Best paint stripper: which of these four tins to buy
Updated: 23 October 2026
Round-ups do not agree on a best paint stripper. One praises a Bartoline pack at a price we did not save. Another credits Polycell with a dozen coats. Nitromors is still discussed as if the old formula were on the shelf. Here it means the best fit among four amazon.co.uk listings saved on 21 October 2026, not a lab winner. Peter F. compared those amazon.co.uk pages, the saved review themes, and the makers' public sheets, and updated this page on 23 October 2026. A qualifying purchase can earn us a commission at no extra cost to you. The full table is the [paint stripper comparison](/hub/paints-and-varnishes/paint-stripper).
Round-ups do not agree on a best paint stripper. One praises a Bartoline pack at a price we did not save. Another credits Polycell with a dozen coats. Nitromors is still discussed as if the old formula were on the shelf.
Round-ups do not agree on a best paint stripper. One praises a Bartoline pack at a price we did not save. Another credits Polycell with a dozen coats. Nitromors is still discussed as if the old formula were on the shelf. Here it means the best fit among four amazon.co.uk listings saved on 21 October 2026, not a lab winner. Peter F. compared those amazon.co.uk pages, the saved review themes, and the makers' public sheets, and updated this page on 23 October 2026. A qualifying purchase can earn us a commission at no extra cost to you. The full table is the paint stripper comparison.
Our top picks
| Badge | Product | Reviews | Methylene chloride | Surfaces | Note | Price | Offer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best overall |  Bartoline Bartoline TX10 pack of 2 x 500 ml | 4.1 from 5,391 | Free | Wood, metal, stone, masonry | 9.1 | about £9.96 | View offer |
| Alternative |  Polycell Polycell Maximum Strength 1 L | 3.9 from 356 | Not stated | Wood | 6.3 | about £19.99 | View offer |
| Best value |  Nitromors Nitromors Original 750 ml | 3.8 from 893 | Free | Wood, metal, concrete | 7.0 | about £17.50 | View offer |
On this page
What best means here
Best, on this page, is a job match inside one saved set. Bartoline TX10, pack titled 2 x 500 ml, was £9.96 with 4.1 from 5,391 reviews. Nitromors Original 750 ml was £17.50 with 3.8 from 893. Polycell Maximum Strength 1 litre was £19.99 with 3.9 from 356. A Bartoline Paint Predator bundle was £15.22 with 5.0 from six reviews and no review text in the file. Category ranks were 1, 6, 30 and 21 in Paint Strippers & Removers.
Scores on the main table run 91, 70, 63 and 59 out of 100, from stars, review volume, listing fit and stated price per litre. They are not a workshop test. The top pick and the best value are the same tin, the TX10 pack, because it has the largest sample and the lowest stated price per litre. A poultice or a dichloromethane tin under an HSE certificate sits outside this ranking, on the paint stripper buying guide. TX10's own sheet expects a second coat unless you have fewer than five layers.
Bartoline TX10 for most household jobs
For stairs, skirting, a banister or a varnished rail, TX10 is the default buy in this set. You pay £9.96 for the pack the title calls 2 x 500 ml, about £9.96 a litre if the 1 litre volume field is right. The listing says the formula is methylene chloride-free and non-caustic, for wood, metal, stone and masonry. Bartoline's sheet puts coverage near 1 m² per litre and a dwell near an hour. Measure the door yourself rather than borrowing someone else's area.
In the saved UK reviews, about four layers came off a wooden banister and varnish came off in about two coats for one person. A radiator with about six layers came off after a thick coat under cling film overnight. Thin coats dried before the paint moved. One person still had paint after three attempts, and several said it was slower than the methylene chloride stripper they remember. That is a fair reason to look at Polycell if you can ventilate. It is a poor reason to expect TX10 to behave like a solvent households cannot buy.
Skip TX10 if you will not do repeat coats, or if the detail is ornamental plaster that wants a poultice. Skip it if you cannot air the room. Non-caustic is not fume-free. The safety data sheet still says harmful if inhaled. Lead paint and oak are on paint stripper for wood.
When Nitromors or Polycell is the one to open
Open Nitromors when you want the green non-drip gel and you already accept that it is not the 1990s tin. At £17.50 for 750 ml it is about £23.33 a litre, so it is not the best value next to TX10. The bullets ask for 2–3 mm and claim up to 2 m², with no minute count. Some reviewers finished sills and skirting with an extra coat. Others struggled with one layer of old gloss, missed varnish on balustrades, or used a whole tin on one chair. One banister post went green. Many layers go tacky once the gel dries. Buy it for sills and frames if you will reload the brush. Do not buy it for autobody paint on the strength of these reviews.
