Paint Removal

[JIvey13]

All,

Okay I am on a budget so I am removing all the paint from the body of my 57. I am taking it down to bare metal to look for running rust and holes. Have any of you done this and how? Right now I am wire wheeling it and it seems to be working fairly good just a little time consuming. Thank you in advance

Jeff Ivey

[Foot Stomper]

No need to remove entire body to bare metal. Tightly adhered paint is great indication of no underlying rust. Having said that, media blasting leaves nothing behind and reveals true nature but is very expensive, albeit.

Dig into the areas you see the rust or paint bubbles. Scrape, sand and wire brush until you get down to bare metal and no loose rust or metal is present.

For example, this fender shows rust and faded paint. The rusty areas need abrasion to bare steel to expose metal failure and repairs needed. The painted areas need a scuff and paint (on a limited budget). One could sand the fenders to bare metal with a few sheets of sandpaper too.

The cab shown needs many hours of metal replacement and can only be repaired properly by a complete body media blast in my opinion... huge job.

Show us some pictures of what you are working on and we will all try to help you.

[my56chevytruck]

thats a question with many answers and most of us I assume, have done this at least once. you can take it and be sand blasted, soda blasted and so forth. the labor alone is expensive. If you are wanting to go down to bare metal, you can do it yourself with strippers and a putty knife. of course you'll still have to sand it some to get it down to bare metal. There's various products you can use so its a personal choice. I'm a big follower in EASTWOOD, and the people there are extremely helpful (eastwood.com) or (1-800-343-9353), but you can go to your local auto paint store and ask them what they have to use. I've done it all kinds of ways, once using soda blasting at my residence. sure was a mess but it did the job. just make sure IF you choose to do that, don't do it in a humid time, moisture and powder turns into a gummy mess and it'll stick in all the crevices. Plastic media is another good choice and it really gets down to the bare metals quickly. if you have completely dissembled your truck, layout some plastic sheeting and start brushing on the stripper and get a scrapin. good luck.

[JIvey13]

Originally Posted by my56chevytruck

thats a question with many answers and most of us I assume, have done this at least once. you can take it and be sand blasted, soda blasted and so forth. the labor alone is expensive. If you are wanting to go down to bare metal, you can do it yourself with strippers and a putty knife. of course you'll still have to sand it some to get it down to bare metal. There's various products you can use so its a personal choice. I'm a big follower in EASTWOOD, and the people there are extremely helpful (eastwood.com) or (1-800-343-9353), but you can go to your local auto paint store and ask them what they have to use. I've done it all kinds of ways, once using soda blasting at my residence. sure was a mess but it did the job. just make sure IF you choose to do that, don't do it in a humid time, moisture and powder turns into a gummy mess and it'll stick in all the crevices. Plastic media is another good choice and it really gets down to the bare metals quickly. if you have completely dissembled your truck, layout some plastic sheeting and start brushing on the stripper and get a scrapin. good luck.

Thank you for the advice, I tried some spray on remover and it somewhat worked. Is it bad to use a wire wheel to remove the paint?

Jeff Ivey

[JIvey13]

Thank you for the advice. I guess I should have put in there that I am painting the entire thing from scratch.

Jeff Ivey

[focusedontheprize]

If you are looking for a low cost option to get to bare metal I always go with aircraft stripper. I have found some tricks, but the main one is if you put a VERY light coat on the bare metal when it's done and use steel wool to get it completely clean it will create a rust preventor layer.

We did this with a few of our cars and never had any rust with them sitting for months.

[Jemezcrusher]

I have used a combination of things. Had the interior of the cab blasted to get under the dash, etc. Did most of the exterior with stripper discs from Roark Supply. These work pretty well and will take off paint, bondo, etc.

Aircraft remover works too, just very messy

[my56chevytruck]

If you want the paint to come off quickly, AIRCRAFT STRIPPER is a product that removes the paint NOW!!! Spray remover works OK at best, brush on the aircraft stripper and you'll be happy with the results. Yes, you will need to sand down the metal where the stripper hasn't worked as well; corners, seams, etc. Good luck.

