HUGE discovery for stripping a car..

[B.Lane]

Maybe some of you already know this, but the manufacturer of Aircraft stripper doesn't seam to.

As most of you know, if you are going to repaint your car, it is best to take it completely apart and down to bare metal. There are 2 basic ways to accomplish this. 1) bead blast. Cost about $900 to have someone do it and you might be spending the rest of your life cleaning up medium as it falls out of the cracks of your car. OR 2) stripper. Messy and SLOW. and stinky and toxic, and miserable....unless you read this.

I chose option #2 to save the $900 for mods.

Initially things were looking good...floor was masked, car apart, glass out, etc. We applied the AIRCRAFT STRIPPER to a quarter panel and it began to work right away. After the paint began to bubble up we scraped it with metal scrapers. After scraping we found a whole other layer of paint under the most recent coat. The bottom layer must have been original or some really, really good stuff becasue the stripper dried out before we could get any real results. Frustration set in hard as we couldnt get more than one square foot and hour down to metal. 3 evenings of this crawled on by. I tried 4 different brands of stripper. Aircraft remained the best.

The instructions on aircraft stripper basicaly tell you to brush on a heavy coat, DONT BACK BRUSH, and let it sit 15-45 minutes. Its dry in 15 though so thats all the time you get. The reason you dont back brush is because, as the can explains, you will release the GASES/CHEMICALS that effectively strip the paint. Well...the gasses? the stuff is almost dry in 15 minutes!.....uhg.

We got hungry, went up to re-heat some spaghetti in the microwave. As i prepared the bowls of food i had an appiffany....(forgive me if i can't spell) at that very moment, Larry, the guy helpin me, smiled...he too had the very same light come on in his vaccant head...The spaghetii warms faster and more even if you cover it with wrap....COVER THE CAR WITH STRIPPER AND THEN COVER THE WHOLE CAR WITH PLASTIC (.7 MIL TO BE EXACT). WIPE OVER THE PLASTIC TILL ITS TIGHT AGASINT THE CAR AND LEAVE!!! We did this..came back 2 hours later and pulled the plastic...as we pulled the plastic the paint began to lift off....right down to bare metal, paint clinging to the plastic. Some minor scraping and we were almost done. We did this same process one more time and scrubbed with a bit of steel wool and we were done that night. With plastic over the stripper the gas can't escape, and it can't dry out. POOR the stripper on, try not to brush to much, then roll plastic over the car. SMOOTH IT ALL OUT and push the OOOZ into every nook n crany...then go watch a good movie or sift around on Pelican. Good luck. and oh...with the plasic on the car..the stink from the stripper is all but eliminated untill you actually go to the removal stage.

[Milu]

Very interesting and very clever. I'm not convinced that going to bare metal is always the best way, however, that's another topic.

What does it do to galvanised metal?

Do you remove the stripper that's gone into the nooks and crannys?

[eion]

Hmmmm, interesting... I've got a fender waiting to be stripped. Do you reckon cling-film would work? I've found that aircraft remover seems to attack plastics quite voraciously - my 'solvent-proof' gloves have started to bubble a bit (although plastic as used on bumpers *seems* to be unaffected).

Milu - doesn't do anything to galvanization (which, after all, is a layer of metal). The stripper seems to be vaguely water-soluble, or at least washed away by water. Seems like A Bad Idea to spray water onto bare metal, I know, but it's (mostly, except for the bits that I had to use the Dremel on - long story) galvanized (in my case, anyway). I figure as long as you dry it quickly, it won't be a problem.

[nick-moss]

Fascinating idea. My body is in the shop right now undergoing a full restoration and may get paint on it in the next week or so. I hadn't planned to strip right back to metal, but if this so easy I might consider it.

Before the car went to the shop I stripped it myself, getting laods of underseal and suchlike off with heat, scrapers etc. I did all this work outside in October in England, it got very wet. A year later the steel that was bared in this process is still mostly shiny. Whatever the Germans used to make their cars back in the early seventies was surely a very high quality steel.

Don't worry about getting it wet!

[B.Lane]

NOT SARRAN WRAP BOYS...VISQUEEN...get it from a paint store or home depot in the paint department. It's made to be chemical resistant. Member , .7 mill so you can get it to "suck" down and conform to the body shape without lifting. The plasic i used had a "milky" tint to it. It was not clear. If you are really interested i can send you a small sample of it.

No problems at all with the galvanized or alluminum bumpers. Remember, i had my car taken apart. If it gets in the cracks it gets in the cracks...i used a die grinder with wire wheel to rapidly romove paint from door edges and rain gutters. All tight areas where i couldn't efectively scrape were wheeled out. Easy to do too.

Bare metal is the ONLY way to go IF YOU DON'T KNOW THE HISTORY of what is underneath. I found poor repairs, globs of bad bondo work, poor rust repairs, horribly damaged right fender, rust in the light wells, poorly done metal patching, etc. The true history of my car was revealed to me. I found a rust hole that had been packed with bondo and nothing more done to stop the rust than that! Thank GOD i took it all the way down and apart...if i didn't my paint job might last a year, tops.

You are right about plastic to some degree. Stripper will EAT your moulding rubber and plastic. It will eat LATEX gloves....stripper disolves anything with latex in it. Member...latex is in water born paint..stripper is to remove paint. Visqueen plastic will not disolve because it has no latex in it. If you get the right stuff it will hold up just fine. Use leather gloves and clean them with lacquer thinner when you are all done or just throw them away. It's a small price to pay to keep your hands safe. Stripper burns like crazy the moment it touches your skin so be safe n wear all the prooper safety gear.

[eion]

Originally posted by B.Lane
NOT SARRAN WRAP BOYS...VISQUEEN...get it from a paint store or home depot in the paint department.

