Anyone ever strip paint one layer at a time to reveal the original?

[dave73chally]

My car has sublime paint laid over the original black, I can see the black peeking through in certain locations. Previous owner said it was a Maaco job and it's not pretty. I plan to bring the car back to black but my money is going to other details first. I came across this post on a VW forum, there is like 40+ pages on them stripping off aftermarket jobs and revealing the original paint. Some of the results are pretty awesome, a lot are using Motsenbocker's graffiti remover.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=76072&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

I'd much rather have the worn down original paint, "patina" and all, than what I have now. I have some patch panels I need to replace anyways so it won't be perfect. If it strips too much paint I could just take it all off...


 What do you guys think?

[HP2]

Interesting, but I don't think I'd want my original paint. I'm sure its finish left much to be desired and its color, Avocado green with a goldish tint, was not too appealing to begin with.

I can count three subsequent layers of primer and paint on my car. There are areas where adhesion has failed and in the process of cleaning up divots and doing some sanding, I can see a brief history of time the car went through. Over the green went a coat of B5 blue, which was then covered in black, which was then returned to a dark blue, almost black metallic. Its like counting rings on a  tree. and if you figure a gallon of primer, gallon  of paint, and gallon of reducer went into each job, I've got 12 gallons of paint on that thing. That has to be an easy 100# worth of layers sitting on this pig.

[Jesus H Chrysler]

Mine ended up looking like a Jawbreaker.  From the doors back had already been stripped and repainted by the prior owner.  When I took the fenders down I saw at least 6 or 7 coats of paint, primer, bondo etc.  It was Rallye Red, candy apple red, gold, black and yellow.  This car must have lead an interesting life.

[dave73chally]

What did you use to strip your car? Did each layer come off one at a time? I'm thinking of trying that graffiti removal method to strip just the top layer. My understanding is that the car was only painted sublime because the previous owners son "wanted a green car."

[Jesus H Chrysler]

Don't use my method!  When I was 20 and first stripped the fenders I used 80 grit discs on an electric buffer.  Wrecked it to hell.  Now that I am older, and therefore wiser, I used 320 grit in an orbital sander, to try to smooth out the gouges.  It didn't work.  It ended up sandblasted.

I don't know how graffiti remover works.  Is it like a really mild paint stripper?  I've used paint stripper before.  It's messy, but usually only takes off 1 or 2 coats at a time.

[dave73chally]

Looks like a mild paint stripper. I can't find much info on it other than a ton of VW guys use it to bring back the original layer of paint.

[HP_Cuda]

When I was 20 I used a chemical paint remover on another car. While it worked somewhat well the thing that sticks in my mind is:

1) When I was using it and inhaling the fumes I was wondering how much time did I take off my life
2) When I got it on my skin boy did it burn
3) Made a nasty mess

If I were to do it all over again I would have it blasted and then use fine grit for finishing before body prep.

['Cuda Hunter]

I have a super bird wing that me and a friend stripped with paint stripper.
light layers at a time.
Always cleaning it up on short order.
Actually pulled each layer individually.
The wing had 6 colors on it.
Regular paint stripper.
Total pain in the butt.
Bad vapors, burns, messy, expensive.
It worked though.
I kept the original color on the interior parts of the cast that had some over spray. Not much on the inside though.

Try it out, let us know how it works out for you!

Got a link to the forty pages of vw talk?

[dave73chally]

Link is in first post, half way down

[loco340cuda]

Mine ended up looking like a Jawbreaker.  From the doors back had already been stripped and repainted by the prior owner.  When I took the fenders down I saw at least 6 or 7 coats of paint, primer, bondo etc.  It was Rallye Red, candy apple red, gold, black and yellow.  This car must have lead an interesting life.

Same here, if only my car could talk!  My car had like 6 coats of paint on it including primers.  I was able to scrap/sand down the paint layers until I reached the original yellow paint.  There is no way i could have saved the original paint as it was sanded down to allow primer and new paint to be sprayed on top of it.  Here is a picture of the car showing the original paint after I sanded it down.

[HP2]

There is no way i could have saved the original paint as it was sanded down to allow primer and new paint to be sprayed on top of it. 

Good point and a stark contrast to the  VW's shown in the original link that had a slip shod spray bomb paint job over a much higher quality paint job underneath.

[dave73chally]

Thanks guys. I bought my car car from the original owner so the info I have on it I feel is pretty accurate. It has a $200 Maaco job and if they stayed true to form, they sprayed it straight over the original with minimal body work. I'm going to test out the process on my rear valance as it's destroyed and I need a new one anyways. I'll keep you posted as to my results, need to wait for warm weather hear in the northeast tho