mid year paint strip

[Justin N.]

Dear Members,
I have talked with my paint guy tonight and with his 20 years of collision work and paint experience, he says not to chemical strip. It's too hard to properly clean and there's no guarentee against contamination. He suggests I take it to another friend that can plastic-media blast for about $400. So I figure I have three choices; chemical strip(2 gallons) $50, plastic-media $400, or straight-edge razor($10) with deep groves into body panels. What would you guys choose? Another suggestion? My 67 has the original paint (very rough) that needs to be removed. Thank you Much!

Justin #41362

[Tom D.]

Re: mid year paint strip

Justin: The phrase "needs to be removed" indicates there are cracks in the paint which cannot be sanded off. True? Or, can you consider just sanding the old paint?

Tom D.
MI Chapter

[G B.]

Your painter is wrong

Prejudice against chemical stripping is based on urban myths and third hand stories. Ask your painter how many times he's personally used the correct stripping chemicals and had them react with a good paint job. My guess is about zero. Painters love top blame chemical strippers when what they really have is solvent pop or moisture contamination.

You can go ahead and blast your car's skin to hell and then try to bring it back smooth with a grinder. However, that's a one way street. The same goes for sandpaper or razor blades in the jambs and corners. You can't turn around and get the original surface back once it's gone.

It costs more like $200 for the supplies to chemically strip a car. You need paper towels, steel wool, and rubber gloves too. Then there's about 40 hours of labor for a mid-year if you're going to do the bottom sides and jambs. But, it's definitely worth all the time and money if you want to do it right.

[Jack J.]

Re: mid year paint strip

Justin, I just want to share with you the recent paint strip of my 64 coupe. The car has sat for 27 years and I'm in the process of a body off restoration. This is the 3rd time I have personally stripped the car down to bare glass in the car's life, (I am the original owner). This 3rd and LAST time, I chose to strip it using just lacquer thinner and # 3 course steel wool. The previous 2 times Dupont's Lacquer Removing Solvent was available back in the late 60's and early 70's. In my opinion, the advantages of lacquer and steel wool are: 1) you don't have to neutralize it and you can quit anytime you want to. Though tedious and time consuming, I would suggest you purchase a gallon of inexpensive ($10) lacquer and make your own evaluation. If you have any questions you can email me at jagello@comcast.net

[Wayne W.]

Re: Your painter is wrong

Jerry and I agree on almost everything, and I understand what he is saying here, but I think it is wrong to totally discount media or sand blasting. When done correctly, the surface can be left about as slick and nice as original. Unfortunately the fact is that most don't know what they are doing and have a tendency to damage the body. I am one of those painters that has had serious problems with chemically stripped bodies on occasion. One example comes to mind. I did a car that the customer had stripped to bare glass himself. It was the prettiest unhit 64 body that you have ever seen. The paint was beautiful and it toured the show circuit for the summer and was put up for the winter. Nine months later, after sitting the winter in an unheated garage that sweated from time to time, it was brought out for the summer season. That thing had bubbles all over it. My customer comes lookin me. After some investigation, we determine two things, one, that he had used stripper to remove everything including the factory primer to bare fiberglass and two, that the stripper had laid dormant until the moisture from the underside of the panel wicked up the fibers and brought the stripper to the surface. So using chemicals are not fool proof either. If you use them, don't remove the factory primer with them, but sand that off. Back to the original question, Media or sand blasting can leave a very nice surface and not damage the vehicle in any way, but you need to realize that blasting the paint off is not what you want to do. Don't assume that you can blast it off and go right to priming. There is no free ride here, it takes a lot of work even with blasting. The method is to use a wide nozzle and peck the paint up just to the point that you can start seeing glass, but leaving paint in specks. Then sand off the remaining paint and primer. Pecked up, it will sand easily, but it still takes some work.

[Craig S.]

