View Full Version : Frame & Body Paint stripper - which one
uhhair
10-31-2011, 11:57 AM
So the time has come for us to purchase a chemical stripper to start taking the paint off of our red D. Problem is, I am not sure exactly which one to purchase. Several people have offered their suggestions but what I am really looking for are owners that have stripped their cars that could give us links to the specific product(s) and method they used to strip their paint. I've heard a lot about using plastic sheeting as well, but don't know much about what is involved. Thanks in advance for your help!
opethmike
10-31-2011, 11:59 AM
I think Airman Pika stripped his painted DeLorean? Trying contacting him?
DMCMW Dave
10-31-2011, 12:15 PM
I think Airman Pika stripped his painted DeLorean? Trying contacting him?
He also gave up and replaced most of the panels. This is really a horrible job especially if you really want to remove ALL signs of the paint.
uhhair
10-31-2011, 12:48 PM
Horrible or not, it has to be done haha!
thirdmanj
10-31-2011, 12:49 PM
If it's between paint and a stripper, I'd totally go for the stripper. :biggrin:
David T
10-31-2011, 01:31 PM
Go to a local auto body supply and talk to the counter guys. Best if you can remove the panels so you don't mess up the whole car. You have to remove the rub strip and all other parts so they don't get damaged. BIG JOB! You also have to figure out how you are going to dispose of all of the hazardous waste this will create. You will also need personal protection, a respirator, gloves, and face shield. The other ways to remove paint include:
Sanding the paint off. You will have to regrain the whole car anyway.
Blasting the paint off with sand or some other type of media.
Consider that you may have to repair one or more panels if you find filler. If the car was properly painted the whole car was first sanded with a random-orbit sander so the graining is going to have to all be redone.
Chemical stripping is VERY messy and dangerous.
David Teitelbaum
.
This is my son's car "Before", will take pictures of how it looks now!
As you can see, very easy to use!
This particular vehicle has four layers of paint: Gray, Yellow, White and Red. All came out in one step!
Note: And it is water based, no to worry about damaging the facia!
So the time has come for us to purchase a chemical stripper to start taking the paint off of our red D. Problem is, I am not sure exactly which one to purchase. Several people have offered their suggestions but what I am really looking for are owners that have stripped their cars that could give us links to the specific product(s) and method they used to strip their paint. I've heard a lot about using plastic sheeting as well, but don't know much about what is involved. Thanks in advance for your help!
.
Actually, it is an easy job!
The most time consuming part is the inside of the doors, but it can be done in a half day!
He also gave up and replaced most of the panels. This is really a horrible job especially if you really want to remove ALL signs of the paint.
uhhair
10-31-2011, 02:22 PM
.
This is my son's car "Before", will take pictures of how it looks now!
As you can see, very easy to use!
This particular vehicle has four layers of paint: Gray, Yellow, White and Red. All came out in one step!
Note: And it is water based, no to worry about damaging the facia!
Levy, do you know exactly what type of stripper was used and any other details as to how you used it? I would like for our paint to come off as easy as yours!
tyb323
10-31-2011, 03:09 PM
Uhhair, why is your DeLorean orange? =)
Also (to save him from writing this out), the car was titled red in 1981, and from what we've been able to observe on Uhhair's car, there appears to be intact grain underneath.
I look forward to seeing where this goes!
.
UHHAIR, I wish I could tell you, but it is a trade secret!
Well, look at this picture, may be you can figure it out! :hihi:
You will be pleased with the results!
Levy
One more note: There are two different kinds of this product, we tried both and only one works really good!
Will check to see if we still have the old container. Just make sure and you follow instructions, see this picture.
Levy, do you know exactly what type of stripper was used and any other details as to how you used it? I would like for our paint to come off as easy as yours!
uhhair
10-31-2011, 05:06 PM
Levy,
That looks like it worked well. Let me know if you can find out exactly which stripper you used, as that brand has a few different options it seems. Any pictures of the final results?
Dracula
10-31-2011, 05:43 PM
I used a gel-based stripper with WONDERFUL results, in terms of removing the paint. The body underneath was another story altogether. Gel works great because its easy to apply and will eat through the very durable paint that is needed to bond to stainless steel.
.
Gel can be petroleum or water based, you don't want petroleum based close to your facias or to any seals.
