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Here's just a tiny selection of "strippers" from 2002-2004, one of the worst stretches in Hot Wheels history for truly attractive mainlines. Remember how these looked with the Tampo graphics on them? And how many of these would you refuse to have in your collection? Make no mistake about it...there are literally hundreds of gorgeous pieces in the Hot Wheels catalogue that hardly anyone knows about...only because they haven't bothered to consider what might be lurking beneath the kid-stuff graphics. ZOWEE!

Introduction

"What the hell is Tampo?" The best answer to that is provided by Tampo, Ltd., an international firm specializing in labelling and pad printing techniques of the type needed by Mattel and other companies that require printing on strange or difficult-to-cover surfaces. The Tampo process of laying down dyes and plastics on tricky surfaces such as paints on diecast cars (and - yes - CDs too) was pioneered and patented by Tampo, and over the years diecast hobbyists have come to refer to the actual dying and printing on their diecasts as "tampos". Technically, the same journalistic rules so fervently preached by Coca-Cola and Kleenex apply to Tampo as well: the word refers to a trademark, not a word which has passed into common usage (at least not yet), so it is always capitalized, never possessive, and never pluralized.

Simply put, Tampo-stripping is the removal of stamped-on graphics from a diecast vehicle in an attempt to improve the appearance of the piece. It is one of the simplest and most satisfying techniques for modding up Hot Wheels, and literally thousands of collectors discovered long before The Strip Club opened that there are literally hundreds of truly beautiful-looking adult collectlbles lurking under the stamped-on kid-stuff graphics used on most diecast vehicles these days. Tampo-stripping is by far the simplest, cheapest, and lowest-skill method I know for turning worthless "toy stock" into unique and interesting mantle candy, and the proof is on the pages of The Strip Club.

The trick is to get the stamped-on paint off of the vehicle without disturbing the factory finish, which is usually very nice indeed. The problem is that Tampo paint only comes off with substances which are potent enough to cloud up windshield plastic and wheel surfaces, de-chrome wheel hubs and bases, and if used too aggressively or for too long, actually dissolve the underlying paint as well as the stamped-on stuff. And that's why this page exists.

There are better products and better ways to do everything I'm about to describe here, but this page was designed for the typical Hot Wheels collector. Hardcore customizing is taught on many other sites; this is the first and still (to my knowledge) the best site for learning all you'll ever need to know on the subject. And if you think you already know what this is all about, here's my Top Ten Tips list to remind you that you probably don't. (These tips, by the way, are probably all the basic instruction you'll need to get off to a flying start. There is a lot to be learned before you're truly a master stripper, though, which is why this page is so ridiculously long. So feel free to limit yourself to just these ten tips - and the list of cautions in the next section, of course - if you're just getting started. Come back and pick up the rest of the information as you need it. And if you like the results you're getting, then trust me...you'll be back!)

Top Ten Tips for Tampo-stripping

1. Always strip in a well-ventilated area and avoid smoking while using any solvent. Poor ventilation can cause windshield damage to occur just from the solvent fumes off of a cotton swab.
2. Solvent fumes nearly always rise. Always strip with vulnerable plastic parts below the swab. A gentle breeze from an open window or fan is highly recommended for maximum damage prevention.
3. Your first choice of solvent should always be non-acetone nail polish remover. Only resort to carb cleaner when non-acetone nail polish remover has proven ineffective.
4. The best way to insure zero solvent damage to chrome and plastic parts is to disassemble the vehicle prior to stripping.
5. Leftover "craft" brushes (or child's paintbrushes) with bristles shortened to a quarter-inch or shorter is the best thing for cleaning out deep grooves and crevices. If you don't have a paint brush, you can still create "fine" solvent brushes by biting down on the end of a few cotton swabs, pulling out the cotton and cutting about half of the cotton off of the swab end. Create these at the start of a stripping session and they should be completely dry by the time you need them.
6. Don't try to clean out paint-filled grooves by pressing harder with your cotton swab. Use a short-bristle craft paint brush. Scrubbing near any edge always increases the risk of accidental paint removal.
7. Use as little carb cleaner as possible, never use it on enamel finishes (only on plastic paints), and use as little as you can get away with. Never, ever use carb cleaner indoors. It isn't just toxic, it's one of the most potent braincell-killing solvent mixtures ever invented. In a quiet room, even the few drops that it takes to thoroughly wet a cotton swab is enough to cause mental impairment. It is very powerful stuff.
8. Masking is always a last resort, and any masking tape should be left on for as short a time as possible. Fumes can collect under the tape and damage the surface that the tape is designed to protect.
9. Never store a freshly-stripped piece in any confined space until all solvents and glues used on that piece are completely dry. When in doubt, allow a full 24 hours for all fumes to dissipate.
10. Never Tampo-strip an irreplaceable piece. Mistakes happen even to the most experienced strippers.

