The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Paint removal methods

I did some searches and didn't come up with much.

I am finally thinking of taking the 1958's body apart and stripping it down to bare metal for a new paint job. The current paint is chipping BAD, so a complete strip is in order.

What are the preferred and best methods for taking large body pieces down to bare metal? Opinions and experiences are more than welcome! Thanks!

I use a Harbor Freight poly carbide disc on a 4.5" grinder. The poly carbide disc quickly strips smooth areas to the metal. It feels like and looks like you are erasing paint. If you have the cash, media blasting has many good advantages too. Just depends on how you want to spend your money.
If you do one piece at a time like me, then the poly carbide disc sure beats hand sanding, beats chemical stripping, beats DA sanding.
I can post pics later.

This is an age old question with many answers. I'm sure you know most of the ways and can find someone that swears by each. Each has it's side affects and costs. The least expensive and least risk is you sanding. then, as you know, there is blast with this or that, glass, soda, etc.........dip in a tank, paint remover at home...

I took my '59 apart like you're mentioning. I'm poor and my labor was free-to-me
After reading many ways of stripping body parts to bare metal on the net, I pretty much tried all the sanders. I started with a drill with a sanding pad, then bought a DA sander... but the one I liked most was a 7" variable speed polisher-sander from Harbor Freight. It was inexpensive, I could get all the grit paper I needed (preferred hook and loop) and later could use it as a polisher/buffer. As the sander, it covered a large area and swiped away paint and rust like a boss!
Like Bartamos said, you'll probably get some answers from folks who swear by their reply. To each their own. The 7" VS Sander was my ticket.
Get some dust masks if you do the sanding.
Good luck!
Jerry

All I use is a grinder with a coarse wire cup on it. It takes a long time, but it works. Think I'll look into the poly carbide disc and see if that moves things along any quicker...

I use a Norton Paint Stripper disc on the biggest electric angle grinder HF sells. It cuts nasty paint like butter, doesn't load up with paint, doesn't scratch the metal and doesn't heat up/warp the panels.
Carl

I believe this is an age old question without a true answer that fits all. All the above are great answers but I feel the trial and error aspect with your own experience best fits the bill. I have used pretty much all of the above and its all about what feels good in your hand and what works for you. What you are working on, all are treated different and different applications work in specific areas. Wire brushes work, flap disc work, different grades of sandpaper, air or electric, grinders, grinders with this , grinders with that, dipping, sandblasting all work. The amount of cash or lack of and the desire to do yourself all factor in. In my eyes do what you feel as being comfortable for you. Get some hands on at your local trade schools/BOCES or tech schools and believe in what your Stovebolt comrades say. Years ago there were members here MartinSr and todays MP&C all with many years in restoration work with a multitude of experience and great websites you can follow their projects. They and members here have helped me immensely. And I thank dearly!!
Dan

....my .02. Did someone say "trial and error".

In my old age I'm getting lazier than ever. I like trying some paint stripper and then just washing it off with a hose and a scotch-brite pad. SOME paint will roll right off...SOME paint will be hard to get off with just about anything.

Did someone say "trial and error"........

The grinder with a poly carbide disc from HF will not get into tight places like corners etc. but it will make quick work stripping larger surfaces. The disc costs under $5 and I used up maybe 1/4 of a disc on this fender. It took me maybe an hour and a half. So the cost was less than even a few sheets of good quality sandpaper - not counting the electricity and cost of the grinder. See for yourself. Sure, there's more work to be done to strip it completely but the larger areas come clean very efficiently with the poly carbide disc. No chemicals, water or brushes. just wear a mask.

1965 C10 front fender

After about 1.5 hours to do front and back.

The poly carbide disc from HF

Inside the fender BEFORE

Inside fender AFTER

Looks good. I have used, Air tools, sanding disks, paper, A DA, wire brush, and the poly carbide disks. I like the disks. Big one on my cheap angle grinder. And small ones on my angle die grinder air driven. And yes, look out for the dust. Little spots come clean with the Dremel tool. Strippers(both chemical and others) cost money and can leave a residue that messes with paint. The "others" have issues as well. But this is a family board.