I used a gel-based stripper with WONDERFUL results, in terms of removing the paint. The body underneath was another story altogether. Gel works great because its easy to apply and will eat through the very durable paint that is needed to bond to stainless steel.
.
And then, you right!
I used a gel-based stripper with WONDERFUL results, in terms of removing the paint. The body underneath was another story altogether. Gel works great because its easy to apply and will eat through the very durable paint that is needed to bond to stainless steel.
Kenny_Z
11-01-2011, 12:10 AM
I stripped the paint off a fender on my Nova with a product called Aircraft strip or something to that effect. Wonderful stuff, the plastic made things extremely easy to remove. It is more of a jelly. Use it quickly, mine ate though it's container inside of 2 months. You'll need a good mask and GLOVES! That stuff burns like napalm from the seventh layer of hell. I don't know how it would treat stainless.
I thought all cars were sanded before they were painted? Red has a few chips and it really looks like the grain is still there. However, since they are chips I assumed they were where the sander didn't get and therefore didn't get a good bite into the steel.
uhhair
11-01-2011, 09:29 AM
Dracula,
Do you know exactly which stripper you used? Also, we are removing our panels to strip them, so no worry about any stripper touching anything that isn't metal.
.
uhhair, we used peelaway 1, as you can see on the pictures, all the paint coats came together on one step, we also used a plastic scraper but it was just to scrape little pieces of paint every now and then.
Make sure you apply a good coat of the product, then apply the paper on top of it and seal it with masking tape.
No mess as when you use other products that you need to scrape off all the paint, whit this product you just "Peel Away" all the paint coats together. You just take the paper off and all the paint came off with the paper, see the picture.
Make sure you do it under a shade!
We did the whole exterior of car in one day, the inside of the doors a day after.
Levy
Levy,
That looks like it worked well. Let me know if you can find out exactly which stripper you used, as that brand has a few different options it seems. Any pictures of the final results?
Dracula
11-01-2011, 12:06 PM
Dracula,
Do you know exactly which stripper you used? Also, we are removing our panels to strip them, so no worry about any stripper touching anything that isn't metal.
It was the strongest gel stripper I could find; it was a few years ago, so I forgot the name. With the panels removed, it should be very simple to do. I'd still advocate a gel-based stripper, as you can correct spills far easier, and I'd also recommend that you strip the panels in a plastic kiddie pool. It'll make clean-up a breeze and allow you to let the panels soak if they're covered with any bondo. That's the real nightmare.
uhhair
11-01-2011, 12:17 PM
Is there any stripper out there that will take the paint off but not bondo, if in fact we do find some under our paint? Reason being that if we do find bondo and the repair costs are high, we might opt to just re-paint the car as opposed to spending a ridiculous amount of money on a left front fender.
.
PeelAway will leave ugly bondo intact! :hihi2:
Is there any stripper out there that will take the paint off but not bondo, if in fact we do find some under our paint? Reason being that if we do find bondo and the repair costs are high, we might opt to just re-paint the car as opposed to spending a ridiculous amount of money on a left front fender.
Kenny_Z
11-01-2011, 11:24 PM
The stripper wouldn't soak into the bondo? Bondo is porous and likes to soak up paint so would imagine that a stripping compound would be just as bad.
Dracula
11-01-2011, 11:30 PM
Stripper will eat the bondo, but only as far as it can absorb. The dried and baked sections crack and flake off. It's not really something you can recover if you start to remove the paint and find it. It's one of those projects that, once you start, you can't undo.
.
I tried this product over bondo, no even softened the bondo, year later the old bondo still there!
This product is not a gel but it is a paste.
I don't know about the very strong gel product Dracula is talking about, it might be strong enought to destroy bondo, who wants bondo anyway?
The stripper wouldn't soak into the bondo? Bondo is porous and likes to soak up paint so would imagine that a stripping compound would be just as bad.
john 05141
11-02-2011, 04:04 AM
I helped a friend of mine to strip the paint of an aluminum glider plane. Airplanes and chemical paintstrippers... bad idea, so we rented a dry-ice paint stripper.
This thing is fenominal. It comes with a few blocks of dry ice; The machine crapes the ice off and ejects it in high pressure. We used a mouth-piece if an inch wide. The result was BEAUTIFUL!! and it goes very fast. All the paint that is in the rivets or small openings comes right out. No smell either. (but noisy)
I tried another smaller mouth-piece on full pressure and it nearly punched a hole thu wood.