New Stuff: Things I've learned since the first edition of this article

If you read the old version of this guide, here's a brief summary of what's new in this one to save you the trouble of covering old ground. Some of this stuff is pretty important, too:

• When nail polish remover is ineffective or too slow, carb cleaner will remove virtually any Tampo paint that other solvents won't get.
  • Use as little as possible and don't even use it in well-ventilated areas...use it outdoors only or not at all; it is extremely dangerous stuff if inhaled or used near a spark, heater or flame. Carb cleaner is often the only thing that will remove some of the newer formulations of very durable Tampo paint.
• It's rare to find Tampo paint that non-acetone nail-polish remover can't remove on a Hot Wheels older than about 2003. It's quite common on Hot Wheels newer than 2005.
• Your basic stripper's toolkit should include tiny "craft" paintbrushes with bristles cut short.
  • These are for use in scrubbing the Tampo paint out of the deep grooves that cotton swabs can't get to. Take my word on this: if you don't have these brushes, you will eventually destroy the finish of some nice pieces.
  • Bristles should be cut short enough to allow for gentle scrubbing in these grooves, but kept long enough that the scrubbing can't be severe enough to remove actual paint.
  • Believe it or not, it took me five full years to figure out this paintbrush thing. The Strip Club is now a monument to all the cars I've damaged by trying to clean out those deep grooves by diligent rubbing with the edge of a cotton swab. Oh, the carnage....

Cautions

The following cautions are provided primarily as deterrents to nuisance lawsuits. Most nail polish removers are not pure solvents, and are not nearly as flammable or toxic as commercial thinners and other compounds containing acetone and other volatile hydrocarbons. But they can still pose a hazard, and are still significant health risks if you're exposed to them in any significant concentration for any length of time.

1. Do not attempt the projects suggested here if you have a sensitivity to chemicals, chronic fatigue syndrome, immune deficiency, or other disorders which may be adversely affected by minor exposure to solvent fumes or artificial fragrances.
2. Do not attempt the projects suggested here if you have any kidney or liver ailment without the expressed permission of your doctor. Inhaled solvent fumes (and this can include the fumes of many household cleaners) can significantly worsen symptoms or precipitate serious or fatal injury to kidney and liver patients. Carb cleaner, which is often the only thing that will effectively remove some of the tougher Tampo formulations, is particularly hazardous, even in the tiny amounts needed to strip something as small as a 1/64th-scale diecast.
3. The suggested solvents are flammable. These projects should only be performed by minors under adult supervision.
4. Nail polish remover is volatile and flammable. Do not smoke, allow open flames, or permit any device which may produce sparks, such as air cleaners, near open solvent.
5. Carb cleaner is extremely volatile. Treat it as if it was nitro-glycerine...because in some important respects it's closer to nitro than you might think.
6. Do not drive or operate heavy machinery for at least one hour following exposure to nail polish remover or carb cleaner fumes.
7. Always use nail polish remover and other solvents in well-ventilated areas. Cease all use of the material and leave the area immediately if you notice any significant alteration of consciousness which you believe may be attributed to the solvent.

The basic stripper's toolkit

You don't need too damn much, really. Most of the "strippers" on this site were done using nothing but the following materials:

• A box of generic Q-Tip style cotton swabs
• One small bottle of non-acetone-based nail polish remover.
  • You can't buy bottles smaller than your average can of soda, so it is often useful to transfer some of the solvent into a much smaller plastic bottle.
  • Glass bottles don't usually work well; nail polish remover will usually melt the gaskets they use on most glass bottles.
  • Test the plastic first to make sure the bottle won't melt: soft plastic bottles are more likely to safely hold nail polish remover than stiff plastic.
• One small bottle of acetone-based ("regular") nail polish remover. (Optional)
  • The shot at right shows the labels for Cutex products, which are likely to be the most widely available across North America.
  • Generic products will do just as well; the picture is only to demonstrate that non-acetone nail polish removers are clearly identified on the label.
  • Note that the non-acetone type has a makeup which lends itself to rose scents; both brands of this type of nail polish remover which I've used have this scent, and it lingers long after the job is done. To eliminate this odor, wipe surfaces clean with a water-dampened tissue or paper towel a minute or two after stripping.)
• A snap-blade knife, craft razor, box cutter or similar tool with a very sharp edge (for physical modifications only)
• A selection of two or three specially-prepared craft or child's paintbrushes with the bristles cut very short.
  • Your stripping paintbrushes should only have a small number of bristles left on them (maybe 40 or 50 in total; you can trim away the rest). All it has to do is move solvent around in a door-panel groove; anything more than that will become inconvenient in the stripping process.
  • These should be the narrowest brushes you can find at your local dollar store, and they should be relatively stiff, but also thin enough that there are a lot of bristles to hold solvent in the brush. Some plastic-bristle brushes might dissolve in nail polish remover.
  • One brush should have bristles a quarter-inch long, another should have bristles an eighth of an inch long. When you need to use a paintbrush, start with the one with the longer bristles; only use the shorter-bristle brush if the longer-bristle brush isn't working quickly enough.
• Paper towel, tissue or toilet paper (for fine work in tight corners and for cleaning or rinsing surfaces)
  

That's it...that's everything you need. Some of this stuff you'll only use on one car in twenty.

The "advanced basics"

There's not much you need to know to safely get started, but I recommend the following to "novice strippers": You really don't know what the limits of safe stripping are until you've screwed up and wrecked a few vehicles, so always start with vehicles that wouldn't make you cry if you lost them. The whole point of Tampo-stripping, though, is that it has the potential to turn so many pieces which are already worthless - at least as adult collectibles - into much more acceptable pieces.

The process is fairly straightforward once you understand what stripping actually involves, but there's a surprising amount to be learned as you become more skilled. Here's a list of the things you'd eventually pick up on your own by the time you'd stripped a couple hundred vehicles:

