Anyone else own the Snap-On Crud Thug? I just can't help but feel good about it every time I need to use it. I stripped my floorpans clean in about a half hour this morning with it. By contrast, my 4 1/2" angle grinder with a knotted cup brush was only moving stuff around, not really doing much. Last week, I took off all of the old spray adhesive and mesh from an old custom headliner that was in the car, in about 15 minutes with it. It'll also strip paint quickly. IMO, it was well worth the price, even though it seems gawd-awful expensive when you look at it. :eek: Such a simple, effective concept. And you can't get it anywhere else, as far as I know...

Alright already Darren, what the heck is it???? You have my attention, what the heck does this tool look like and what does it do????? :D

crud thug (http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/pro_det.asp?P65=&tool=all&item_ID=54720&group_ID=13078&store=snapon-store&dir=catalog)

that it? pricey...but if it works as good as you say, worth it. you know if someone besides snap-on makes one that is more reasonably priced?

Danny

Ahhhhh, after thinking about, I thought that is what it was. You know, we have one at work and I just don't get it. It is "ok" but I just don't get all the hype. The other guys swear by it.

Ok, I will go in monday and give it another whirl. smile.gif

Thanks for posting the link, Danny, I kinda forgot. :rolleyes: Martin, I've heard most of the bodyshop guys like using it with the "eraser" wheel for removing stripes clean and fast. I wanted it because it was supposedly real easy to remove paint with. The El Camino has at least 3 coats of paint, along with primers, sealers, you get a nice rainbow when you start trying to sand it. I tried chemical stripping, too, different brands, didn't work well, and too messy. With the crud thug, it's almost like loading a wire wheel in your die grinder, except you have 10 times the control, and it's much more aggressive, with the forward facing teeth. And, when the teeth points dull on you, turn the wheel around, run it on some 180 grit paper, and they're sharp again. Can't do that with a wire wheel. You can get a few miles out of each wheel, which is good considering they're about $10/ea. When you need to remove undercoating, rust or scale, paint, etc., there is no other tool I've found like it. It's like your first time with the plasma cutter, doing patches and rust repair. smile.gif You just don't reach for the tin snips and cutoff wheels much anymore. It took me a few weeks of looking at it on the truch before I broke down and bought it, but I'm glad I did. It doesn't replace everything, but it gets the most use in my garage between all of my tools, nowadays.

We have one at our shop. It's terribly overpriced, but it does do a good job, especially where no other power tool can get/work.

I mainly use it for stripping undrecoating & seal sealer from areas where I'd be making patch repairs or putting replacement panels on. I personally wouldn't use it to strip paint off entire panels...too time consuming. I do use it to remove paint in tight areas that are difficult to get to by hand.

Ask and you shall recieve my chevelle friends! Cheaper tool (http://www.autotoolmart.com/cgi-bin/webc.cgi/st_prod.html?p_prodid=9798&p_catid=144&sid=fg1x10mc53o0ET-59103299140.9d) There is no picture in the link, but if you back up to the specialty tools there is a thumbnail of it. I think I remember seeing it in there catalog too. A buddy of mine had just the wheel, I forget what he attached it to though. Seemed to work pretty good.

Brandon

Darren, I would really be careful with using that to strip paint from panels. It is MUCH more agressive than you think!
It puts little "dents" in metal! That sounds an awful lot like "compressive mechanism" (localized molecular packing) like with sandblasting.

I would NOT use it to strip paint from outer panels. It just isn't worth it! :eek:

Martin, on the outer panels, you can use the straight bristle wire brush, it won't gouge panels. FWIW, if you saw some of the bodywork I've uncovered on my quarters, there's not much anything worse that could top it. graemlins/angry.gif Like in front of the wheel, the p.o. ground down the surface rust, then bashed the bodyline flat, spotwelded a patch on the outside, and remade the bodyline with filler. About 1 1/2" thick at the ridge. :eek: :mad: :confused: I've already fixed all of those bad spots with my own patches, maybe 1/8" filler on them now. I'm just trying to finish those unseen areas now, and the thug is helping me out in a big way. I'm hoping to have some paint on the car around early January, if not sooner.