Black and Red Paint Removal From Stainless

[Ras12]

For several years now I have been debating on whether to remove the paint from #2083 or go over her with a Vinyl Wrap or www.dipyourcar.com PlastiDip. Well as of this past weekend there is no turning back as we started to bring her back to her former glory. BTW...I did not paint her and don’t have the history behind why she was painted first RED then BLACK but I’m sure to find out once the paint is removed. When I say “we” I am referring to myself and my three kids. One child used a Craftsman Paint Remover and Restorer tool ([url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGW1_FPIcBk), another used a Harbor Freight DA Sander, and the one who gives me the most grief used the Aircraft Paint Stripper and Remover with the plastic bags trick (don’t worry I couldn’t find the Aircraft Remover with the chemicals the EPA has since banned so they had to use the environmentally friendly one).

Here are some photos of the beginning stages. The DA sander worked the best but I have to be careful to ensure that we stop at the primer level so we don’t mess up the grain. The hard part is going to be removing the paint from the door jambs!

I have read the thread here about RED’s transformation back to stainless and wish I could use the “old school chemical laced” Aircraft Stripper as that works awesome. The new stuff doesn’t do anything. So if anyone has Any suggestions please let me know.

Thanks

Jason

[Patrick C]

Keep us posted how this project progresses! And be careful with the aircraft stripper on the fascias. I've heard stories of them dissolving from chemicals like that.

[Helirich]

I've heard of people spraying some kind of nut shells through a sand blaster. (Like peanut or walnut) I also saw a jet being stripped with carbon dioxide. (I think) I'm not sure how that works.

[DMC-81]

Here is a job done by Soda blasting:

http://dmctalk.org/showthread.php?11754-Back-to-Stainless-for-a-painted-car

[dn010]

When they removed methylene chloride from paint strippers, I had a real problem finding a solution to stripping paint from cars, especially ones from the 50s where it could have multiple coats of paint from repaints on it. With the good old paint removers, you'd apply it, wait, and then everything would come off in one swipe of a scraper. Not anymore. So I tried everything:

Sandblasting - This method may be gentle on the stainless using walnut but it takes forever especially if you have a small air compressor. You don't want to breathe the dust and you'll get media everywhere in addition to having to buy the media.

Soda or Dry Ice blasting - haven't tried it to comment.

Air sanding - Same as sandblasting where it takes forever, you burn through sanding disks quickly and again if you have a small compressor it will take even longer. Also hard to hit contours but luckily the DeLorean doesn't have many.

So the best and fastest method I found, I start with Aircraft Remover which again as you know is now garbage since they took away methylene chloride but it at least still softens up the paint for the next process. I then use a 40 grit abrasive drum on a SCT from Eastwood - links below. I have NOT tried this grit on stainless but it has not chewed up any metal I've ground the paint off of. You don't want to leave it in one place or you'll heat up and risk warping the metal. I would get a damaged stainless fender or really anything stainless, and try it on there before you take it to your car. I'd also start with drums that are higher grit and work my way lower to see what works best with the stainless and paint you're getting rid of. As an added bonus, you can put a grain in the stainless with this tool (I think I used a 240 polishing drum). Keep in mind the links below are only examples. If you want to pay half the price, there are versions of this tool on Amazon. The drums are also half price on Amazon compared to Eastwood so I always buy those on Amazon.


Tool:
https://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-contour-sct.html

Drum:
https://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-contour-sctr-abrasive-drum-4-5-inch-40-grit.html

[David T]

Expect to regrain the car. The first step to painting the car was to use a random orbital sander to roughen the surface to get the paint to stick. Many cars were painted because one panel was damaged and then repaired by using plastic filler. That panel will have to be properly repaired and regrained. Once you regrain one panel the rest of the car will look bad so one-by-one, you will have to do every panel. A big job, especially since the car was painted TWICE! Using chemicals or blasting is very messy but effective. Sanding is the best way. You can control it and it is easier to contain the mess. Regraining is just a form of sanding it so once you get the paint off you just continue sanding but doing it all in the proper direction to regrain the surface. Mask the fascias and glass so you don't damage them.

[Acmetowers]

I've just finished getting mine back to stainless. I used peelaway 7, takes longer as you just paste on the stripper and leave it a day or so to do its work, but after this the vast majority of paint comes straight off. It took about an hour per panel to strip. Also it doesn't smell or burn like the other paint strippers.

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[Spittybug]

Has anyone ever tried a heat gun? That might bubble the paint enough to really facilitate scraping it off. I don't know if it could warp anything (other than the facias) or impact the fiberglass body......

[Kevin 02530]

https://youtu.be/GzsoFFD9c9M

Here is my YouTube video of my removal process. It was a long process but definitely worth it in the end. The chemical stripper does work you just have to really load it on. Most of this car was skimmed with body filler and the stripper still was able to soften it up enough to get thru it eventually. The jams were the easy part in all honesty. I did it one panel at a time and of course had to do a full regrain when I was done.


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[Ras12]

https://youtu.be/GzsoFFD9c9M

Here is my YouTube video of my removal process. It was a long process but definitely worth it in the end. The chemical stripper does work you just have to really load it on. Most of this car was skimmed with body filler and the stripper still was able to soften it up enough to get thru it eventually. The jams were the easy part in all honesty. I did it one panel at a time and of course had to do a full regrain when I was done.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Great informative video. Thank you. I did not put on two (2) coats and only let it sit for 30 mins so I am going to try the two coats and let it sit longer this weekend and see what happens. Stay tuned.

[Kevin 02530]

Looking forward to seeing your progress! Extremely satisfying watching that paint come off.


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[dn010]

I’m experimenting with “Multi Strip Advanced” right now on a car from the 50’s. I’ll let you know if it’s any good. Supposed to remove up to 15 layers.

[Ras12]

So I took Kevin’s advice in the video and decided to scuff up the black paint before applying the stripper. However, the black paint was so thick I used a DA sander and that actually got me down to the red paint so the stripper will now have less paint to eat through. I am holding off on the stripper and will keep removing the black to get to the red and then go from there. It gets a little tricky as it is so tempting to burn through the red and get right to the stainless but I dont want to end up with DA swirl marks everywhere either. Seeing that I have limited time this may take a while.

Sorry if some photos come in upside down but they are normal on my iPad and flip when I upload them to the site and I cannot figure out how to change them.

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[dn010]

After using the Multi-Strip Advanced ($15 on Amazon-I used the 1 quart gel), I would suggest you give it a try. The topcoat literally dripped right off the car onto the ground. My problem is that it still doesn't eat through lead based primer but you should not have that problem at all.

[84Impulse]

Poor car! I hope you're able to bring it back to spec, nicely. I think painting a Delorean is a damned atrocity. Its like converting the gull doors to regular horizontal sweep ones

[Citizen]

I applaud you for your attempt to return to stainless. Unfortunately, after all the hours of work removing the paint, you might find so much body damage (bondo) that you end up replacing all the panels and doors anyway (hopefully not).

As I understand it, a fair number of DeLoreans are painted not because the owner doesn’t like SS, but because the car has sustained body damage and most owners & shops don’t have expertise in SS repair. So they drill holes, bondo, and then paint.

Let’s hope this is not the case here.

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