• First and foremost, know the risks. This is by no means a foolproof process. Even the most skilled strippers wreck a piece every now and then, and as a beginner you can expect to get some sort of damage on one piece in five until you really understand the risks and the techniques that keep these risks low. Never begin Tampo-stripping a piece unless you're truly willing to accept that it may end up with some kind of permanent damage.
• Acetone-based ("regular") nail polish remover is occasionally useful for rapidly stripping very tough materials such as the flat silver plastic used in many trims and logotypes, although it isn't any more effective on the newer (post-mid-2002) silver formulations and is far harsher on the underlying paint. Acetone-based solvent will rapidly strip through many paint formulations, so it should only be used after non-acetone nail polish remover has proven ineffective. You'll probably only need this on one vehicle in 30 at most, so you can consider it optional, especially since carb cleaner has been discovered to neatly strip the toughest of Tampo formulae.
• Non-acetone-based nail polish remover is a bit costlier than acetone, but it will be the only thing you need - or want to use - for as much as 95% of all your Tampo-stripping. Just dip a swab into a capful of solvent, soak off the excess onto a bit of paper towel, and start gently rubbing the Tampo surface.
  • It will soften - but not dissolve - most metalflake plastic paints. Many plastic-paint surfaces look dulled after exposure to non-acetone-based nail polish remover, but the gloss usually comes back once the surface is thoroughly dried.
  • It is reasonably gentle on enamels and metallics, but with prolonged exposure (about a minute, less on hot days) it will eventually begin stripping these paints. As soon as you see base paint on your cotton swab, you know you've started stripping paint, but your piece may not be ruined. In most cases, if you stop at this point the piece you're stripping will be just fine; simply finish the Tampo-stripping a day or so later when the paint has re-hardened and work as quickly as possible.
• Stripping is best done using a cotton swab such as a Q-tip dipped in nail polish remover. There are three basic densities of solvent, each of which has a different use: damp, wet, and sopping.
  • "Damp" is the density you get when you rapidly dip and remove a swab from the solvent, or when you drain off excess solvent onto a bit of paper towel. A damp swab is best for cleaning up nearly-clean surfaces, for removing softer Tampo paints from areas close to wheels, windshields and other sensitive bits of plastic, and for "fine" work when attempting to remove one of two graphical elements which are close together.
  • "Wet" is what you get when you dip and wait for the swab to "fill up", then drain only a bit of excess off by rolling the edge of the tip on the bottle or dish of solvent. A wet swab is best for working with sharp edges such as grooves around doors and hoods, tough Tampo paint that butts up against a windshield or other sensitive plastic, and cleanup of messy-but-loose Tampo paint.
  • "Sopping" is what you get when you dip and wait for the swab to fill up, and don't drain anything from it. A sopping-wet swab is best for "selective stripping" of colors (e.g. when you want to strip the soft black paint from a silver-and-black bit of decalquing, leaving only the silver design behind), making short work of big, messy Tampos, and teasing bits of paint out of deep grooves.
  • Never use a sopping-wet swab near any masked part! If you have covered a windshield, base or other part with tape, white glue or some other masking material, use a damp or wet swab. A sopping swab will give off solvent vapors that will drift under the edges of your mask, and in the case of shiny surfaces such as windshields, this is almost guaranteed to produce a nasty and permanent scar.
• There are three basic types of base paint used on Hot Wheels: flat enamels, glossy enamels, and plastic paints.
  • The flat enamels have no sheen, and are best represented by the 2001 Rat Rods series cars. They're among the toughest paints used by Mattel, and withstand rubbing with solvent quite well. The flat black formulation (low-gloss, as on the 2002 Grave Rave Wagon; the no-gloss finish is "matte black", as on the 2002 '68 Cougar) is probably the toughest paint formulation in Mattel's inventory.
  • The glossy enamels are the softest, most vulnerable paints used by Mattel. Whites, reds, blacks, and other non-metalflake/non-pearly/non-plastic-finish paints must be treated with respect. Whites in particular are very problematic because they show stains and leftover Tampo paint and dissolve easily with too much exposure to nail polish remover. They'll usually take a lot of rubbing at medium pressure on flat surfaces, but excessive pressure, or even more than the very lightest pressure on a sharp (and often on a rounded) edge can rapidly reduce small areas to bare metal, ruining the effect.
  • The plastic paints include the pearl-finish, metalflake, and "Spectraflame II"-type colors, and are generally much tougher and/or thicker than the enamels. They can take a lot more abuse, but will not withstand constant rubbing on sharp corners. Some of these formulations, notably the metalflakes, tend to become soft and sticky after a minute or two of rubbing or stroking with a sopping wet swab when you're trying to remove particularly tough Tampo paint. Do not touch this paint with fingers, cloth, tissue or towelling while it is sticky! It may also appear to lose its gloss when stripped, but the shine usually returns when soaked-in solvent dries. Also, avoid exposing any surface of this type to solvent for more than a couple of minutes; once the paint is softened, it can flake off fairly easily with a bit too much pressure.
• There are five basic types of materials used in constructing Hot Wheels: soft clear plastics, soft opaque plastics, hard plastics, plating and soft metal (Zamac, a zinc/aluminum alloy).
  • Soft clear plastics are used in primarily in windshields and clear bases (e.g. the Vulture). They are extremely vulnerable to solvents...so vulnerable that if you hold a windshield over an open bottle of nail polish remover, it will permanently smear from the vapors alone. These parts should always be masked whenever you want to remove Tampo paint from a metal surface that juts up against it. Hood and roof Tampos very often butt right up against windshields, requiring that the windshield be masked. See below for information on masking...it's a lot easier than you might think.
  • Soft opaque plastics are used for interiors and some accessory parts. Both types of plastic are used in nearly all Hot Wheels. Whenever Tampo paint ends at or close to soft plastics, these plastics should be masked to prevent smearing or scuffing with solvent. These plastics are more resistant to smearing than the clear plastics. You can even drip solvent on them by accident and not suffer damage in some cases, but any contact with a solvent-soaked cotton swab should be carefully avoided. Most of them will still suffer irreparable damage if accidentally brushed with any pressure.
  • Hard plastics are used for all wheels and some trim parts, and these plastics are usually quite resistant to accidental contact with solvent. But they are not resistant to pressure or brushing, or to prolonged exposure to solvent fumes. For example, if you brush a wet swab across the surface of a wheel, you will very likely cause a permanent scar. However, if you brace a swab against a wheel to clean paint from a wheel well, and allow the wheel to roll freely while you scrub, the lack of direct pressure across the wheel will usually (but not always) leave the wheel surface perfectly intact. Likewise with a tough, black plastic base. If you scrub Tampo paint butting against this base carefully, you'll still likely drip a bit of solvent onto it, but unless you actually rub it, you should be able to get away with these kinds of mistakes without causing visible damage. The fact is that you simply can't know which result you'll get. I've damaged wheel surfaces and plastic bases on many vehicles doing quick stripping jobs for the website, but with any car for which I only have one copy, I will definitely mask first, and mask thoroughly enough to prevent solvent fumes from causing damage under the tape. And I won't use a sopping wet swab near those parts for more than a few seconds at a time.
  • Plating is used on hard plastics to produce chrome and gold finishes, and more recently, some of the colorful metal effects such as those seen on the 2002 Mainlines. The sensitivity of wheel plating to solvent varies widely, so it should never be trusted to stand up to repeated exposure to solvent, but there are two rules of thumb: the narrower the plating, the more fragile it is (that means that wire and lace wheels are typically far more sensitive than 5-spokes) and non-silver plating is generally far tougher than any other color. Chrome-type plating used to chrome up entire bases or large parts is nearly always heavy; gold and other colors can be extremely thin and sensitive since the color may only be a dye deposited on heavier silver-colored plating.
• Tampo paint is applied to body shells before the vehicles are assembled. This explains why the paint seems to curl around corners and butt right up against windshields and bases. Whenever Tampo paint juts up against the window, you have two choices: mask the windshield to give you a clearer, safer path to the painted surface's edge (but at the risk of damage from solvent fumes creeping under the masking tape), or careful freehand stripping using a normal swab or a specially-prepared tool (at the risk of slipping and scarring windshield plastic from a stray touch).

