I get a lot of shifter knobs where the boot leather is in good condition but the silver paint has worn away. I decided to take one and see if I could remove the silver paint without harming the leather or clear plastic on top. This is the knob i started with.
I started removing the paint using just a scuff pad. That was taking too long so I used some of my wife's nail polish remover to help soften up the paint. With the nail polish remover and a scuff pad, the paint came off very easily without damaging the leather or the plastic underneath the paint.
The problem that arised is that I cant get very close to the edges without scuffing up the leather. I whipped out the dremmel and this is where things went for the worse. I started with the wire wheel and at first it seemed like it was doing the trick. The wire wheel was removing the paint but it was also removing the plastic too. I lowered the speed and that helped remove only the paint. The damage had been done though. In an attempt to fix the plastic that had been damaged by the wire wheel I switched to a buffing pad. Big mistake! The buffing pad started melting the plastic and made everything 10 times worse. Instead of valleys cut into the plastic from the wire wheel, I now had valleys and hills. I then attached the drum sander on the dremmel and attempted to smooth the whole surface down. This is where I'm at right now. I have a surface that could be painted and should come out smooth. The brown you see on the edges of the leather is buffing compound residue. I was kind of hoping to just strip the paint though.