Open Polycell when the job is wood, you can ventilate, and you want a paste that forms a soft film. At £19.99 a litre it is the highest shelf price here. Saved reviews include door frames, picture rails, banisters, two staircases, and old black Victorian varnish that lifted for one person. A metal front door in emulsion took three or four liberal coats. The listing does not answer the smell question. The reviews do. One person got a headache with a window open and stopped. Alloy wheels, a brick wall and a varnished garden bench did not come clean. One reviewer says the tin claims 12 layers and the stairs still needed a heat gun. That 12-layer line is not in the bullets we saved, so we are not awarding it. The 2017 sheet classes the paste as flammable. If you cannot open the windows, go back to TX10 or stop.
The bundle to leave until the size is clear
Paint Predator looks tidy on a quick scan. The title says 500 ml of non-caustic gel for wood, metal and masonry, plus a Tetrion filler knife, at £15.22, with 5.0 from six reviews. The saved file has no United Kingdom review text. The bullets describe a no-drip gel and name polyurethane varnish among the coatings. They do not say methylene chloride-free. The item-volume field says 0.5 decilitres, which is not 500 ml. Until the live page resolves that, a price per litre is a guess, and a guess cannot be best value next to a twin pack at £9.96 with thousands of reviews.
The knife is a real extra if you needed a scraper. It does not tell you whether the gel stays wet on a spindle. Rank 21 is not a quality mark. Leave this bundle until you can see the fill and read a write-up of a door or a banister. If the real question is heat instead of a tin, that is a method choice, not a fifth ASIN in this table.
Common questions
What is the best paint stripper on amazon.co.uk in this set?
In the four listings saved on 21 October 2026, Bartoline TX10 at £9.96 is the default. It has 4.1 from 5,391 reviews, a methylene chloride-free and non-caustic line, and the lowest stated price per litre. It is both the top pick and the best value here for that reason. It still needs thick repeat coats. It is the wrong default if you need a poultice or you will not come back for a second pass.
Is the cheapest tin a false economy?
Not in this set. The lowest stated price per litre is the TX10 pack, and it is also the largest review sample. Nitromors at about £23.33 a litre and Polycell at £19.99 cost more without a larger sample. A second coat, which these reviews treat as normal, uses more liquid on every tin. The cheap pack becomes a false economy only if you buy it for a room you will not ventilate or a job you will not recoat.
Why do people say Nitromors is not what it was?
They are comparing this dichloromethane-free gel with the methylene chloride Nitromors they used years ago. In the saved sample they call the current tin weaker and slower, and they describe tacky layers when it dries. A few people are still happy with sills and skirting. The listing itself says dichloromethane-free. Expect that product, not the memory of a faster tin.
Is Polycell worth £19.99 when TX10 is £9.96?
Only if you want the paste film on wood and you can live with the smell. Saved reviews show staircases and frames coming back, with repeat liberal coats. They also show a headache indoors and failures on alloy, brick and a varnished bench. At a higher shelf price than the TX10 pack, and with 356 reviews against 5,391, it is a narrow alternative. It is not an upgrade for every door.
Should I trust 5.0 stars on the Paint Predator bundle?
Not as a performance pick. The line is 5.0 from six reviews, and the saved file has no review text. The title says 500 ml and the volume field says 0.5 decilitres. The filler knife does not fill that gap. Use TX10 when you want evidence from a large sample. Revisit Predator when the fill is one figure and someone has described a real job.
Which tin says methylene chloride free?
TX10 says methylene chloride-free. Nitromors says dichloromethane-free, the same solvent under the other name. Polycell and Paint Predator print neither line. Only the words on the listing count. An old Polycell sheet from 2002 is not the current tin, and a missing line is not a free-from claim. Skip all four for a poultice on ornamental plaster, or for two-pack and automotive coatings these reviews do not lift.
Related pages
Sources
Public sources from the research digest, last checked on 22 October 2026. Shelf prices and star lines are the amazon.co.uk figures saved on 21 October 2026. The price band is this set, not a market average. No listing was lab-tested.
- REACH Enforcement Regulations 2008, Schedule 5B (retrieved 22 October 2026)
- HSENI: dichloromethane (retrieved 22 October 2026)
- HSE dichloromethane certification scheme (retrieved 22 October 2026)
- HSE: lead in construction (retrieved 22 October 2026)
- Bartoline TX10 technical data sheet (retrieved 22 October 2026)
- Bartoline TX10 safety data sheet (retrieved 22 October 2026)
- Polycell Maximum Strength paint stripper (retrieved 22 October 2026)
- Polycell Maximum Strength safety data sheet, 22 October 2017 (retrieved 22 October 2026)