Masking

Update 10/10: I no longer recommend masking as described in this section; I am leaving this section intact for the benefit of previous readers who may want to refer to it. The risk of damage to plastic parts, especially windshields, is so great that I do not recommend any of the techniques described in this section. If you encounter a situation which requires masking to protect plastic surfaces, I strongly recommend drilling out the rivet(s) on the underside of the casting, and separating the metal body from all other parts before Tampo-stripping it.

Most Hot Wheels can be stripped without any masking, provided you have a steady enough hand to keep a wet swab away from windshields, wheel chrome and other sensitive areas. But there are situations where it is virtually essential to mask areas to insure that no solvent damage occurs. Roof, hood and trunk lines are the most common "problem areas" that require masking.

If you want to do a professional job, you can get masking materials similar to glues at many hobby shops which are designed to deposit a protective film on sensitive surfaces. But Tampo-stripping is not about professional results. It's about a reasonable result in a reasonable amount of time. So I recommend using electrician's tape.

I don't recommend just any electrician's tape, though. There are two basic types: glossy and flat. The glossy-surface tape tends to use an adhesive that comes off of the tape and leaves nasty bits behind on surfaces where it has had contact. The flat black tape tends to use adhesives that don't leave behind a sticky film.

Whenever masking a surface to protect against accidental solvent damage, keep the following points in mind:

• The edge can often be tighter than you think. The tip of a butter knife is perfect for tucking the ends of tape beneath roofs and hoods for total protection.
• When bending the edge of the tape around a corner, don't bend the tape after placing it on the plastic! Bend as you place it on the plastic as shown at right. If you shift the tape while it's on the plastic, it could leave behind streaks of adhesive.
• Don't mask surfaces in a hot room. The hotter the temperature in your work area, the greater your risk of leaving behind bits of adhesive.
• Always be aware that solvent fumes can drift under the edges of even the most carefully masked surface and cause solvent damage to shiny plastic surfaces. So try to keep a fan running nearby throughout the stripping process to keep fume concentrations at minimum. Never use more than the minimum amount of solvent necessary when swabbing an area next to a masked surface, and always make sure your solvent-soaked swab or paintbrush is held above any surface that could be damaged by solvent fumes.
• Never leave electrician's tape on a masked surface longer than absolutely necessary; remove it instantly once you've finished stripping.
• Never mask an area which is still wet with solvent, and swab away any drops of solvent from mask tape before removing it from the surface it is protecting.
• When peeling off the tape, peel from the "safe" side of the tape (the edge farthest from the surface you've just stripped) toward the edge you wanted to protect. This can help prevent some instances of solvent-fume damage. In the picture above right, you'd peel this tape off from the back seat first, and pull that edge toward the front bumper.

Swabbing technique

Different techniques are useful for different types of situations. Here's a brief overview.

• Always start with a wet to sopping swab and almost no pressure. You often never know what unusual designs you might uncover by allowing the solvent to remove only the softest colors in a graphic. This also preserves the paint in case some colors in a graphic are particularly stubborn.
• Never, ever be stingy with cotton swabs! Better to take the time to switch to a clean swab than to smear dissolved ink or dark Tampo paint on a light-colored enamel surface and then rub down to bare metal trying to clean up after the smear.

