Removing paint from Door Panels

[TomoHawk]

I would like to remove what looks like several coats of vinyl paint from some door panels, so they can be repainted with a single layer of paint.

Has anyone discovered a good way to remove the paint without harming the texture of the substrate?

[240260280z]

Some experiments here: Removing Paint from Vinyl - F150online Forums

[TomoHawk]

I think I have some of those liquids. I tried a little brake cleaner, and all I got was very clean paint

[gogriz91]

I used aircraft stripper, down to metal in no time but read the directions carefully

[TomoHawk]

"aircraft stripper" would significantly and permanently damage the vinyl.

[240260280z]

clarification: Tomo means inner vinyl door panels

[hr369]

I've used automotive enamel paint reducer before and its not harmed vinyl. If the paint was really hard

i'de use cheap lacquer thinner. The spray gun wash stuff they sell at home improvement stores.

One thing i did note is lacquer thinner really dries out rubber weatherstripping. So don't use it on any rubber.

[TomoHawk]

I used the paint reducer, and it worked fairly well. It got most of the paint off, to the point where I could see the texture of everything. I didn't get all the paint off because the odor from the reducer was almost over-coming. I would not want to do this to the entire interior of the car!

After I repainted the panel, the texture was very noticeable and this time, and none of the little dandelion 'parachutes' got stuck to the paint. I only need to replace the plastic moisture layer and re-install the panel.

I did mask off the wood-grained strip, so the previously chromed parts only need refinishing.