The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop How to remove undercoating?

My running boards have some sort of undercoating on the underside of them. How can I strip it to prep for painting?

Looks like it was brushed on. It's holding well and not rusted underneath. Probably should have left it, but I've started stripping it so I guess I gotta finish it.

Does anything work faster/better than what I am using ...

Klean-Strip 10-min "Strip-X" to melt it. Then scrub with a brass or steel brush. Wash and scrub more with gasoline. I found that a little kerosene in the gas will slow evaporation. Using a lot of paper towels. I will probably lightly sand blast it after the coating is off.

Can't seem to remove all of it at the joins where the supports are attached.

Looks like both sides of the boards were painted with red primer before painting and/or undercoating.

Here are some work-in-progress pics:
> Underside stripped vs orig
> Underside close partially stripped vs orig
> Underside coating close up
> Top partially stripped vs orig

Thanks for your help,

Blast it now....

One of my old projects was coated in and out with looked like roofing tar. I used a propane torch, putty knife, and kerosene to clean it off, and it turned out great.

some heat and a putty knife or a wood chisel will get the bulk, sand blasting works pretty good most of the time

I'm learning that there is no fast and easy way to remove this stuff!

Just about finished with the underside of one running board. The undercoating was probably applied when the truck was restored about 20 yrs ago. It's still a little soft. I used a heat gun and a putty knife for a while today. I got the best results without the heat gun using a putty knife, a screw driver, a wood chisel, and anything else that I could find to scrape/cut off the coating. Applied some more stripper to the stuff that remained. Then scrubbed with gasoline, a rough ScotchBrite, and a toothbrush. Rinse and repeat.

My li'l HF siphon sand blaster with play sand cuts the steel more than the coating. I'll use it for the final prep for painting.

I'm impressed that the original e-coat is still on the running boards and in good shape. However, the ScotchBrite is removing it. Sandblasting will finish removing it.

I'll post my saga and results when I finish the job. Thanks for your help and suggestions.

I've had good results scrapping it off with a putty knife. I do use some carb cleaner spray and it does loosen it some in tough areas. I have found heat makes it smear more and get harder to get off.