Stripping paint from plated parts

[MrBuick]

Sorry if this has been covered, I searched but didn't find;

Is there a way I can strip paint from plated parts without stripping the plating itself? I've got some wheels that I painted part of them flat black before realizing that they should actually have been left plated and just had a good wash applied...I want to remove the black without removing the plating. The paint is Testor's Enamel. Will brake fluid work, or something else, or do I just need to accept my mistake and live with it?

[Snake45]

I have a friend who is able to do this with rubbing alcohol and a Q-tip, but I can't say I've had great success with that method myself.

I'm pretty sure brake fluid will be too strong. I KNOW the lye-based strippers (Easy Off, etc) will be.

[MrBuick]

 

I have a friend who is able to do this with rubbing alcohol and a Q-tip, but I can't say I've had great success with that method myself.

I'm pretty sure brake fluid will be too strong. I KNOW the lye-based strippers (Easy Off, etc) will be.

That's kind of what I was afraid of...I'll probably just deal with the inaccuracy...it doesn't look bad, it's just not "right," but that being said, the molding of the wheels isn't 100% accurate anyway. Thanks for the input Snake!

[StevenGuthmiller]

What kind of wheels are they?

You might want to just post in the wanted section & replace them.

I'm pretty sure most of the strippers that would be effective on the paint will also remove the plating.

 

Steve

[Harry Joy]

What brand or type of paint did you use?

[Jhedir6]

What brand or type of paint did you use?

Testors enamel, its in his original post. TBH I highly doubt you'll be able to remove the enamel without damaging or removing the chrome plating. As stated above, you could ask in the Wanted section for another set, post  a pic or kit manufacturer and number and part number too, as a lot of kits have more than 1 set of wheels in them. Or, you can just strip the wheels down to bare plastic, paint them black then paint them with Alcad or similar chrome paint. Post a pic of the wheels, but I've had zero luck in removing paint from a chromed wheel and not wrecking the chrome after the paint has cured up. You can do it if the paints relatively fresh but once its fully cured.....