• "If the surface looks like it has lost its gloss, don't worry about it; it will return once the solvent has completely dried, which could take up to a day."

  Ramp up pressure slowly. Some I use a magnifying glass to inspect trouble spots regularly to insure that I'm not rubbing down to bare metal. Once a tiny area of bare metal has been revealed, you've gone too far; with just a few more strokes, you'll swab that area to a much larger size
• Silver-colored Tampo plastic can be abrasive. When cleaning this stubborn stuff, don't allow dissolved Tampo plastic to accumulate on the swab. Change swabs frequently. The harder you have to scrub, the less of this material you should allow to accumulate on each swab.
• Clean ridges and grooves carefully, using a swab whose tip has been puffed up slightly to allow it to contact more area within the groove or around the ridge. Nearly all Mattel paint formulations are quite durable on flat or smooth surfaces; ridges and grooves very often present a risk of rubbing down to bare metal.
• Don't touch the paint for at least a couple of minutes after all solvent has dried. Many formulations, including enamels, absorb solvent and become sticky. Finger oil could produce a permanent smear on a surface if you touch it too soon. If the surface looks like it has lost its gloss, don't worry about it; it will return once the solvent has completely dried, which could take up to a day. Do not store the vehicle in any box, case, envelope or bag for at least twelve hours. Solvent vapors could cause clouding of shiny plastic surfaces or other types of damage, and there will be some vapors escaping for several hours even from a piece which seems dry.
• Clean chrome or coloring from wheel rims as follows for the least damage:
  1. Place the center of the swab right on the axle.
  2. Lean the swab at an angle so that it contacts just enough area to cover the chrome or colored surface.
  3. Twirl the swab. The wheel should rotate as you twirl. This method applies the minimum scrubbing pressure to the wheel surface, allowing you to remove color or wheel chrome without scuffing. The surface you reveal won't be perfectly smooth, but if you master this technique, you'll be able to get a quite acceptable result
• Know when to give up. If you're seeing paint color on your swab that you know doesn't come from Tampo graphics, you know you're on the verge of rubbing the surface to bare metal. If you haven't finished cleaning the Tampo graphic, you may not be able to do so safely no matter what you try.

Gotchas: Things to watch out for

"If you're sanely aware that these things cost a buck apiece and are kids' toys and not historical artifacts, then skim this page quickly and get the hell to it!"

Each project has been assigned a difficulty rating from Easy (makes a good starter project) to Masochist (so tricky or time-consuming that it probably shouldn't be attempted by anyone). But not every car is built the same way. Manufacturing quality and methods can vary from month to month and country to country, and your 2001 Super Tuned, for example, might not strip nearly as easily as mine. Most projects have "gotcha's", trouble spots to keep in mind, and knowing about these gotcha's can make the difference between a 90%+ success rating and a pile of wasted cars.

• Colored plating (including gold): This can be very fragile or very tough. The newer colored wheels can be irreparably dechromed by a single stray touch from a damp swab, or so tough that it only comes off with vigorous scrubbing. Don't trust this material; always assume it's extremely vulnerable.
• Solvent vapors: Masking of sensitive parts is no guarantee of protection against solvent damage. Vapors from nail polish remover can be heavier than air or lighter than air, and can creep in under edges of tape, causing damage to shiny surfaces. This risk cannot be eliminated by any means other than good ventilation. Either have a slight fan breeze blowing across your work area, or limit the amount of solvent on the swab. The wetter the swab, the more vapors it creates, and the greater your risk of damage.
• Wheel surfaces: These are usually tough and resistant to scuffing, provided you treat them with respect, but inconsistencies in composition could result in unexpected damage. Masking can be good protection, but it isn't always the cure for potential scuffing of wheel surfaces, since solvent vapors creep under masked wheels even more easily than on windshields since wheel surfaces aren't perfectly smooth. I don't usually mask wheels when cleaning Tampo paint out of wheel wells and fender edges. instead, I use a damp or slightly wet swab, and rest the edge of the swab on the edge of the wheel, allowing the wheel to roll freely while I rub the wheel well. The wheel may be in contact with a damp or wet swab for up to a minute, but only about one wheel in ten will show any visible scuffing or scarring.
• Sharp edges and deep grooves: Body mouldings, hood lines, fins and other areas can be very problematic, even with the softest Tampo paint. A toothpick soaked in solvent is probably the safest, easiest way to clean deep grooves, and even this can result in minor paint loss even if you've been very careful.