Originally Posted by migrantwing

My friend just had his Specialized Allez frame stripped and re-sprayed or dipped. I'm guessing the layers consist of primer, a few coats of candy apple red, a few coats of what I'd say was Burgundy red and then I guess a layer or two of clearcoat.

The problem is that some of the paint has ended up on the headtube faces and BB shell. I managed to get the paint off the headtube and face of the BB shell with a razor blade and a small file. However, when trying to thread the BB cups in, one side went in no problem, the other went in about three full turns and then got very hard to turn. It also seemed to be slightly askew.

Apart from using a re-tapping/re-threading tool, what can be used to dissolve/remove the paint in the BB threads (thinners etc) without any run off getting onto the other painted areas of the bike?

TIA