Well, I couldn't be bothered to wait until morning to get to the nearest paint store (and judging by what the roads were like earlier, I'd rather keep my driving to a minimum - oh, the joys of being stuck out in the country. I'm doing an experiment at the moment with clingfilm (not Saran wrap, I think it's Reynolds ). I'll let you know what happens.

I'm not repainting my whole car, and my bumper is/will be plastic. I've tested aircraft remover on the old broken one, and it didn't *seem* to do any harm, but the new one is going to come painted so I think I'll strip down to the old primer instead, using sandpaper. Pain in the @ss, but should get good results.

I used a Dremel with a wire brush to get rid of all that horrible white putty cr@p from around the edges of the fender where it's bolted on. What's that stuff for, anyway?

[B.Lane]

...to keep water and air out and subsequently, rust...use a die-grinder. Dewalt is $49, wire wheel is $15 (60 grit grade and will laste a lifetime) it's 100x faster. Literaly.

If your going to bother with the miserable task of SANDING off paint..then use a block and 80 grit CARBIDE paper, NAPA has it for $1.00 a sheet, and wet sand it...10x faster Literaly. 1 sheet of paper is enough for what you have to do.

[eion]

Ah, OK. Where can I get some of this white stuff, then, for when I've fitted the fender?

I've done all the stripping of the white stuff already, anyway. I had to use a Dremel and the flex-shaft to get rid of the stuff under the car so I could get to the bolts - and there's *still* one bolt to go. It took a while, but the new (to me) fender is all stripped of white gunk, just got the paint to come off now. I was looking at a stripping pad-type thing that fits into an electric drill - ah well, too late now.

On the paint removal front, I'm all set. I've got 40, 80 and 320-grit normal sandpaper, 80 and 320-grit sanding sponges, and 220, 400, 600, and 1500-grit wet-or-dry paper. I'm not looking forward to it.

Oh, and as I type this, the aircraft remover hasn't eaten through the clingfilm. It doesn't look like it's even attacking it - I shall leave it overnight and see what happens. It's all wrapped up in the clingfilm, so it should still be usable tomorrow, assuming it hasn't all dripped out onto my desk by then.

[john70t]

Great post and thanks for sharing your tips BLane.
Yes, if your going to go all the way on a frame-up restoration, bare metal is probably the best way to ensure rust isn't hiding somewhere. But it's a scary thought that if the bare metal isn't taken care of imediately, the cure could be worse than the disease.
A body that's properly prepped has all the metal panels pulled out, seams filled with lead(?), and aligned before the paint process starts. The high build laquer primer will seal the metal from absorbing moisture and allow for block sanding and a wrinkle-free surface for the paint.
As a newcomer to body-work, I think the finding of rust should also share the stage with the complete sealing of the surface with the thought being:No O2, No oxyidation.
Bondo and cheap primers I think will absorb moisture during and after the process. Please correct me if I'm wrong but fiberglass, laquer primer and clearcoat sounds like they will keep moisture far from the surface. Heat lamps(or a heat gun to keep everything ~80deg) during the process wouldn't hurt as well.

As a referance, I once saw something horrible on an old Bently being trashed- dig this- 9/10 (as measured by a micrometer) of an inch of Bondo on a panel. Yup, it does happen.

[dhaines]

I noticed this whe I did my car, used foil from the kitched drawer. Worked great. You solutions sound more practical!

[johnco]

in the construction business I've always used plastic to cover my paint remover. works so much better. keeps it from drying out and gets more paint off with each application. you're right about brushing one way also. Be careful you don't open a mostly empty can facing you though. the gases build up and I've had one cover blow off and get remover all over my face and in my eyes. never ran so fast in my life to find water.

[jpnovak]

If you don't have plastic or large areas to strip, Aluminum foil works equally as well.

[atlporsche]

I will vouch for the joys of stripper. silver, maroon and the original polo red on my '67 912 all came off with two applications. I just got the pep boys special...low odor, water soluble...I got the excess stripper off by washing the part when I was done, followed by a good wax and grease remover, followed by a primer coat.

sjd

[gr8fl4porsche]

Plastic over strippers is the way to go. We in the lead remediation business have been using it from the beginning.

There is a product called 'Peel A Way' which uses a paste type stripper and a paper based covering. You apply the stripper, cover it, and the next day peel it off while scraping the paint.
The paint and paper stick to each other and make the clean up easier. Helps reduce the amount of 'sludge' that hits the ground.

Read your stripper labels carefully. Some strippers require different neutralizers to stop the acid. Some use water, some vinegar, and some require you to purchase their special neutralizer.

[kristian85]

Aircraft stripper--you guys were wearing top-notch breathing masks, right? Utterly, madly poisonous stuff.

[widebody911]

I'm thinking a stripper wrapped in saran wrap would be a great xmas present. My address is...

[cstreit]

That's an old woodstripping technique. Cover stuff in aluminum foil or plastic to assist in stripping off old varish...

[weber92037]

Very interesting. I strip wood boat parts quite often and find it frustrating to repeat coats and heve the stripper dry quickly in the warm California sun. Willl try this next time. Thanks.

[eion]

Originally posted by kristian85
Aircraft stripper--you guys were wearing top-notch breathing masks, right? Utterly, madly poisonous stuff.

It's that smell - you can almost feel your cells mutating. Seriously nasty. I have a mask somewhere, but it's one of those bicycle-commuting ones. My current solution is to look away and hold my breath.

As an aside, I think clingfilm is aircraft remover-proof. My experiment hasn't started to leak yet, put it that way, and it's been about 16 hours.

[Lothar]

I have to agree with the previous post. If you get to a grey layer, it's probably the factory primer. That stuff sticks to metal like cat hair on a navy blue blazer. Leave it, sand it and paint over it. You won't regret it.