Best solvent to remove silicone

[toyotaspeed90]

Razor blade and some type of mild abrasive - whether on a drill, dremel, or air tools. Can be discs, scotch pads, or even a wire wheel. I like this method because if you plan to use silicone/RTV again, it cleans AND preps the surface for good adherence with the RTV.

I haven't found anything faster (solvents included) that is faster and more effective.

 

[NMC_EXP]

In this day of age you’d think there would be a product to easily remove the silicone.

Even today no one can violate the laws of chemistry and physics.

As previously pointed out, there is no solvent that works on silicone. About all you can do is go to bare metal with abrasives then clean off all the crumbs.

Silicone comes in liquid form and that stuff is absolute death on paint jobs. Its clear so you can't see it and pre-paint metal cleaning operations won't touch it.

I worked for a manufacturer. One assembly line switched to a silicone based o-ring assembly lube. Within a few days everything coming off the paint line had to be reworked. Not just the parts with o-rings, the silicone from those parts got transferred and cross contaminated stuff all over the engines.

Pretty sure Armor-All and other rubber protectors contain silicone so watch out if you plan to paint.