The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Boy that’s Some Tough Paint!!!

Been trying to get the paint off some parts of a 1954, 3600. First it was the Gray on the hub caps and tonight it was the lower Windlace retainer. The household stripers like Strip-Eze won’t touch it, Tal Stip aircraft stripper by Mar-Hyde just barley softens it. I’ve never run into a paint that the aircraft stripper wouldn’t blister off.
This stuff is obviously a baked on enamel and it is, tough.
I guess I’m just gonna bite the bullet and wire brush all that paint off. What I usually do is chemical strip it, then wire brush what ever paint is left on or any light rust that might be present. The less material I have to wire brush the less mess I make in the shop.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

I know what ya mean about the mess in the shop after the wire wheel. I have to do it with the doors closed so the neighbors don't kill me due to noise. By the end of the day, The walls, ceiling...everything is covered!

It may be tough paint Denny but baking has nothing to do with it. All "baking" paint does is dry it faster. In fact the additives that are put into paint to keep it from discoloring in the heat can make the finish worse. The modern automotive "bake" ovens I've seen only get warm anyway, again just to decrease the dry time. The additives I mentioned are used in industrial baked enamel where the bake ovens are at around 300-400 deg.

Thanks for dispelling that myth for me Richard. All these years I thought that the old Dulux baking enamel created a harder paint. Then I wonder just exactly what this stuff is that even Mar-Hyde aircraft stripper won't touch it.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

I had a similar experience when I repainted my old TR250. The chrome badges had some kind of "paint" on them that nothing seemed to be able to remove. I'm sure there must be some sort of color "paint" that hardens like porcelain and that might be what you have.

Try an experiment. Paint two test pieces with enamel. Cure one in an oven at around 400º and let the other air dry and see if there is a difference. I know it's not the same paint as what you have on your old truck but I think you may just be surprised at the results.

Dupont Imron ??
Was used on aircraft and heavy equipment for "toughness" and fuel / chemical resistance.

Dan Bentler

It's a pretty common myth Denny. A lot of people believe that, when in fact it's like putting a drop of water on a glass. It'll dry quicker in an oven but when it's dry it's no dryer than the drop that was left to dry outside the oven. I'll add one qualifier in that it's been several years since I last personally dealt with "baking" enamel and it's possible that someone has since invented a paint that does get harder when baked. However that myth goes back many decades so even if it's true now it's likely not the paint that's on your truck.

Could it be lead based paint?

This paint that I’m talking about is what Chevrolet used in 1954 on the interior of their trucks, pearl beige and the grays they used on their hubcaps and bumpers.

I don’t think they had Imron in 1954 Dan and I’ve never stripped any so I don’t know how it would react to Aircraft Stripper.

I don’t know what lead carbonate in the paint would have to do with stripper not working on the binder. The lead was a pigment and although it’s been banned for domestic use it’s still used in a lot of paints commercially.

And Richard, I’m not disputing what you say about the baking enamel; I have for years baked my store bought enamel paint (non baking enamel) in my “big old wife’s” oven, (when she’s out for the day that is.) And I’ve never noticed that it made it any tougher than air-drying it, I do it because it dries faster and I can handle it sooner. I’ve done it with Rustoleum and other enamels that I’ve used on the ’50.

I don’t seem to be getting any closer to learning why this stuff is so impervious to the ethylene chloride compared to other paints I’ve stripped.
DG

Hmmm
the statement
"big old wife’s” oven

Could be construed two ways
as written ie "big old wife"
OR
wifes big old oven

Would the first be a good opportunity for blackmail?

One thing for sure in my mind is - if that is stock paint I would surely try to get more.
The other thought is if so tough to get off - why remove it?

Dan Bentler

Rust my friend, where it's been scratched off it gets rusty, paint is dull, it' just generally in need of repaint.
And yes Dan, that is my "big old wife" I'm talking about, now don't you dare tell her I said that when you meet her at the KC reunion next September. And that oven is her brandy new Kenmore, but it makes a great bake out oven for small parts.
It is the stock paint, but like most things made a half-century ago, you can't get the same thing any more. Heck, you can't even find anybody alive that remembers what the stuff was made from back then. Someone, somewhere, engineered or mixed or packaged those items, but I've never found anyone that worked in the factories that made automotive products or parts back in the day.
http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/image/129616769/large
DG