The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Old Paint Removal

Hi All,
I am sure this has been covered before. Perhaps someone could offer ideas or references to prior threads.
What good commercial paint removal compounds that you have used before? I have a good sandblasting co.
in town. But I'm going to try chemical rust remover on a fender first, and thought I might also try paint
remover at the same time, to see how well I do on that piece. Any paint remover ideas? Or, in reverse, any
that don't work that I should avoid? Thanks for any suggestions.

I tried some old paint remover (the now probably banned stuff) on a painted glovebox door, and it didn't touch the paint. Automotive paint is tough stuff. I don't think it's worth trying on things like fenders. It's just too easy to sand the paint off fenders, or if you're thinking sandblasting, just do that.

I’m with Kevin, I second the sandblasting! Chemically stripping is really time consuming and really messy. I do it on furniture and it usually takes a few coats to get most of it off and then I’m sanding the rest.

I use CitriStrip, available at Lowes, but I can’t vouch for it working on automotive paint.

I use Klean Strip paint stripper. I brush it on and use a putty knife to scrape off the old paint. It works on auto paint, but usually only one layer at a time. When down to the final layer, what won't scrape off is softened quite a bit. I use a wire brush on a drill to remove what's left. It is work and time consuming. The upper portion of my door had 3 layers of paint and one primer coat. It took 2 hours for me to do that section alone.

I prefer sandblasting over chemical strippers for a number of reasons.
1) I can pay someone to sandblast it and spray it with epoxy primer right away
2) Sandblasting removes the paint in the recesses where the panels overlap. These are common areas for rust to reappear on 70 year old vehicles.
3) Chemicals seep into seams between panels which my come back to haunt a new paints job.

What Carl said!

Thanks for all of the input! I have heard that dipping parts/ bodies in paint/ rust remover might leave a pocket of chemical to seep back out later. So you think
that brushing on a paint remover, cleaning it off, and drying it might cause the same problem? Some folks are opposed to dipping for this reason. I've never done it.

I would suspect that no matter how you apply the stripper, it will seep between the overlapping panels via capillarity which can actually flow uphill, defying gravity.

if you dip be very careful....I have "heard" that some paint folks will not guarantee their paint over dipped stuff.

In my younger days, I worked in a body shop during summer vacation.
As is common in life, young guys get the fun jobs that toughens you up. Big grin.
I was given safety glasses with glass lenses, long sleeve jacket, long rubber gloves, water hose,
sponge, putty knife, horse hair paint brush, stainless steel bowl, steel brush and a rake.
We used the commercial type Klean-Strip.
I worked outdoors under a shade tree.
Get this stuff on your skin and you can't get to the water hose quick enough. It burns.
Try you best not to get to close to breath-in the fumes (it's like ammonia).
Old cars typically had 4-5 layers of paint.
Brush on the Klean-Strip, in an area like half a door, and the paint immediately bubbles.
What a minute and scrape. It usually got down through the third layer.
It will begin eating through Bondo (body filler).
Usually the scrapings and stripper come off together with a putty knife.
Rake the scrapings up off the ground so that you don't step in it.
Brush on the second application and wait a couple of minutes then scrape.
You are down to the metal except in hard to get to places hence the need for the steel brush.
You have to wash the metal thoroughly with water and a sponge to clean off the stripper.

Klean-Strip is/was so strong it would eat through the can in a couple of years.
It turned plastic into jelly, corrodes aluminum and reacts with fiberglass.

On badly rusty metal, you either grind or sand it off if it doesn't thin the metal too much.
For pitted metal that is too deep to grind, commercial acid was used on the strength of muratic acid.
Another foul chemical to deal with.

I decided I didn't want to be a bodyman when I graduated from high school.

PATS 58 is right on the money when he says only 1 coat comes off at a time. The stuff today is Soooo weak compared to the stuff back in the 90's. It take 6 times the material & elbow grease to do the same work

BUOYMAKER I like your story......Yes, you had the 'real stuff". The paint would bubble up right before your eyes in a minute or so.