though.

 

[Kanticoy]

There is, aircraft makes it, I've used it, and it works great.

 

[Kanticoy]

Re: Re: Paint stripping plastic?

I saw on muscle car (tv show on spike (powerblocktv.com)) that you can use brake fluid to remove paint from plastic. Anybody else try it?

And don't do that, the plastic is porous, and it will absorb the brake fluid and you'll never be able to paint it again. Tanks are abs.

 

[Moa]

Thanks for the help. I'll try find some of that aircraft paint stripper, or a locally available equivalent.

 

[Five Miles Out]

From my experience, not a good idea. I though it would be ok to paint the side covers of my cx500. It made the plastic literally turn to muck. It ate away at the pain and the plastic, and when I tried to scrub the paint off, the plastic came with it. I used Australian brand DIGGERS stripper, which is a much weaker stripper than most US ones, as we have a much lower selection.

 

[Moa]

I'm in NZ and can get the diggers paint stripper. I've used it a few times actually for general stripping from metal. Given that the paint is on quite thick, I may be able to strip away the chipping top coat without damaging the plastic.

What about soda blasting? Is this gentle enough to be used on plastic, and tough enough to strip away thick paint? There's very little info on this method, so I'm not sure if it hasn't been tried or just doesn't work. Just putting the question out there.