How to remove sun-baked chewing gum from metallic paint?

al mackenzie · Post by **al mackenzie** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 8:57 pm

Okay, not strictly speaking a V8 issue, but maybe somebody on here has a good tip or two for me? On holiday in the sunny south of France at my girlfriend's parents place; her old man has a 17yr old BMW 730 (sadly not the rare V8 but the more common straight 6 version) in metallic silver, he took it to a car wash a month or so ago and some pesky kids had thrown their chewing gum into the rotating brushes. The stuff is all over the paintwork, and has dried really hard with the boiling hot sun down here. How do I get it off? There's an ulterior motive here, he's going to give us the car at the end of the summer (260,000km on it and quite a few parking dings to fix though), and I ain't driving it around looking like its been in an explosion at a Wrigleys factory...

ppyvabw · Post by **ppyvabw** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 9:12 pm

erm...just some kind of rubbing compound should do it. T-cut from a garage or suminc would do.

Alley Kat · Post by **Alley Kat** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 9:27 pm

I'd be tempted to try something like white spirit first, shouldn't harm the paint and might soften the gum. Or maybe WD40, although once that gets into paint, getting it shifted for touch-ups etc is a 'mare... Maybe if it can be loosened/softened a bit, it could be shifted with a soft plastic squeege type effort.

kiwicar · Post by **kiwicar** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 9:30 pm

you can get a "stain devil" to get the stuff out of clothing, might be worth a try (I think it is UDMH, dry cleaning fluid) I would do a paint test first somewhere it won't show. I know dichloromethamol will take it off and I'm pretty sure Trichloromethanol will do it, but both are pretty nasty (gloves fresh air and don't get it on your clothes) again paint test. Isoproponal is also a good bet. Could try nail polish remover but again paint test. Basically you want a methile ethanol solvent, trouble is they generally are bad for paint.
In Singapore they have the right idea about chewing gum, it is banned and you get a big fine for having it.
Mike

Ian Anderson · Post by **Ian Anderson** » Tue Jul 01, 2008 7:53 am

An ice cube held on the offending stuff

IT freezes the gum which becomes brittle and should be able to be peeled off.

Slow process.

Or how about a pressure washer?

Ian

Alley Kat · Post by **Alley Kat** » Tue Jul 01, 2008 8:54 am

That's a point, how about that freezing spray stuff. Paint test of course. Prob the place to look for gum cleaning ideas/magic chemicals is office cleaning supplies, or websites etc etc