Media will get the rust, it just is not as quick. It is preferred over sand for body panels as is is less likely to warp the panels and damage any rubber parts maybe left on the car. Soda is even more gentle. Sand is very good at getting heavy rust on larger gauge metal. Here are a couple pictures, one before and one after media blasting.
I thought $1100 was a pretty good price too. When trying to decide whether or to media blasting or acid dipping, it looked like the prices were similar. Acid dipping a little higher. In my case it really came down to the fact that I would have to go over 500 miles to get it acid dipped. Transportation costs would have been really bad.
