Aircraft Paint Stripper.

[cudadude013]

I have finally stripped my car down to a rolling shell and its time to remove the old paint to see whats hiding beneath.

Someone recommended using aircraft paint stripper... is this a good idea?

Is it something I can attempt myself or should I take it to the pro's?

What can I expect to pay if someone else does it?

Thanks!

[Kapteenikosmos]

My advice is to use electric angle grinder with a rough paint stripping disc. I don't know whats the real name used for those but the one that is more common here in Finland would probably be somewhat rasist by someone so I won't write it here.

Like these http://www.jtrabrasives.com/MerchantUploads/edgeAcroBooAutomotive//3M/3M-3171.jpg

but for angle grinder. Those are for power drill and are quite good for places that you cannot reach with angle grinder. When using those, some patience is needed so that you don't warp the panels with too much heat. Just apply light to almost no pressure, depending on the surface orientation, and you will be fine. Also watch out for the sharp edges, because they will eat the disc very fast.

Anyway,  I think that you could pretty easily strip the exterior of a whole car in one longish day with those.

[the_engineers]

Really depends on your budget and how deep you want to go.

You can strip it, either mechanically or chemically.  There are ups (cheap) and downs (slow, messy) for each.

You can have it stripped by dipping (moderately expensive, hard to locate), media blasting (you'll have stuff falling out of your car forever) or CO2 blasting (expensive, but fantastic).

[nick68]

I have used aircraft stripper alot. It work very well. One warning, do NOT let it touch your skin, it will burn and your first instinct is to want to rub it off with you rubber glove, wrong move.   Always wear good PPE when working with this stuff.

[tx9aarcuda]

I used the aircraft stripper back in the mid 80's to strip the paint on my Coronet worked ok. Don't be in a hurry, the thicker the paint the longer it takes and more coats it takes. Doesn't lift the paint that is over bondo very well if I remember correctly, and I had alot of bondo. I took my Cuda to Redi Strip in Chicago and had it dipped worked great, I had a lot of rust in the roof braces that would have been hard to get to by media blasting. That cost me $2700 back in 2001 but it was well worth the money.

[4 speed fish]

Get the car blasted.

[rallye73]

If you score the paint surface with 60 or 80 grit paper the striper will work better. I've also used a sheet of plastic to lay over it so the air doesn't dry it up before it has a chance to work.