Not sure what would be the best way to go. Having the body shop grind off the old paint the old way or having the car blasted via the sand/plastic/ or banking soda process. Cost IS an issue. What are the pros/cons of each?? Car in question is my newly aquired 87 GN. Clear coat is pretty much toast on the roof/decklid which is why car must be stripped of old paint. TIA..........Ken B.
Bead Blasting old paint or ???
- Thread starter hot6-231
- Start date
Hi Ken,
I had my car media blasted over the winter. The cost was $700.00 and that also included the removal of the front and rear glass. Over all I was happy with the results.
The drawbacks.
The mess. There was sand EVERYWHERE! Every nook and cranny in the car, the dash vents. I still get some falling when I hit bumps.
You must remove EVERYTHING! I left the header panel and the t-top center section on the car and the genius destroyed them.
The pulses
The car turned out awesome!
It was half the price and half the hassle of chemical stripping.
It doesn't damage the sheet metal at all.
No cleanup of the metal.
The time. It only took 2 days.
There are some PICS of the before and after here.
http://community.webshots.com/user/xxmarvinx
HTH
Andy
I had my car media blasted over the winter. The cost was $700.00 and that also included the removal of the front and rear glass. Over all I was happy with the results.
The drawbacks.
The mess. There was sand EVERYWHERE! Every nook and cranny in the car, the dash vents. I still get some falling when I hit bumps.
You must remove EVERYTHING! I left the header panel and the t-top center section on the car and the genius destroyed them.
The pulses
The car turned out awesome!
It was half the price and half the hassle of chemical stripping.
It doesn't damage the sheet metal at all.
No cleanup of the metal.
The time. It only took 2 days.
There are some PICS of the before and after here.
http://community.webshots.com/user/xxmarvinx
HTH
Andy
Red Regal T
Senior Member
- Joined
- May 24, 2001
Ten years ago I made the mistake of sending out two hoods to have them media blasted to save myself a little work. Both hoods came back warped. Needless to say, I would never let that happen again. I guess if you don't have the facilities to do your own work, you have to do what you have to do.
Andy, Thanks!!! Awesome pics. I've heard about the mess after the fact with the sand. Kinda scares me. 
Don't think the plastic "bead blasting" would be as bad, BUT I don't know. Your car looks like it came out great. I don't really have the 4-6 grand most people quote for a decent paint job. I figured if I can get the paint stripped, cost would be MUCH less. The car is in excellent shape, except for the peeling clear coat.
John, sorry to here about the warping. Sounds like the pressure was a 'lil' high when they blasted your parts. Looks like I have a lot to think about before diving into this indeaver. Thanks for the reply.
Anybody else have there pride in joy blasted/results?? TIA
Don't think the plastic "bead blasting" would be as bad, BUT I don't know. Your car looks like it came out great. I don't really have the 4-6 grand most people quote for a decent paint job. I figured if I can get the paint stripped, cost would be MUCH less. The car is in excellent shape, except for the peeling clear coat.John, sorry to here about the warping. Sounds like the pressure was a 'lil' high when they blasted your parts. Looks like I have a lot to think about before diving into this indeaver. Thanks for the reply.
Anybody else have there pride in joy blasted/results?? TIA
I am working on mine right now and I blasted some parts of the car with a $13 blaster from home depot and I didn't warp any panels but it was low pressure and a small stream of sand. Did a pretty good job but I hated doing it. It was hot and couldn't breath in that mask, the Da was much easier to work with but took longer.
If you want to do some of the work yourself and save some money, you could chemically strip it yourself.
First tape off all the body seams so you don'y get the stripper down in there.
Get some good gloves, a box of the latex ones that your proctologist wears work good.
We used aircraft stripper on mine.
Get a couple good plastic scrapers and a couple of those stainless steel wool like pads for stuborn painted areas.
Take your headlights and taillights off the car and the rest of the stuff that you're not going to need on it for when you paint it.
Stripping it is not that hard, ask your local paint supply store what they have to put on the bear metal so it doesn't rust till you get it painted.
We also stripped the header panel and my bumpers.
Got any more questions just post again and we'll help you out.
Tarey D.
First tape off all the body seams so you don'y get the stripper down in there.
Get some good gloves, a box of the latex ones that your proctologist wears work good.
We used aircraft stripper on mine.
Get a couple good plastic scrapers and a couple of those stainless steel wool like pads for stuborn painted areas.
Take your headlights and taillights off the car and the rest of the stuff that you're not going to need on it for when you paint it.
Stripping it is not that hard, ask your local paint supply store what they have to put on the bear metal so it doesn't rust till you get it painted.
We also stripped the header panel and my bumpers.
Got any more questions just post again and we'll help you out.
Tarey D.
For small areas, anyone try those 3M abrasive wheels? The ones I've seen are about 3inches diameter. They are not the Scotch Brite pad type of material. They are much coarser material. The ones I've seen are put into a drill. I thought about chemical stripping and using these for the stubborn areas. (Sorry to hijack but I thought this relates to question you asked.)
Red Regal T
Senior Member
- Joined
- May 24, 2001
I didn't elaborate, but Tarey D. has the right idea. Chemical stripping is easy to do and inexpensive. It's a little tedious, but you don't have to worry about some "expert" moron screwing up your nice straight car. I found that the stripper they sell at Walmart works just as good as Aircraft stripper and costs half as much.
They sell aircraft stripper at wal-mart. You may be talking about the BIX stripper made by the same company sold in the paint section I wanted to try that but didn't. The stripper burns bad so don't get it in your eyes or on your skin, but it is fairly easy takes the paint right off but in some cases the primer is a little harder. I used the stripper for my doors and trunk and hood because they were off the car and I could lay them out and do them.
