how to remove paint?

[brtnstrns]

My mustang has a really really crappy paintjob (same paintjob from when I bought it) and its like peeling and stuff and the original paint is under there. I know that if the paint is good under there i'm just gonna leave it cause new paint will hold onto it, so that way I won't have to go down to bare metal. So my question is, how should I take off the "newer" paint? Do I just sand it down? and if so with what kind of sander?

 

[allcarfan]

you want to remove one coat of paint, but not the next coat....and expect it to look good? I dontknow of any way to do that.

shane

 

[brtnstrns]

no no no. I want to take off the top layer of paint so I can get a new paint job that will last, if I paint over the layer I have right now it wont have a good grip and will begin to peel. Of course I'm repainting it

 

[Swede958]

Best bet raelly is to take everything off, you could sand it down past the first coat, but if your going to do that, you might as well keep going and do a good prep beneath the new paint. Sure it might be more work, but you'll probably be happier with it in the long run.

The Swede

 

[allcarfan]

Use aircraft stripper and work in small sections...it will have no problem taking paint off to bare metal. If you just want to rough it up so you can paint over it...use a DA sander.

 

[brtnstrns]

Where can I find the aircraft stripper or DA sander?

 

[Carnivore]

Cant one layer of paint be removed at a time with the right blasting media? .. .. of course being done by somebody who is skilled at it..

 

[allcarfan]

Carnivore...I seriously doubt it. The business that I own uses several different kinds of media...pecan shells, walnut shells, glass bead, sand, etc etc. All different grits too. You will damage the underlayer of paint with just about any kind of media that you are going to use.

Aircraft stripper can be bought at any paint supply store, possibly walmart. A DA sander can be electric (I think) or pneumatic. You can pick one up from Harbor Freight (see online catalog), Walmart, any autoparts store, or...the best place...the flea market!!

Shane

 

[zookeeper]

Although it won't strip one layer off very well, I've been using strip discs made by 3M. They come in diferent grits (I use the green 50 grit discs) and fit any grinder with a 1/2 inch spindle. I completley stripped one rear quarter of my fastback on one hour with no damage at all to the metal and used only one disc (about $6 at my local paint store). I prefer these over chemicals since I have a 3 year old son who loves to visit the garage, as well as a couple dogs. I tried using my DA at first and went through about 6 sanding discs as well as running my compressor the whole time. The bad part was it was so slow that I would've likely went through an entire roll of sanding discs ($30) and at least a whole day before I got the quarter stripped! It doesn't take an electrical engineer to see that running a 110 volt sander for an hour will be a bit cheaper than running a 220volt compressor for 8 or more hours.

 

[zookeeper]

After reading my own post I figured a description may be handy. These 3M discs are not at all like conventional grinding discs. They feel rubbery and have a bunch of "fingers" about an inch or so long that wear down to constantly expose fresh abrasive. My local paint store just has them in a box, so I'm not sure what the "official" name is, but check Eastwoods website for them since I know they have them, too.

 

[GaPonyFarm]

My mustang has a really really crappy paintjob (same paintjob from when I bought it) and its like peeling and stuff and the original paint is under there. I know that if the paint is good under there i'm just gonna leave it cause new paint will hold onto it, so that way I won't have to go down to bare metal. So my question is, how should I take off the "newer" paint? Do I just sand it down? and if so with what kind of sander?

You'll be wasting time and money if you leave the original paint job on the car. The newer paints won't effectively bond to the surface. I recommend you use aircraft stripper (available at auto paint stores, and some Lowe's or Home Depots). You need some good putty knives, razor blades, and a ton of rags. Once you get down to bare metal, wash everything down really well, and sand the bare metal to prep it for body work/primer.

Having gone through this a few times... I'd let the paint shop do the priming, because they will use the correct type primer for the paint they'll be using. They can also find any small defects easier on the bare metal than they can on a primed surface. Flash rust won't be any problem for them, in case you were wondering.

Hope this helps....

If it were me... I'd let the body shop do the stripping too...its a really big job, but will save you $$$ doing it yourself.

 

[kukm66]

I have been using the aircraft stripper from BluLightning. This is hands down the best stripper I have tried. It is non-toxic and only slightly caustic and bubbles up the paint almost immediately. If you decide to use this or any other type, a good tip is to score your paint vertically and horizontally in 2" increments before applying the stripper. This allows the stripper to get under the surface. Here is the link:

http://www.blulightning.com/

It only costs around $25 and is well worth the price. I am ordering some more to do several jobs.

 

[Platonic Solid]

Taking everything down to bare metal may be the thorough / correct way of doing this, but keep in mind that (as has been discussed here before) you’ll likely encounter factory body filler in places – if not body filler from other incidents – which will need to be redone. This is no small task regardless of your chosen paint removal method.

I think Brtnstrns abilities, budget, schedule and goal need to be defined first:
Who’s going to paint the car?
How much time and money do you have available for this task?
Is the goal "good driver quality" or "show quality"?

Edit: Above questions responded to in THIS Thread.