[Port&PolishMan]

Originally Posted by my56chevytruck

If you want the paint to come off quickly, AIRCRAFT STRIPPER is a product that removes the paint NOW!!! Spray remover works OK at best, brush on the aircraft stripper and you'll be happy with the results. Yes, you will need to sand down the metal where the stripper hasn't worked as well; corners, seams, etc. Good luck.

I've seen that Stuff in Action - when they Re_Painted the B52"s

Huge Gobbs of Paint falling from 39 ft. - weight like 80-90 Lbs
11-14 ft. sections 18 ft wide .

[my56chevytruck]

one more note, as others have said, make sure you wash the sheet metal you used ANY stripper before attempting to paint or prime. You might want to ask an automotive paint store for a neutalizer as well. good luck.

[mr48chev]

Lots of ways to do it and none of them are wrong outside of maybe using too course of disk when you get down to the metal and causing yourself more work to smooth out the scratches from the disk. Been there done that.

I've used paint stripper and flap wheels too.
I haven't had one sandblasted, Media blasted or dipped but plan to have a local shop sandblast most of my sheetmetal after I get the fabricating work far enough along.

One of the guys I am on FB with uses some sort of wheel or disk that he cuts paint off at a serious rate with. I didn't keep the info but will ask him about them again.

[b-mac]

JIvey13, Wire wheel is fine, but sometimes leaves a "polished" surface, that may need to be scuffed with sandpaper to get the primer to adhere properly. Careful with heat, but it shouldn't be a big issue with a wire wheel. Grinding disks will cause heat, and warping. And wear a face shield...those wires start to fly out of the wheel at a high velocity as it wears out.

I wipe my bare metal parts with ospho to prevent surface rust re-appearing but do your research on that. I'm no expert. My old man would have immediately covered bare metal with epoxy primer. I just don't have that option.

Blasting is horribly messy...pay someone else to do it.

[NeverDone50]

If you use paint stripper, make sure you neutralize it and clean everything thoroughly with water and a scuff pad. And definitely get a charcoal respirator and thick gloves, that stuff is crazy toxic. A decent angle grinder with a 80-150 grit sanding pad would make some quick sanding, just make sure you don't dig in and keep it moving so you don't warp the metal. Only grind it down just until the paint is off then take a DA sander with 150 grit to smooth out and take the rest of the paint off.

[_Ogre]

I am removing all the paint from the body

ogre sandblasted his whole truk possibly $500 for everything and done in a day
it's not expensive compared to stripper, sanding discs and weeks of labor

[Cape Codder]

Careful with sandblasting it can destroy sheet metal if not done carefully It will make it very wavy.

[68c10airstream]

How about evaporust pumped through a little pond pump up to a high location inside and outside the panels, make a 2x4 box big enough to fit under the cab?? with plastic stapled to the 2x4 frame to act as a catch basin and recycle it back through the pump. Put the pump inside the frame and put a hose on the pump to route it where you want!! No smell, safe, a 5 gallon bucket is about $100.00 and just add a little water to replace what evaporated! I called evaporust recently and questioned them on this system and they said "perfect, just add a little water as you go to maintain the same level in the catch basin". No warped panels, relatively low cost and can be reused many times.

[1project2many]

Chemical strippers were not effective in removing the factory paint from my truck. Sandpaper and grinding discs filled quickly and became useless. I ended up using 3M bristle discs. They gave me the most bang for the buck and they didn't remove metal under the paint. But ohhh the time invested...

Smaller panels were soaked in an acid tank. That's not a perfect method as it requires babysitting and plenty of manul labor after the panel is removed from the tank. Using the pressure washer after the acid helped knock more paint off and remove acid but the panels had to be dried and primed immediately. These days I'd use an electrolytic process instead of the acid as it won't dissolve the steel panels if they are left in the tank too long.

The only place around me with large sandblasting equipment was the construction company. They blasted concrete mixers, loader buckets, and other large equipment that, when repainted, had waves like the Pacific in the wind. I did not gamble on allowing those folks to blast the panels from my truck.