I am stripping my body to bare metal and was wondering what is the best way. My mav has been repainted once. I am thinking of getting a cheap DA sander (cheap because I don't intend to do body work for a living!!). Is this the way to go, or is there a better way? I did one quarter panel with a small sand blaster and hand sanding and that was a LOT OF WORK. There has got to be a better way! Thanx Jamie
if you go ...cheap...buy 3 of them i got a cheap one and it stopped before i used up the first sheet of paper. i took it back and now own a good one... ...
Jamie, from what I've learned on this board, I believe the 'best way' is to NOT remove all the paint to begin with. Just sand it down to a smooth finish. Stripping a car to bare metal sounds like an enormous amount of unecessary work. I'm sure the Body Shop guys will join in soon, but that's what I was told and it made sense to me (not that THAT accounts for a lot).
Depends on what type of job your trying to do. I mean pro quality you would strip it all the way down. But unless it has severe rot, held together with bondo, or the paint is horrible, you dont have to sand all the way to bare metal. Ruff it up with some 80 grit, prime it and go from there.
If it was for a daily driver I probably wouldn't go do that much work(yea I would). It would just piss you off that much more when some idiot scratches it in the parking lot!
I think it would depend mostly on what condition the paint already on there is in. Example, I always figgured my '74 Grabber would need the paint stripped to bare metal. Reason being, the paint was very old and had become brittle. The smallest little ding, and the paint would chip off down to bare metal. (should have seen the chipped off paint all over the road when I wrecked the car). But, the paint on my '69.5 is not brittle and is not chipping. I think it would be fine to just sand down smooth and repaint.
In our shop, if a car has been painted several times in the past, then we will strip it to bare metal. That way we know for sure if there is hidden bodywork that may cause problems in the future. If the car still has the original paint and it's still in good condtion, then we will sand it down and feather out all the chips and scratches and prime the car. It has been said many times that the best primer a car has is the original paint, and we agree with that. When I strip a car, I use chemical paint stripper, something a lot of folks don't like to do. The reasons for that is 1: It's messy, 2: Paint stripper can burn you if you get it on your skin, 3: It will destroy fiberglass parts and rubber parts, and 4: It MUST be completely washed off with soap and water or paint thinner before the car can be primed or painted. Failure to do so will cause the paint to lift off and wreck the paint job. I use stripper because of the cost of DA paper. One box of 3m Hookit 80 grit DA paper cost us almost $55.00. If the paint is really thick, I may go through 2 boxes of 80 grit paper. One can of stripper is $20.00 cheaper and I can strip the whole car. The bare metal will still need to be sanded in order for the primer to stick, but there is a lot less sand paper used. That's my way of stripping a car and I've never had any problems.
Jean - Thanks for the answer to my original question, "I am stripping my body to bare metal and was wondering what is the best way" There's something appealing about using a stripper to get the job done No seriously, sounds like less manual labor and I like doing things the lazy way whenever possible. I don't need to buy a DA sander (yet). and Less money to spend on disposable materials. No brainer. Next question ... which brand of stripper works the best or is easiest to use? Ideally both.
8" mud hog with 80 grit, will work quicker than a DA, and an 8'' grinder with 80 grit will work even quicker....save the DA for 120-240 grit before you prime it. I, personally would go to bare metal, sometimes there is surface rust, or what have you, even under factory paint, due flaws in the paint, not as noticeable as a stone chip, or what not. If you go down to bare steel you know what you're dealing with, definately it's more work, but if there is something hidden you will find it. Just my ! There will be many differing opinions on this, and this is just my take on the situation.
I buy the stick on paper. Much cheaper. I have a el cheapo Harbor Freight DA and its over 8 years old. Never had a problem with it. I always sand paint off.
i have always used aircraft stripper. you can get it at local auto parts. be carful, like jean said this stuff will burn you. just make sure you get it all off when finished.
Question for the "stripper" advocates; will this stuff hurt potmetal, like our end caps, or Grabber hood inserts? John B
