Acid V. Sand/bead Blast V. Hand Sand

[Nathaniel Donnelly]

Hello all!

Had my front fender off my '67 vert for the first time recently and realized my torque boxes are shot, so now I want to totally disassemble the car and start from scratch. Was just quoted ~$11k (depending on necessary body work) for hand sand to finished 2-stage paint job if I bring them a rolling chassis.

Is hand sanding the best route to take to prevent further damage? What are the risks of sand/bead blasting, and how does an acid bath differ?

Ready to hear what you all have to say. Thanks in advance!

 

[horse sence]

Do not go with acid stripping .It stays in the seams and leaches out when it gets wet and will peel the paint in these areas . Sand blasting is fine for the engine compartment and under side of the car ,but the outer body should be sanded off ,sand blasting can warp the metal .

 

[Nathaniel Donnelly]

Do not go with acid stripping .It stays in the seams and leaches out when it gets wet and will peel the paint in these areas . Sand blasting is fine for the engine compartment and under side of the car ,but the outer body should be sanded off ,sand blasting can warp the metal .

Thanks HS!

 

[her69fastback]

Thanks HS![/QUOTE
Look up bustlessblasting.com. It will have you lots of time. They will even come to your house.

 

[Nathaniel Donnelly]

Wow. I'm impressed. Thanks for the share. I'll definitely look into this method.

 

[zookeeper]

https://www.mscdirect.com/product/details/62518600

I used these bristle discs when I stripped my car. They work great, don't mar the metal or warp it and clean up is minimal

 

[jikelly]

I have done the acid thing myself and hand sanded the car the second time I was prepping it for paint. Acid is an easy way to remove the paint. We washed the car a bunch after we finished removing everything the acid softened. I don't remember any issues with the acid leaching out and peeling the primer I covered it with. After years of having the stang just primered I went back and hand sanded it back to the metal and then painted it myself. That was a crazy time consuming experience with lots of me repeating processes because I messed up application of product, or forgot something, or was just unhappy with the result. I now know why a good paint job costs so much.

 

[zookeeper]

For anyone considering using paint stripper, here's a tip I never heard of before I saw it at work: we used to use a very good stripper to strip aircraft called Eldorado. It worked so well it got outlawed. The next stuff we got wasn't as good and took so long it would dry out, so the paint crew brushes in heavily, then covers it with cellophane wrap like they wrap pallets of boxes with, and leaves it. This keeps the stripper from drying out and lets it work.

 

[her69fastback]

That will work. It still makes a mess. You still have lots of sanding todo. The dip tank works great. You will have to have the car gutted. I would go with the dustless blasting they come to you

 

[Nathaniel Donnelly]

The Dustless Blasting seems like the way to go.