So my bike was stolen from a friends house 6 weeks ago and by some higher power my best friend saw a guy riding it down the street on the 4th of july and got it back. Everything was there except the cheapest parts, used carbon fiber seatpost from ebay and selle italia look alike seat, a grand total of $60 gone.

The thing is though, whomever took it spay bombed the wheels primer gray and gold in a sort of random ugly camo-esc pattern. The wheels are powder coated, and the paint is just very sloppily on top of it. Is there any way to remove paint without damaging the powdercoat? I am betting the some steel wool would do the trick with enough rubbing but are there any chemical sprays or anything?

Before:


After:

I'd use a very high grit sandpaper and wetsand it by hand... Or at least try a little patch. Wouldn't touch steel wool. I've seen something similar done on an old chopper gas tank that had been rattlecanned over a sweet 70's mural. Took a ton of time... not sure how the powdercoat will polish up after sanding.

I've stripped two repainted frames in the past couple of months. I would try a very light layer of stripper in one small area at a time. Don't let it sit for 15-20min like normal, but give it just 1-2min and wipe.

While doing mine I noticed that when I wasn't patient enough to wait for the stripper to eat through, I would reveal a mostly untouched bottom layer of paint, and that was with rough, indiscriminate scrubbing with sloppy/excess stripping applied.