Will Muriatic Acid Damage Car Paint?

Muriatic acid, more commonly known as hydrochloric acid, certainly will damage car paint, especially if it is not immediately washed off with water.

It will strip the paint off the chassis, and if left on for too long, could even cause some structural damage to the vehicle.

This makes it great if you want a new paint job on your vehicle, but not so good if it has come into contact with your car by accident.

Muriatic (hydrochloric) acid on car paint
If you wish to strip the paint on your car then follow these steps:

• First off, you have to remove certain parts of your car to prevent them from being damaged by the chemical paint removers. These will be your door handles, door locks, bumpers and other items that could be damaged. Remove them all.
• The next step should be to cover your car with masking tape, including the cracks and panels. Now you can purchase your chemical paint remover.
• Apply the chemical paint remover, but avoid getting any of it on rubber or fibreglass as it will damage these parts of your car. Give the remover about an hour or so to settle.
• In that hour, you can begin wrapping the car in plastic wrap. Remove the wrap after an hour.
• Rinse and repeat the above steps until you finally remove all the paint from your car.
• At this point, you can make use of a sand blaster to rid your car of the remaining paint.

The result should be a car totally stripped of paint. You can either repaint the car yourself, or have it repainted by a professional. It's up to you.

It sure will, if left on and not washed off.