Removing Paint

I am looking into various methods of removing the paint down to the metal in preparation of a new paint job. The car’s surface presently has the original color and a color change on top and all the work and material required to do that. This means there is a lot of paint on the car. I have an estimate for soda blasting which I thought was expensive. The soda blaster estimated that it could take 12 hours to remove that much material. And that is with me bringing the car with all chrome and lights removed. To control the media from entering the crevasses they tape over all door bonnet and boot gaps. The paint shop removes the remaining material. Are there any other paint removal methods I should consider? Is there a DIY material that is not toxic that will get the job done? I don’t mind it taking weeks to strip.

Al, an old technique that is laborious and time-consuming, but very cheap, is to use a single-edge razor on one of those $.98 retractable razor holders. That is how my body shop removed the paint on my TR6. You would be amazed how effective the blade removes the paint down to the metal. Just buy you a box of 100 blades and change them often. The paint just peels right off. You can finish off the tight spots with Martin-Senour automotive paint stripper - very caustic, very effective.

so what did the soda blaster want to do the job?

TR6BILL said:

Al, an old technique that is laborious and time-consuming, but very cheap, is to use a single-edge razor on one of those $.98 retractable razor holders. That is how my body shop removed the paint on my TR6. You would be amazed how effective the blade removes the paint down to the metal. Just buy you a box of 100 blades and change them often. The paint just peels right off. You can finish off the tight spots with Martin-Senour automotive paint stripper - very caustic, very effective.

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That's the way my paint guy did the TR8. Very impressive to watch; very old-school; very effective, as Bill notes.

Mickey

I've used a sander, sand blaster and aircraft stripper. All have good points and bad points. The AC stripper was probably the best, but generates a hazardous waste you must deal with. You have to be sure to get it out of all cracks and crevices.

I use AC stripper as much as I can. The areas I cannot get to, or has significant rust I will media blast with a siphon feed blaster.

When using the stripper, I wear acid gloves and an air filter mask to filter the fumes. After the removing the paint I wash down the surface with soap and water, and wipe dry. There will be places where some paint does off so I hand sand the entire panel with 80 grit paper.

Be prepared, there will be rust under the paint. Most of it will be the small spider rust which is easily removed with a wire wheel, but you will encounter areas with heavy pitting, which I attack with the blaster.

I then apply phosphoric acid to small areas at a time using a course scotch brite pad, working vigorously on the areas with rust. This is then wiped off. To prevent flash rust, I apply Picklex20 which will prevent rust so long as it is not exposed to water or sweaty hands.

When the time comes to apply primer, I will scuff the surface with scotch brite and then do the normal paint prep.

Tools used, razor scraper, angle grinder (seen in picture) with a course wire wheel, a die grinder with a couple of different wire wheels, scotch brite, and a siphon media blaster.

Here is a picture of the rear of my car during the stripping process, and yes that is body filler.


Here it is after stripping, sanding, and wire wheeling. Notice there is still some rusted areas around the license plate light hole that I will media blast. Also note the ear protection and the air filter mask. (The bumper was attached to verify my repairs to the mounting brackets were correct, thanks to 2wrench for his pictures which helped me attain the proper fit)



This is a shot of the trunk area. You will notice a lite flash rust on the vertical area above the floor where I have yet to apply Picklex20, the floor itself was coated a couple of weeks ago. Also note the angle grinder, sanding pad, roll of 80 grit sandpaper, scuff pad pieces, and bottle of ACE Hardware phosphoric acid.



Actually the process goes pretty fast. Hope this helps.

One last thing, be prepared to find more rust then you think there is and possibly body filler as I discovered.

Al
You may want to try two other places
Fast Blast in Oxford CT
and Media blast sales in Milford.
I buy my Aluminum Oxide at the Milford location and they are excellent. I have seen at least 3 LBC's that they are stripping along with old Corvettes. Nice people to deal with.
Tom

Thanks all for your input.Thank you all for your input.

Hondo: I have a price estimate for as much as $1,200 to soda blast the car. I did not think it was going to take12 hours to soda blast it.

TR6Bill: Scraping the car is an interesting concept. Never thought about that. I can actually see myself doing that. It would be the same process of scraping paint from a house. Interesting. I will do some research on that process. Just sweep up the paint at days end and place it in the trash. I need to know exactly what scraper to get. I bet I could scrape the entire car over the week end. What do I use to protect the surface against flash rust once the metal is exposed?

Oldtimer: Looks like you are doing a good job. And if I read you correctly, you are using a combination of applications or what ever it takes to get the paint off. I am just doing the exterior panel surfaces, not the interior. So all my work will be on the outside. Yours looks like the approach I will be taking. Picklex20 is the fixative stuff to keep the rust away. I don’t want to create more problems. Thanks for the photos. A visual always helps.

Tom: I will give those other folk a call to see if the price I have is in or out of line. Thanks.

Al, just buy a cheap retractable single-edge scraper at the hardware store. And a box of 100 blades. Total investment should be under 10 bucks. Just like scraping paint, except in reality you are peeling it. Once you start a strip, it just peels right off like an orange. I guess anything to block the air and moisture will temporarily keep rust off. Maybe WD40.

I had my TR6 body tub sand blasted about a year and a half ago. It took the guy three hours and cost me $100. He used sand instead of soda, glass beads, walnut chips or any of that other "crap" as he liked to say. I ran over the metal with a stiff wire brush on my grinder before I shot primer. It looks great and best of all was quick and inexpensive.