Removing Gold Leaf

[Firefighter84]

Hi All,
I was asked by my fire department to remove the numbers off a 1995 E-One Fire engine because we are renumbering a few of the engines.. I may have more to do depending on how this goes. The number is gold leaf with a black single stage paint around it. I currently do not know if the red on the truck is single or clear coat. Any suggestions on how to get started? Rubbing compound, or wet sanding? I have a flex 3401, griot's 6" and 3" and wolfgang polishes at my fingetips.

Below are pics and I want to remove the "1".

[axel06]

3m pinstripe eraser wheel. im sure others will chime in.. or you might have to wet sand starting at 800

[Firefighter84]

Thanks for the reply. From doing some searching I am going to start with some paint thinner to try and remove the black painted shadow around the "1". I also bought the 3M eraser wheel to tackle the gold leaf if the thinner does nothing to it. I'll post my results.

[GSKR]

I would avoid the eraser wheel,one little mistake like overheating in one spot you will have a promblem.first thing I would do is to see if it's single stage or base coat and clear.The older trucks were ss,the newer trucks are base coat and clear.Take a micro sponge with some polish on it and see if there is transfer on your sponge if so its single stage.Dont sand with 800 if you don't know what paint system is used.The black single stage paint around the number is not a promblem to remove.your situation would have to see what paint system is on there before any good advice is given.find out then report back if you can.

[GSKR]

If you don't have time to do all that ,the safer method would be heat gun plastic scraper and patience to peel off the gold leaf.Ive seen seasoned autobody techs ruin a paint job with that eraser wheel.good luck in whatever you choose to remove.

[Firefighter84]

I worked on the truck last night and was able to remove the gold leaf and black paint. I started with paint thinner on a microfiber cloth. This worked great for the black paint surrounding the gold leaf and did work a little bit on the gold leaf. The paint thinner after working it for a little while did start to soften up the red paint underneath so I stopped at that point. The eraser wheel did remove the top layer of gold leaf but that was about all it was good for, because whatever was layered underneath it was untouched by it. I was able to remove the number one but I will be going back today to polish that area up. I'll take pictures before and after so you can see what results I'm getting.

[Firefighter84]

Here is some pictures of what I was left with after using the eraser wheel and paint thinner:



I than used a clay bar on the door before polishing and this was just after 1 door:



I used my Flex with a Yellow CCS pad and WG Uber Compound followed by a white CCS pad and WG Swirl Remover. I followed that with WG DGPS for protection:


Single Stage Paint




Final Thoughts:

The lacquer thinner worked very well for removing the black paint around the gold leaf, but did soften the paint when being worked.I also found out using your fingernail to try an remove the stubborn spots was a bad idea because with the paint soft, I put some deep scratches in the paint. The members were thrilled on how it came out and don't notice them, but I know they are there.I don't think I would use the eraser wheel again for this application. The next time I do this, I'm thinking to use the lacquer thinner to remove the black paint during 1 session, and coming back another day and possibly either trying tar X, or wet sanding the gold leaf off.Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[Sizzle Chest]

Looks very good! Nice job!

[freethebadger]

well done sir!