Re: Your painter is wrong

I had a very bad experience with a media blaster - it was in the beginning days back in the late 80's and it was on the headlight covers on my 74. They used toom much volume and I personally thing the media was contaminated with debris resulting in more pocking. At that time, they wante $1500 to strip a car and charged me $100 to damage the two headlight covers. I also believe with care, knowlege, and good practice it can work just fine as Wayne suggests. I used chemical stripper for fiberglass on the rest of the car, but only stripped to the factory primer, and hand sanded off the rest. It came out great, If you used chemical with care, it will be just fine, just don't get crazy with too much on the surface, work in small areas, in steps, and it will be just fine...Craig

[Patrick H.]

Re: mid year paint strip

Jack,

You might want to think about using a Scoth Brite pad or similar. It may be only urban legend, but I've heard of small pieces of the steel wool getting stuck in the glass and causing problems.

Patrick

[Donald T.]

Re: Your painter is wrong

You can chemically strip a corvette. I have done it with good results and no issues. Do not use aircraft stripper, as it will eat your fiberglass. Use a stripper specifically designed for fiberglass and follow directions - Cap'n Lees is the most popular and works very well. Also, do not use steel wool in the process as it can imbed in the fiberglass. Steel wool works well for a metal car but not fiberglass. Just use a bondo spreader to remove the paint, as it will not damage the fiberglass. It may take several applications depending on how many layers of paint need to be removed. Make sure that you put down a large 3 mil sheet of plastic under your car or you will have a mess on your garage floor. Also, get a cheap bucket to slop the removed paint into for easy disposal, and lots of paper towels. It's a nasty messy job, and it might be worth the money just to get it media blasted.

[Craig S.]

Guess I better start proofreading to make up

for my typing issues where my fingers don't follow my brain

[Patrick T.]

Re: mid year paint strip

I removed all the paint off my '57 with a chemical stripper and paper towels only. One difference is I had two coats of gelcoat applied before anything else. Never had a problem. PT

[Justin N.]

Re: Your painter is wrong

Dear Members,
Thank you much for all the info! Hey Tom, The car is very tattered and the paint is bad and severly damaged, It has to come off. Bubba started some sort of paintwork that included enamel primer over the original, laquer Marina Blue.

Jerry, I helped him with a complete resto of a 1969 230SL. These cars have aluminum hood and trunk panels, but stripping these were easy. I think those "Urban Myths" are prominent in his thinking. I thought I read that bodies came across assembly line with a gel coat first, then a red-oxide colored primer, then another primer after. The body guys would sand the bodies until the red-oxide started to show through and any imperfections were dealt with at this time. Another primer and then color? It seems I would be able to chemically strip and stop when I start to see the reddish primer? Thanks again!
Justin #41362

[Jack J.]

Re: mid year paint strip

Pat, I started out using a brown Scotch pad only to discover that the thinnner was dissolving the pad. The course #3 steel wool and thinner liquified the lacquer to where I could wipe it off with a rag and thinner also. Again, this being the third time I have used steel wool, I personally don't accept the "urban legend". The car is down to bare glass and running your hand over the finish, the sensation is "smooth as glass".

[Jack J.]

Re: mid year paint strip

Justin, I just want to add that with lacquer thinner, you have very little "mess", which is a BIG PLUS! A few sheets of cardboard on the garage floor or driveway will prevent paint spots from accumulating. The use of old clean rags facilitates the wipe off of the liquified lacquer residue. And when you're down to bare glass, you are done, NO SANDING. I would estimate that it cost me about a $100 to strip the coupe. Just my honest opinion from personal experience.

[Jim T.]

Re: mid year paint strip

Justin I have only stripped my 68 and my 70 for experience. I used the method Tom posted. The stripper did not remove the factory primer,only the factory lacquer. I wet sanded with about 220 to remove the primer. I always had the cars ot home and could start and stop whenever. Today if I removed lacquer I would dispose of it with our twice a year "bring us your hazardous waste" program.

[Chuck S.]

Re: Your painter is wrong

Justin, you needn't worry about having a problem stopping at the red-oxide primer...if the car still has the factory red-oxide primer, the stripper is going to stop at that primer like it hit a stone wall. Factory red-oxide primer is almost impervious to stripper, but wet-sanding with 240 grit works like a charm. It's almost intuitive...hard to see how anyone could screw it up.