hey,
I joined up with you guys because after a while of looking at past posts, you guys look like you know your stuff. I have owned a camaro for about a year( 96 RS ) although it looked good, i wanted something a little bigger then a 3.8 so i bought my pratical dream car, a 99 SS just a few weeks ago. I love the car as soon as i turned it over. As a new SS owner i just have a few questions hopefully people can answer. Thanks ahead of time !

1.) I have chrome rims ( prob. dipped) but, before i bought the car, the previous owner spray painted them gray. I wanted to know of anyway to get the paint off without hurting the chrome under it?

2.) Is there something out there that would remover paint from an ext. plastic peice?

3.) Does anyone have any suggestions on how to remover vinyl stripes?

4.) What should i look out for owning an SS. like stuff i should or shouldn't do.

5.) Does anyone know of an on-line manual and owners manual i can download?

If anyone can answer all or any of these it would be much appreciated.

 

who in their right mind would spray paint chrome rims grey?? not only is that retarded but he could have sold the chrome ones, bought some grey ones and had money left....makes me wonder what other bonehead **** the guy did to the car...

 

A 50 year old man. He's not hurting for money, last year he had 9 high-end cars on the road. He said he just didn't like chrome on white. no other "bonehead ****" was done to it. it was a show car.

 

The only thing I have found to remove paint really well from anything is paint remover, however it can be really damaging to some surfaces, not sure how well the chrome would hold up. In answer to the stripe question, you have to be careful removing stripes if they have been on the car for any length of time as the paint might be slightly different underneath than the rest of the car which has faded. Your car is white though so you should probably be fine. How to take care of your SS? Ummm lots of Zaino and lastly you can find manual for sale on ebay or online for like $20.

Oh and welcome to the board

 

Question #1.
The wheels would probably be fine with some "Aircraft Remover," but I wouldn't bet on it. If it were me - I would pick some of it up, find some old chromed piece, and spray the stuff on it and let it sit then wipe it off to see what happens. You can get it at Wal-Mart in the automotive paints section - and it's in a blue and white can. It should be fine - but like I said - test it out first. And if you decide to go this route (which is exactly the way I would try if I were you), just use some thick rubber gloves. Spray the stuff on in moderate sunlight, and let sit for 15 minutes in the cool shade. The scrape off (a plastic blade works best). After that, wash and repeat as needed.

Question #2.
You can use some Acetone and it will take the paint right off (OF ANYTHING!) so be careful. It will not hurt bare plastic though - and its cheap.

Question #3.
The stripes...hmm...
I would probably just take it to a body shop and let them mess with it. Without a "tool" made especially for it, it could be a pain. About the only way to do it at home would be take a hair dryer, start heating, and take a razor, and start peeling. Body shops have heads for die grinders though made just for removing them - plus it would be their fix if they mess something up (as long as you take that up with them up front).

Question #4.
Stuff you should do - treat it like a baby and be thankful.
Stuff you shouldn't do - wreck it.

Question #5.
You can get a complete .pdf of the owners manual (what's in the glove box) here. And just in case you don't have Adobe Acrobat Reader - you can get it here. You can also download a parts manual here.

That's the best I can do for now - but I will try to help if that spurs any other questions.

Welcome to your new favorite website.

 

Sorry, I don't have any answers to your questions, I just wanted to say "Welcome!".

 

I wouldn't think the paint would stick well at all to chrome, unless it was sanded or scored somehow. Does the paint look like it was powder-coated, or professionally sprayed/baked, OR just done in the driveway? You mentioned this guy was a collector of sorts, so I imagine he had the wheels done correctly. Which to me means you aren't going to find a nice shiney chrome finish underneath. In other words, you will probably have to send them out to be stripped and re-chromed.

On the stripes, if vinyl, a decal remover like 3M makes would probably be a good start. I would think they would just peel back for the most part once you get it started. I'm personally wouldn't trust myself with a razor around a car's finish; windshields only for me.

 

First off, welcome to the board!

paint on chrome? unheard of around here, can't believe that..I don't know how easy that will come off or even what products to use...good luck