lexuslover

just wondering if nail polish remover is bad for the paint. standard nail polish remover is just weak acetone, and i think it's ok to use to remove paint scratches from other cars?

reason i ask is because i have been using small doses to clean off paint from other cars off my bumper - works like a charm, super quick, but now wondering if it will have bad effects later on. of course i wax the area i used it on afterwards. and no, none of my car's paint comes off during the process. btw, works great with autovisual paint pen touchups, to smooth out the area you are touching up.

any long lasting effects later on that you know of? if so, i better stop doing it

Guitarman

It's pretty potent stuff, contains ketones and *may* damage the resin system in some clearcoats. I've known people to use it and have no problem, at least not immediately. Sometimes harsh chemicals take quite a while to do damage.

Solvents like acetone and lacquer thinner have been know to cause "checking", which are tiny cracks in the paint. It makes the paint very brittle, by damaging the plasticizers in the resins.

Doesn't always happen, probably because of amount used, duration of time on the car, and the brand of oem paint.

I would rather see you use clay , mineral spirits, or polishes, just to be safer. But you're probably going to be fine., don't sweat it too much.