So renting this machine, you can also use it to prepare alloys for painting, or to get rust of that lower arm support before painting...
very neat stuff!
Google rent dry ice stripper and you'll see what is available.
I will be renting one soon to get the old paint of the stairs railing in my house.
John
tyb323
11-02-2011, 09:14 AM
To lay the bondo thing at least slightly to rest - As I said before, Uhhair's car was actually titled as a red car back in 1981 from the original dealer. He told me that he thinks the car was painted on the lot in order to move it (it was a rush job, doorjambs not painted, and when I replaced their headlights there was even overspray on the housing).
They think as a result that bondo isn't an issue.
/done pretending to be Uhhair
opethmike
11-02-2011, 09:29 AM
/done pretending to be Uhhair
Now be the other one!
tyb323
11-02-2011, 09:40 AM
Now be the other one!
Apparently they use the same account. So one is
How we duhn?
and then the other one is
HOW WE DUHN?
Kenny_Z
11-02-2011, 10:03 AM
I think the same thing happened to Red. The door jams and a overspray under the hood lead me to believe it was a dealer rush job. Red didn't sell until 83 even though she's an 81. My only concern is the fact I have a rear antenna whose bracket looks to be a bent up piece of aluminum. I'm not sure if she was painted red to cover up an antenna hole.
uhhair
11-07-2011, 12:48 PM
Just wanted to say thanks to everyone for all their input! We actually bought two different strippers to try and both have worked well on the test spots we did. It also appears that our grain was left intact under the hood, which is a huge plus for us! I will say that the primer under our paint is much tougher to remove than the paint, and even after two coats of stripper there still seems to be some of the yellow primer residue remaining. It looks like it actually is in between some of the grain in the stainless, any ideas on how to clean that up without having to go over the entire car with a blending pad?
Dracula
11-07-2011, 12:52 PM
Just wanted to say thanks to everyone for all their input! We actually bought two different strippers to try and both have worked well on the test spots we did. It also appears that our grain was left intact under the hood, which is a huge plus for us! I will say that the primer under our paint is much tougher to remove than the paint, and even after two coats of stripper there still seems to be some of the yellow primer residue remaining. It looks like it actually is in between some of the grain in the stainless, any ideas on how to clean that up without having to go over the entire car with a blending pad?
Glad to hear that it's going well and I got a good chuckle out of it, too. Your mention of "yellow primer" reminded me of Kurt Russell from "Used Cars" selling repainted taxicabs.
David T
11-07-2011, 01:10 PM
To get the paint (or primer) out of the grain (which is really just scratches in the surface of the metal) let the paint remover sit for a while and then use a blending pad, not a plastic scraper, to remove the stripper and the paint. If that doesn't work you will have to go over the grain with either sandpaper of a blending pad. Even if the grain pattern is intact under the paint expect to go over the car with a blending pad to clean up the grain and remove any scratches. It is not that big a deal to first go over the grain with 80# or 120# sandpaper and then with a blending pad. It can all be done by hand, it just takes longer than if you have a power tool. I have a flexible shaft with a rubber expander wheel for sale. You put bands of 3M sandpaper or Scotch-Brite on it and attach it to a 1/3 HP electric motor. Works just like a flapwheel.
David Teitelbaum
uhhair
11-07-2011, 02:30 PM
Excellent, we can definitely do that. What specifically can I use for a blending pad? I know Houston sells them but I'm guessing the exact same thing is available for 1/3rd the price at Home Depot.
Ikeaboy1
11-07-2011, 04:31 PM
Glad to hear that it's going well and I got a good chuckle out of it, too. Your mention of "yellow primer" reminded me of Kurt Russell from "Used Cars" selling repainted taxicabs.
Greatest movie ever.
sdg3205
05-12-2012, 01:48 PM
Uhhair,
Perhaps I missed it somewhere, but how did the paint stripping go? Were you happy with the product you used?
uhhair
05-12-2012, 07:47 PM
Uhhair,
Perhaps I missed it somewhere, but how did the paint stripping go? Were you happy with the product you used?
We have a stainless Delorean! We'll post some pics for everyone tomorrow after we get our doors adjusted so our side strips line up and look clean, but we're pretty happy with the results.
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