Couple questions about stripping paint...

[lemming303]

I am gonna start stripping the car. I have a couple questions though. Is there a reason why I shouldn't use a wire wheel on my drill to strip areas that have large amounts of bondo? Or in spaces like the window channel? Would it damage the sheet metal at all?

Also, what grit sandpaper should I use on my orbital sander to strip down to bare metal? Is 120 too course? Thanks for the help!

[Topcat]

I stripped my whole car by hand. I did sections one at a time; not the whole car at once. Went thru almost 2 gallons of Aircraft stripper. After each area was done, I hand sanded it with 80 grit in straight direction lines. After stripping I used a metal conditioner like Ospho. Then direct to metal epoxy primered 24 hours later.

Use 40 grit in thick body filler areas to get to bare metal faster but stop before hitting metal if you can.

This might seem like a slower way but I never got too far ahead of myself either. And it let me really learn what issues were under each section as I went.

[bandt]

I used a knotted style wire wheel on all the bondo on my car. Goes through fairly quickly. Used a blade style scraper for straight paint. Was a long dirty time consuming process. Used a DA with 400 grit to scuff and leave a uniform finish on all the metal after. My body guy didn't have any complaints that I know of.

[Topcat]

This is what I used to clean the metal after stripping. This stuff worked very good. I bought it at ACE hardware.

http://www.cuda-challenger.com/cc/index.php?topic=67093.0

[bentpshrods]

   I stripped my car to bare metal useing a makita orbital sander-polisher with 80 grit disks on it for the larger panels. Plus used aircraft stripper on a lot of hard to reach stuff.  Also get some 4" stripping disks that can be used with a drill. After stripping with the 80 grit I went over the car with my DA with 180 grit to smooth out the 80grit scratch and then epoxy primer.  Pretty labor intensive but let the dust fly.     

[Topcat]

If you plan to use the brand Aircraft Stripper, make sure you have a fan on. That stuff will burn your nostrils. Like an Ammonia smell. Point made is: don't get carried away trying to do too much area all at once. Or your garage will overcome you with vapors.

Hardware brands didn't seem as good but didn't have the vapors like Aircraft Stripper does. 

[lemming303]

Cool. Thanks yall! One question though, what's a DA?

[vinb]

Time is money.

If you can afford it, media blast it.

Take the car apart, bring it to the shop and in most cases you'll get it back in a day or two..

The amount of Time, Energy and Mess its cheaper to media blast it that way you can get hopping on the metal & body work a heck of alot sooner..

[67vertman]

Cool. Thanks yall! One question though, what's a DA?

"DA" stand for dual action sander.  here is a good article on body work with a DA. http://www.hotrod.com/techarticles/body/hrdp_0805_duel_action_sander_tips/index.html

[Topcat]

One thing I forgot to mention,

The factory primer is hard as rock. I did use a DA for that part. As far as paint that was on mine, that came off fairly easy. In the past others have said to leave the factory primer on if the steel under is in good shape since its such a good protectant.

[lemming303]

Thanks Mike, but I've got rust bubbles coming through all over. So I'll be stripping down to bare metal. At least in the areas that are heavily bondo-ed, I may let the media blasters do the brunt of it. I would think they could do a better job...

[edl]

Time is money.

If you can afford it, media blast it.

Take the car apart, bring it to the shop and in most cases you'll get it back in a day or two..

The amount of Time, Energy and Mess its cheaper to media blast it that way you can get hopping on the metal & body work a heck of alot sooner..

what is the media of choice these days? - soda? - i have heard stories where people find sand in knooks and crannies forever - is that still a problem?

is it an option to have a car dipped to strip it? - like you might do to a frame?

thanks

[Topcat]

what is the media of choice these days? - soda? - i have heard stories where people find sand in knooks and crannies forever - is that still a problem?

is it an option to have a car dipped to strip it? - like you might do to a frame?

thanks

For the underside using a DIY pressure pot; Red Garnet or Aluminum Oxide. However PSI and tip size needs to be adjusted lower. Its aggresive but re usable once filtered. Coal slag (black magic is pretty good also. But then you are exposed to coal dust and it eventually breaks down as sand does.

Sand breaks down fast turning into Silica dust. Its bad for you to breathe and you really need a respirator air filtered mask. Also it is heavier, making it harder to get out of confined areas.

For outside metal, use plastic media. I don't recommend dipping because the sealer (dum dum) in between the panels is washed away. Kind of an expensive route besides.

I did mine on the underside. It took 2 days and kicked my a$$. I used plastic tarps to confine it so I could re use it. I don't think I would do it again unless I got paid well for it.

[the_engineers]

See if someone in your area does CO2 blasting.

As someone who had their car media blasted, I can attest that you'll have sand and particles coming out from the seams, nooks and crannies forever.

[lemming303]

Thanks for the info yall. I have still been thinking about doing the hard to get to stuff by media blasting, but when I go to do that I plan on cutting the rear quarters off and maybe even the roof too, since I will be replacing both. Should help with cleaning the dust out I would think, but I also don't have as much experience as yall do....