Links below are to use of a pressure washer and media blast gun. Looks fast and no dust. If you are going to wash the metal anyways, then why not. BTW, I have not tried this.

I have used the HF poly carbide discs. They work just fine. I do find that the Norton version lasts longer and eats the paint a little better. Do a cost analysis to determine which way to go (Norton's are more expensive than HF's).
Carl

I HAVE tried something similar. Mine used my pressure washer, and just changed the end of the gun to accept the media blast's gun (wish i had pictures to better explain). The media was syphoned up through a tube and the water blasted it out the nozzle. It worked decent for a few minutes. I was just experimenting on a tailgate. Obviously, with there being water, there was immediate surface rust.
Also of note: when I put my pressure washer away, I came back a day later and something had cracked somewhere because there was oil everywhere. Maybe my gas powered pressure washer couldn't handle it? Who knows.
YMMV

If the siphon is on the supply side (and the low pressure side as well) it only makes sense that pump rebelled when the sand tried to make it's way through... I imagine it ate up the passages .25 times as fast as it ate paint?

Thank you for all the suggestions, opinions and experiences. I think I'll start with the Polycarbide discs and go from there. I got a lot of paint to take off and then some panels to cut and weld new. hopefully I can get some of this started soon! Thanks again all!

If I'm reading your post correctly thats not how it worked. The water was pumped through the pressure washer, and out the hose/gun as normal. There was an attachment to the gun, with a tube down to the media. The pressure of the water going through the gun, pulled up the media through the tube, and out the media nozzle mixed with the water.

But anyways, Apache, I think thats a great starting point! That is where I am at currently too! Still working on removing the paint on the top, and back of my cab!

Many ways to go about this. If your curious, I did just have every piece of my 46 2-ton blasted for $800. This is the cab forward. That equates to a little over 10 hours of my shop rate. It would have taken a minimum of 40-50 hours of mine or someone else time to do half the job that blasting did.....

Many ways about it. My business does 2-3 full body off restoration type jobs a year and every once in a while I choose not to have one blasted and I kick myself for it every time!

I just completed stripping down the 2 sides and front of the bed for my 54 3100. This was a bed I located at a salvage yard and had shipped to me. My project truck had a home made flat bed and I wanted to put an original bed back on it. The bed parts were covered with about 50% original paint and the rest was heavy surface rust. I discovered a two step approach worked best. I used a random orbital sander with coarse paper. I hooked it up to my shop vac and there was virtually no dust. This did a great job removing the paint down to the bare metal quickly but worked very slowly trying to remove rust. I did change sanding disc frequently. After removing the paint I switched to an angle grinder with a cup knotted wire brush installed. This did a great job removing the surface rust down to the bare metal but struggled on painted areas. I had a total of about 3 hours invested in each of the 3 pieces. I thought this was pretty quick for stripping paint and rust. As stated above, there are multiple approaches, so experiment with different methods before investing a lot of time on any one. The two step approach worked great for me for a combination of paint and rust removal.

I've used your method before and basically agree with your findings/ approach for DIY'ers.
Just make sure after all the wire wheel/cup work you go back over the piece with 80g sand paper.
The metal needs to be roughed up and given some 'tooth'(teeth?) for your primer (or filler if you go that route first) to adhere to.

Good tip. When I say just completed, I mean last night. I will make sure I hit it with sand paper before priming and painting. The wire work does leave a polished finish.

My personal preference are the 3M Bristle discs
no wires flying and easy to work with
good cutting on paint and rust

Several years ago, Woody, I think, recommended the Wagner Paint Eater.

We have been using this since then (when not blasting the sheet metal). It does nice work, ready for primer.

Do the Polycarbide discs leave enough "tooth" or do you still need to go over it with 80 grit?

I'll probably stick to my DA. The large areas go quick, its the nooks and crannies where I chuck up a wire wheel in a die grinder or get out the blasting gear.

Try one on a 4" grinder. You will be amazed. Way easier than a DA. I call it the paint eraser.