Can anyone tell me the best way to remove paint from a car that has been painted twice. I need to strip it all (door jams etc.) to do it right.

I saw an excellent thread on here about dipping and ecoating that I was thinking about. However, a rebuilder that I respect said he did not recommend it. He said that the residue from the dipping process stays in the seams and can cause problems later.

He also was against any kind of blasting because of warping.

His method is to use aircraft stripper.

I've also considered just sanding it off with fine grit sand paper using an electric sander.

Thanks in advance, any comments are welcome and appreciated.



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Bob

My 69 Malibu (http://chevelles.com/showroom/bftrratutt5of01.jpg)

This one has been kicked around extensively here. Try searching on the subject, there are many opinions and experiences.

Some people have had good luck with a single-edged razor blade scraper. It seems that each method has substantial drawbacks. Its just a dirty, nasty, tedious, maybe dangerous, job if you do it yourself.

My $0.02

Plastic media blasting is another option.

Bob, I did the chemical stripping routine and, trust me, don't do it. I know of some local people that have had their (car) bodies stripped by plastic media blasting with excellent results. It cost around $500-600. I had about $200 in chemical stripper, sanding discs, etc, alone, plus about 40 hours and big messes.. I think the respected auto restorers (Micky and Rick Nelson) that frequent this site will agree, media (not sand) blasting is the way to go. I would email the two guys I mentioned and get their opinions.

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von '69 300 Dlx SS TC #15 ACES #1575
My '69 SS (http://sites.netscape.net/von69ss/homepage)

[This message has been edited by von (edited 08-06-2001).]

I have used razor blades on two Chevelle's to strip the paint and it really works very well. I also use a scraper that I bought at Home Depot that has a handle about 12" long. It uses 5" blades, but I have found that if you break the blades into thirds it works quite well.

i had my GN with orig paint media blasted 2 yrs ago. it was $550,and done in one day. yours would be a bit more expensive cause you want the jams done. i think it was money well spent,it wouldve taken me a week to do myself, and the dust!no way.i stripped my first car,a 72 ss chevelle back in 86 and used a D/A sander.with all the paper you use,and load on the compressor its a waste of time,and time is money. i also used aircraft stripper on a different vehicle,aaugh,talk about mess!

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by BobFmTyler:
I saw an excellent thread on here about dipping and ecoating that I was thinking about. However, a rebuilder that I respect said he did not recommend it. He said that the residue from the dipping process stays in the seams and can cause problems later.


His method is to use aircraft stripper.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Do you realize your guy contradicts himself. Says don't chemical dip, but use chemicals my way http://www.chevelles.com/forum/biggrin.gif . I agree to a point, if you chemical dip the car and DO NOT e-coat it you could have a problem with the chemicals sticking around to ruin your paint.. cause the stripper doesn't always get all the residuals in the cleaning process. However, when they are going to dip your car into a vat full of EXPENSIVE primer, damn skippy they are going to clean every last bit.. either way you do it.. do your research and figure out what will fit your budget, and overall outcome.. Good Luck!

Bob,

I did a frame-off on a 69 Impala convertible, finished in 1994. All major components in front of the firewall (hood, fenders, inner fenders, core support, front valence) and the trunk lid were chemically stripped by a place with large vats; similar to Redi-Strip. I also had all the suspension components, nuts, bolts, & fasteners, and just tons of miscellaneous stuff done by them. I had absolutely no paint adhesion problems, and I just sold the car last month still looking good. Proper preparation is the key. If the guy expects to pull stuff out of the vats one day and then paint it the next, of course it is not going to work. Give it some time to dry up, prep it, and it will be fine. That ecoating place would certainly do it right, or else they'd be redoing all their work.

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Bill Pritchard
69 SS396 Convertible
"Life is short; eat dessert first." - Ogden Nash
My low tech web page (http://home.att.net/~bpritchard/index.html)