Auto Paint stripping help !!!

Back in the 70s I totally screwed up a perfectly good Pontiac LeMans. That was back when I was a teenager and knew everything and didn't need any advice! After all, I had read almost every issue of Hot Rod and Car Craft magazines! Among my mistakes was completely removing all the paint using chemical removers and sand paper and then letting the car sit a couple of days until my friend and I could spray on the primer. Within a couple of years the paint starting having problems from the rust underneath. If possible I would ask prior owners if the paint was removed to bare metal and where. If there are places with the factory primer intact I would NOT take those to bare metal. Obviously where the paint is peeling or bubbling, you will need to take that down but do everything you can to keep the metal as clean as possible. Talking here about chemically clean, not soap and water clean. Go to the automotive paint supply store and get the proper cleaners and spray on the primer coat as soon as possible. If you can't get every speck of rust off the metal, make sure to use one of the paints to chemically convert the rust. Then get the car painted soon. If I recall correctly, primers are not a perfect barrier to moisture so water molecules will get to the metal if you let it sit around.
Oh, and to those folks who say "Never say Never". Bull. NEVER use aluminum pop rivets to attach steel sheet metal!
Have fun. Steve.

I haven't done what you are anticipating however, I've researched aircraft paint for a future project (an RV7-A) and here's the deal........ you need to find "industrial coatings/ automotive" distributors in your area - forget regular paint distributors (if they have house paint, they won't have what you want), forget auto-parts stores. It's a real eye-opener to see all the special "coatings", primers, strippers, etc. that they have....... a whole different world. For example you could start w/ or the yellow pages.

snipped-for-privacy@att.net (TraxUnderground) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com:
Gary, The quickest and easiest way is to take it to a reputable bead blaster. They can pick the proper media and take the paint off one layer at a time if they want to, without damaging any bodywork. Otherwise you are stuck with the old 'elbow grease and sandpaper' method....hehe.

I would question the former owner's bodywork techniques if the paint did not turn out well. To go through all the work of a near perfect paint job only to have unknown quality work ruin it for you would be a great disappointment. (I know from personal experience) If it were my car I would strip it to the base metal, correct any problems and then prime with a good epoxy primer and do the filler work on top of the epoxy. After the body work is done lay on another coat of epoxy to sandwich the filler between them thereby sealing it from moisture. Good luck on your new ride! Steve

Hey you guys, Thanks for your advice. I plan to try stripper a little at a time and see how it goes. I am going to have to do most of the grunt work myself cause the car is not mobile at the moment, but when I do start feeling uneasy and think I'm screwing things if (If I do) then I will have to stop and save my money and pay someone to do it right.
Thanks Gary

I've done some of this in the past, I used a product from the autobody supply place called Aircraft Paint Stripper. This is not the stuff you can get from the hardware store, it literally popped the paint off the body sections in about 15 minutes, sounded like frying bacon. It had lots of methylene chloride in it which may make it unobtainable these days. Once you've got the paint off, though, you've got to step lively or you'll have a nice case of rust on that bare body panel. I used a phosphate etch after stripping and sanding, this killed any rust. This stuff also softens and removes body filler, so if you're planning on leaving the dents in, it might not be the way to go. If you really want to see how bad things are, though, this stuff will get it all off and you can ding and reweld to your heart's content. I did not strip the whole car at once, being a VW, I could remove fenders, doors and hatch to refinish one at a time. You do have to be careful with your paint mixing if you do it that way so everything matches. This stripper is really nasty stuff, you need chemical gloves, some sort of face protection and have running water available. It'll raise welts on unprotected skin in seconds.
I started on this project with an electric pad sander and a big pile of sand paper. I started in on the hood. An hour later I had about a 1 foot square section sanded down to the primer, a big pile of dead sand paper and a very hot sander. I then got my first quart of stripper, applied it, 15 minutes later it was ready for finish sanding, cleanup and priming.
As always, check with your local auto paint and body shop supply joint, they'll have some recommendations for you.
Stan

Hi I am in the uk but guess what cara i have most experiance of stripping, why muscle cars of course.........
first the post that said if there is any sound factory paint leave it, he was giving you the best bit of advice.
blasting, if anyone says they can blast paint off whatever fancy media they claim to use, find a third party who has used them and find out if your going to end up with rippled panels. it's so easy to make a right mess... I have wet blasted paint from behind the bumper area of a car before and it didn't seem to do any damage, nothat it was visible.. wet blasting is as simple as a pressure washer and a blasting attachment with some dry sand.
paint stripper, it's very easy and I used to do a car like a mach1/charger/roadrunner size in a day, maybe even an afternoon.
it's best in the summer, you use the heat of the sun to get the stripper going..
first you have to tape up all gaps, anywhere you won't be able to directly remove the stripper, you don't want it on any rubber, your removing the windows right[well i have seen people doing a 'bare metal' respray with the windows still in!].
wash the car and go over it with a wire brush. put polythene down on your drive. paint the stripper on with a large brush. when it's covered put a sheet of black polythene overthe car. the car will get nice'n'hot underthe polythene. Leave it half an hour. Get yourself a cardboard box and a paint scraper, make sure the scraper is sharp but with rounded corners, scrape the paint off the car into the cardboard box. you will have to repeat this a few times.
Don't worry if you still have traces of paint on the car, when it's pretty much stripped wash it thourghly and go over the whole thing with a DA and 80 grit[I am in the uk you measure it differently]; It doesn't take long to do.
remove all the masking and sand all the paint off these bit's, I do sometimes have a go at hard to get at bit with stripper but it's usually treated as a second opperation as it's far more dificcult.
Roll the polythene up and throw it and the cardboard boxes away..
I used synstrip, nicknamed skinstripper it was evil, it burns on the palm of you hand[thick skin], not like nitromoors[methylene chloride] which only burns painfully on thin skin, I won't talk about safety as I know your all well up for playing with chemicals that burn like fuck.. Last time I bought stripper i had to buy methylene chloride it works fine.. though i would be doubtfull of any 'green' preperations..
use a 2pack etch primer on the bare metal car then wack on some 2pack primer, try and get it done the same day. If it's getting cold and the car gets damp leave it till you can clean it with an acid cleaner and prime it on a warm dry day.
the acid cleaner and etch primer really is necessary, well I think so... I won't go into one on paint types, I only use 2packs... If your not sure about your air supply try and get/borrow a dryer.
-- richard

