C1 Paint Stripping w/Stripper

[Ted S.]

I bought the StripKleen stripper for fiberglass. First layer of paint, no sweat came right off. Hit the red oxide primer underneath and after several coats this stuff barely phases it. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance, Ted

[Ted S.]

Re: C1 Paint Stripping w/Stripper

Actually the product is from KleanStrip and the layer may be a sealer layer. It's more red than than red oxide primer which is more on the brown side.

[Jim T.]

Re: C1 Paint Stripping w/Stripper

I have only stipped my 68 and 70 with a chemical stripper. Stopping at the primer was good enough for me. A little wet sanding took the primer off and was no big job. Actually I would perfer that the stripper only took off the paint and left the primer.

[Ted S.]

Re: C1 Paint Stripping w/Stripper

The problem is this is primer or sealer over yet another old paint job. If it was down to the original primer I'd be happy. The more I look at it I think it is some type of sealer.

[Ray C.]

Re: C1 Paint Stripping w/Stripper

Hi!

I have used the same strip on a 65 and a 61. The strip would not remove the original primer (red oxide on the 65 and a black with a red tint or very dark brown on the 61). The advice that I received was; do not disturb this primer if in good condition as it will serve as a barrier to prevent the solvents from the stripper from penetrating into the fiberglass and causing paint problems at a latter date. I washed with soap and water and finished the cleaning process with lacquer thinner. I sanded with 240Grit wet and dry paper and used PPG polly-primer to seal the original primer and bodywork.

Ray #36314

[Ted S.]

Re: C1 Paint Stripping w/Stripper

So far it looks like it's been repainted 3 times since the original paint. Originally black, then white, then green, then back to black. In it's thickest part the paint/surfacers/sealers/etc measures a whopping 45 mils. Does the Captain Lee's product remove primer/sealers from additional paint jobs?

[Chuck S.]

Re: C1 Paint Stripping w/Stripper

Ted, it's possible that the red is the top coat of an earlier repaint using a modern single stage system. I have heard that newer paints like urethane are very resistant to removal by strippers. The good news is that the modern paints wear really well, but the bad news is that intentional removal is also difficult. You may have to treat this layer of red like Ray Carney suggests below for factory red oxide primer, and just wet-sand it off using 240 grit paper...it's more work, but you can do no harm.

Once you are through this red layer, you can resume using the stripper if there are still multiple paint layers remaining. As Ray says, I would assure myself that the original factory primer is still there below the red; the factory primer does serve as a barrier to keep the stripper from soaking into the fiberglass until it can be washed away with water and lacquer thinner. The factory primer will also be very stubborn to removal by stripper.

[terry leeker]

Re: C1 Paint Stripping w/Stripper

Ted, I had a similar situation on my '58. The red oxide prime in places was 1/16+ thick. What I use to remove it was acetone. I does not appear to effect the pressmold glass but does soften or raise any polyester filler it comes in contact with. I was quite "liberal" with it and basically washed the primer off...mucho rolls of paper towels.