But the larger part of the paint takes longer to dry, so work from the outside in. If quite a lot of paint spilled and splattered, it is tempting to tackle the largest part first. If paint is spilled on carpets it can often run under leaving pools of spilled paint which need to be extracted and cleaned, meaning we often need to dismantle some of the car's interior. Make things easy on yourself, keep it from drying. One of the benefits of water based paints is that they are quick drying, especially in warm weather, the edges can begin to dry out before you have had a chance to collect together cloths, paper towels, scrubbing brushes and a bucket of hot water. Cover the area with damp towels, even if it's just a little bit. How to remove water based paint from a car.Īs previously stated, it is important to keep the paint from drying.

However, on balance, it is better to keep it wet and spread it around than let it dry.

If you have a small spillage on a boot carpet or floor mat that you can remove from the vehicle, then by all means take it out and flush it through with water. Some of the hardest cars we have had to clean up are the ones we have got after somebody else has already tried to clean it an made it worse. So aside from not letting the paint dry, which is definitely the worst thing you can do, it is very important to not spread the paint around. The smaller the area of clean-up, the easier, quicker and cheaper the clean-up will be, this goes without saying. We see tins which have tipped over and spilled a cup or two of paint on the boot carpet, to cars which have had to brake hard, sending the paint flying and tins exploding, with paint splattering most of the interior. From kids finger paints, to creosote-like fence paint. Over the years, we have seen all kinds of paint spillages in cars. It sounds obvious, but we have seen it done! That paint needs to be removed, diluting it won't help, it just spreads it around, and a pressure washer will cause it to splatter everywhere. Also don't dilute it with gallons of water. Spilled paint in car interiors is a problem we see all the time, but we are well equipped to fix it up with our Interior Accident Clean Service What not to do!ĭO NOT put a hosepipe in your car and definitely do not use a pressure washer inside the car.

How to get paint off my car