If you have an air compresser,go get yourself a cheap little siphon type sandblaster.Go to your local dollar store and buy all the baking soda they have.I stripped a '65 New Yorker that way,worked great with no warping of the metal.Just work in small areas and it is fine.The soda will remove the paint and polish the steel.

Thanks again guys. I plan to try the aircraft stripper and do small sections at a time. I have the time and elbow grease so I think this is the best bet for me. I boight a sandblasting gun and shot some on a piece of rusted angle iron to see how it works. Damn it worked like a champ but I can see me screwing up and damaging the metal on the car so I'll save that for the frame. Big ass mess too! Just waiting for good weather here in NJ to roll the car outside and try it.
Thanks again everyone I appreciate your advice and experience!
Gary

Better yet, just go to your local Ag Co-op and buy food grade Bicarb by the 50 lb bag, for less per lb than you'll pay at the dollar store.

Hi and thanks....what is Ag Co-op and food grade Bicarb. I live in NJ and dont know what Ag Co-op is? Thanks Gary

"Ag Co-op" - Similar to "Farm Beareau" - Basically, a bunch of folks got togetehr and said "Hey, we all want to buy product X, but it's too expensive/there's too much of it the way the folks who make it want to sell it ("I only need 3.27 ounces, but the sign says 'Minimum sale, 5000 pounds'") so let's all get together, pool our $$, buy a big wad of it, then sell it to each other in the quantities we need".
Do that often enough, and you've got a Co-op going. Possibly well enough that it can be turned into a standalone business.
Bicarb - Food grade or otherwise: Sodium Bicarbonate. AKA "Baking soda". Can be used as a decent mild abrasive.

Hey, that's great! I've heard of these very expensive blasters that use frozen CO2 as the abrasive, but Bicarbonate of Soda is new to me.
I've got a 16"x72" TOS lathe that is in great shape save that it really needs a paint job. Badly.
1) Could I safely use Bicarb to sandblast the ***painted portions*** of the outside of the lathe, or is it just too risky in terms of damaging the ways, Bicarb in the headstock gears (OUCH!), etc.
2) What pressure would you run the siphon blaster at?
3) Any particular nozzle size or material?
4) Bicarbonate of Soda is the same thing as Baking Soda, right? Out of genuine curiosity, why would an Ag Co-op be selling such large quantities? Is it used in animal feeds?
The TOS is grouted in and weighs almost 3000#. I'd love to be able to get away with stripping it and giving it a nice new paint job without actually moving it outside or disassembling it. If blasting with Bicarb is not a hot idea for this application, does anyone have something better?
Thanks, Dave

"Sweetening" soil (killing some, most, or even all, of the acidity) is a pretty routine thing on farms in some areas due to the type of soil. Other areas, such an activity would be practically unheard of. Hydrated lime, AKA "Slack lime" or "slaked lime" is one common material used for doing it. But due to the nature of the stuff, it can be *SERIOUSLY* nasty, even deadly, to work with - think pneumonia resulting from the chemical burns you're likely to get inside your lungs after the wind changes and blows a faceful of the dust at you to inhale...
Bicarb/baking soda (yes, they're the same thing) will do the same job, although it will require more to accomplish the same task than if lime were used. On the plus side, baking soda won't cause you to cough your lungs out in little bloody chunks if you catch a crossbreeze loaded with the dust.

Whatever you do, DON'T use quicklime. It's far, far nastier than slaked lime. Garden lime (slaked, and coarse) or powdered limestone (slaked lime that's slaked even more, and thus less dangerous) may not be too bad. But it's still quite alkaline, even if it isn't so chemically active as slaked or quicklime.

Agricultural Co-Op (farm supply) Food grade Bicarb - bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) used in livestock feed rations - particularly for cattle.

Yes.

Gary, you'll find Agway and other farm supply places in various parts of the state. I use Belle Meade Agway, which is in central Jersey. There also are co-ops in the southern part of the state and in the northwest.
Ed Huntress

Thanks Ed! I work in Bridgewater NJ and Belle Mead Agway is close by. Thanks for your help.. Gary