Stewsworld Blog is back, after many busy months I have many new things to share.
As mention in a previous post my van was vandalized by some complete prick. It was tagged by someone over night very early on in my van ownership adventure. However, the van is getting back to its original beauty with the help of a random guy walking down the street in Woodhaven, Queens.
His name was Dino and I met him as I was eating lunch and overseeing a geotechnical investigation. He walked up to the van with a duffel bag and pulled out a squirt bottle and rag and started spraying the front of the van. A little shocked, I looked at him and he said "I detail cars and I'm the best at it." I tell him I'm not interested and he asks if there is anything I need. I jokingly said "yea get the spray paint off the side of my van". He hadn't see it yet as he approached from the other side, we walked around and said "Yea I can do that no problem, $40" I felt $40 dollars was a lot and I didn't even have that much in my wallet. "$20" I said. We settled at $25.
A couple minutes into the cleaning he asked me for the money upfront to get a Red Bull because he was really tired, sounded a little sketchy. I gave him $5, I figured if he feel asleep then the van would never get cleaned. He asked if I wanted anything from the bodega, I assume with the money I just gave him???
Anyway he left all his stuff and can back with a couple Red Bulls and continued to work.
I asked Dino about the cleaner he was using as it was in an unmarked bottle. He said it was his own blend and left it at that.
Dino used a small scratch pad and took off the paint and the clear coating after saying he wouldn't but anyway...
A quick water wash took the rest of the solution off and the side of the van was graffiti free. I am grateful Dino stopped by and although the cleanup job isn't perfect, I would have had to spend a couple hundred dollars to get it professionally fixed (not worth it).
I asked Dino for a business card and he gave me a cell phone number, haven't checked if it works.
Dino the car detailer 10/10 would recommend for cheap graffiti removal.