Blast media, fine grit flap grinding disk, chemical stripper, or good ol fashioned sand paper?
I would like to take the paint off to bare metal and look as clean as possible and clear powder over. I'm thinking blast media but not sure.
Anyone with paint and body exp. opinions greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

 

I would chemically strip them if they are metal and not plastic. Then fine prep the metal surface.

 

Yes, it's all metal. Like Airplane Stripper From the auto parts store?? What is fine prep? I am wanting to do this myself, hopefully before spring hits!!!

Thanks!

 

Personally I would chemical strip the paint. Fine prep (I think) means use a orbital sander with 120 grit sandpaper to remove any left over paint that the stripper does not get then move on to a finer grit like 150 or even 180 before priming with a good primer filler over the bare metal. Be sure to neutralize the metal immediatly after chemical stripping (wash with soap & water) before sanding.

 

My best advice is to contact member JRK5892 (Joe). He is an expert at custom metal prep & powdercoat. He will know the best methods & materials.

 

I take it its just the prep work you're tackling yourself, or you wouldn't need to ask these questions. If you have a painter lined up ask him how he wants them prepped and how much he wants you to do to save costs.

 

Thanks, sent him a PM.

 

Aircraft stripper works well and gets into all the nooks and crannies.
Media Blasting works well but you'd have to pay someone to do it.
Taking it down with sandpaper works fine, but you want to be careful not to get too aggressive in one spot and heat up the metal too much. You can do a lot of it with a DA, but there are areas you'll have to do by hand and that will be a lot of work and a pain in the ***.

If I were going down to bare metal, I'd strip with aircraft stripper, then clean it up with 400 grit, then 600 grit followed by 800 grit.

 

I striped my 72 monte carlo down to metal & used the airplane paint stripper that they sell at auto parts stores. Put the stuff on scrap most of it off with a putty knife. Most of the paint will come right off. You will get some small spots that is left, get some good rubber gloves& put more airplane paint stripper back on & it will pretty much just wip off with steel wool. Airplane paint stripper is really the way to go here. If you blast it you need to be pretty careful not to warp the metal & sanding just plain sucks.