Funny.......never thought about chemical stripping, as I strip antique furniture from time to time!!! Hmmm.........Might just do it. I'll probally use the "paste" stripper as it doesn't 'run' like reg. stripper will. I'll just take anything that's plastic off as not to warp it. Will the stripper take off the factory primer?? Thanks for the suggestion Tarey!!! And too hanly2 and Red Regal T. Also, I do know that you have to be very carefull to get "all" the stripper residue off as i've heard that it will ruin your day if you don't!! It's gonna be difficult, but at least I can do it myself, and save some $$$. Thanks again guys!!!
Ken B.
It's gonna be difficult, but at least I can do it myself, and save some $$$. Thanks again guys!!!Ken B.
The stripper will take the primer off but in some cases you may have to make a few passes at it. That is what I had to do. I used a plastic scraper at first but it was getting old real quick so what I did was take a straight edge razor and put it in some vice grips and it took all the paint of real clean and easy. You can use a metal scraper also just go easy. I really soaked the panels down afterward also. I taped up the lock holes and things like that. Did not even try to strip any of the parts on the car like the roof and quarters because you can't control where it flows like a part that is off. Also I'm pretty sure your car will have the rocker guard on the bottoms. That was a real PIA. The stripper takes the paint off but leaves it on. So what I did is the stripper makes it soft enough that it looses the grip on it and the razor took it right off. The scraper wouldn't work for nothing.
Red Regal T
Senior Member
- Joined
- May 24, 2001
IF YOU WANT TO PAY $24 A GALLON GET AIRCRAFT STRIPPER. LIKE ALL AUTOMOTIVE PAINT SUPPLIES, THEY ARE OBSCENELY OVERPRICED. I'VE USED AIRCRAFT STRIPPER..........THE STUFF FROM WALMART WORKS JUST AS GOOD AND COSTS CLOSER TO $10 A GALLON. PROVES MY POINT.
GET YOURSELF THE COARSEST STEEL WOOL YOU CAN GET. NO MEDIUM/COARSE.........COARSE. GET A COUPLE GALLONS OF LACQUER THINNER AND SOME RUBBER GLOVES. YOU'LL ALSO NEED A BOX OF RAZOR BLADES. COST ABOUT $5 A HUNDRED AT AUTO PAINT SUPPLY. YOU ALSO NEED A SCRAPER THAT YOU CAN INSERT THE RAZOR BLADES IN.
AFTER STRIPPING, TO GET THE REMAINING PAINT OFF, USE THE COARSE STEEL WOOL, STRIPPER AND THINNER TO "SCRUB" REMAINING PAINT OFF. THEN CLEAN THE BARE METAL WITH CLEAN RAGS SOAKED WITH LACQUER THINNER. YOU CAN USE A METAL PREP BEFORE PRIMERING. I USUALLY SKIP THE METAL PREP. THAT'S UP TO YOU.
DON'T WAIT FOR THE WINTER TO DO IT. THE WARMER IT IS, THE FASTER THE STRIPPER WORKS. HAVE FUN!
GET YOURSELF THE COARSEST STEEL WOOL YOU CAN GET. NO MEDIUM/COARSE.........COARSE. GET A COUPLE GALLONS OF LACQUER THINNER AND SOME RUBBER GLOVES. YOU'LL ALSO NEED A BOX OF RAZOR BLADES. COST ABOUT $5 A HUNDRED AT AUTO PAINT SUPPLY. YOU ALSO NEED A SCRAPER THAT YOU CAN INSERT THE RAZOR BLADES IN.
AFTER STRIPPING, TO GET THE REMAINING PAINT OFF, USE THE COARSE STEEL WOOL, STRIPPER AND THINNER TO "SCRUB" REMAINING PAINT OFF. THEN CLEAN THE BARE METAL WITH CLEAN RAGS SOAKED WITH LACQUER THINNER. YOU CAN USE A METAL PREP BEFORE PRIMERING. I USUALLY SKIP THE METAL PREP. THAT'S UP TO YOU.
DON'T WAIT FOR THE WINTER TO DO IT. THE WARMER IT IS, THE FASTER THE STRIPPER WORKS. HAVE FUN!
my experience with sandblasting/beadblasting is that when done on Sheet Metal it will warp it, not cool. Chemical stripping works pretty good but can be very messy, and sort of a pain. Also watch where that stuff gets, the last thing you need is when your spraying on the clear and a little bit decides to come out of some little crevice and mess up you job. My advice is take your time, the striping/prepping is the most important part of a paint job. A good ole DA always does the trick on the larger flat areas. Good Luck.
Thanks guys!!.........Some very good advise. I have noticed that stripper works much faster when the temps are over 70. Doesn't give me much time in my part of the country. I should be able to do this project as i'll work on one panel at a time. No rushing for me!! Yedi, thanks for the info on blasting the car. Don't think i'll take a chance on having it blasted as the car is very straight, and I want to keep it that way.
KB
Yedi, thanks for the info on blasting the car. Don't think i'll take a chance on having it blasted as the car is very straight, and I want to keep it that way. KB
Man... I don't know what you have decided if anything.. But I tried both sanding and liquid stripper..
Liquid Stripper- A MESS and did not remove the primer just the top layer
36gt Sander - LONG TIME, LOTTA EFFORT, LOTTA PAPER..
In hindsight I would have, if available had the car blasted..and dealt with the cleanup...
Liquid Stripper- A MESS and did not remove the primer just the top layer
36gt Sander - LONG TIME, LOTTA EFFORT, LOTTA PAPER..
In hindsight I would have, if available had the car blasted..and dealt with the cleanup...
A
AsphaltAnihil8r
Guest
Can bead blasting be done by the "DIY"er,in the garage..Also is there a new method out there,I thought I heard on a car show about walnut shells,looked like a powder...
Thanks
Thanks
