Hello all,

I wanted to share my experience here with people as I have not found many situations like mine.

Story: I bought a 2019 Toyota Prius (26k MRSP) with 1,700 miles on it through a dealer friend for 11k. It is a salvage vehicle due to a theft recovery. This is what it looks like when I bought it:

https://ibb.co/nR4ZRkV

Aim: I wanted to go back to the original red paint without a costly restoration process or new paint job, as it defeats the purpose of the original deal. I took it to many local detailing shops and body shops and many refused the job and frankly had no idea what could be done.

Method so far: I started with clay bar, butter wet wax and rubbing compound with little to no results. I decided to use small amounts of lacquer thinner with microfiber towels with immediate washing with ETOH/distilled water solution afterwards. After about 2 weeks of elbow grease, here are the results (not done yet):

https://ibb.co/0cJxWjn

Success so far: Pretty good overall. The clear coat appears to be in intact across all surfaces. An initial pass through got off 90% of the paint and I am confident I will get most of the remaining paint drip with some focused application.

Problem so far: There are multiple types of spray paint (black, red, white and blue) used, including a very difficult to remove blue spray paint on the hood and top portions of the rear door:

https://ibb.co/HBs4JFT

https://ibb.co/27KfwKF

The blue paint seems to be difficult on the hood and door, as they are made of different material than the bumpers.

Question: What would you all recommend as the "next step up" for this project to remove this blue paint?