84Carb

Has anyone ever soda blasted their Vette for paint removal? If so what's your take on it? What other ideas or recommendations for removing the paint prior to taking in to the shop? Any help would be great!

fendermender

I had metal panels soda blasted and was happy with the results. I also saw an older Vette body that was plastic media blasted but it was a bare tub. Biggest problem is keeping the stuff out of where you don't want it. In my opinion the soda would be easier to clean up since it disolves with water. The plastic media is about as bad as sand.

If you want to DIY, there may be chemical strippers available. You could inquire at the local autobody/paint supply store about something safe for fiberglass. Or ask the shop what they would do.

usmc_butler

Im not gonna lie, when I read the heading to this thread this came to mind:





Did a little research on "Sodablasting" ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodablasting ) about half way down this was said:
"One paint manufacturer recommends against using their automotive epoxy primer over soda blasted substrates" might do a little research on what paint will work after sodablasting...

fendermender

Actually it's baking soda the powder not soda pop. At least that's what it looks like.

hooked073

I have done soda blasting before but not on fiberglass. But I honestly do not think it would hurt a thing. As far as clean up a graden hose is you best friend

lushdrunk

I soda blast fiberglass all the time with no issues. Bi carbon soda is very gentle on everything except paint. You can even blast around glass, chrome and weatherstripping without damage. Soda blasting is the best thing for paint removal on the market.

Other then start up cost the only downside to soda blasting is SMC fiberglass (C4 fiberglass). SMC don't use a gel coat like normal fiberglass. They use a urethane primer as a sealer and soda blasting will remove the primer and expose the bare SMC fiberglass.

Why is this bad? Soda blasting leaves a residue behind that MUST be removed before paint can be applied. Normally you would just spray the part off with a water hose and a degreaser to remove the residue, But you can't do this with the exposed SMC fiberglass because moisture will enter the fiberglass and cause you a ton of issues when it is time to paint.
However the residue can be safely removed with a good paint prep solvent cleaner and some elbow grease.

lwhipple

I work in a body shop and started restoring corvettes in 1990. I would not recommend any sort of blasting on a corvette. while it is a pain in the rear, aircraft stripper is the best way to get a vette preped for the body shop. I did a 63 two years ago that was soda blasted and hed to replace the fuse panel, carpeting, and spent more than 40 hours cleaning electrical connections. just not worth it. Also if it a convertable it will clog the drains quite well. just use caution using the stripper..use good protection!!

c4sailor

Did you look in the paint/body section? http://forums.corvetteforum.com/paint-body-138/

jeffp1167

heat and a putty knife ... I did this to my 82 vette with no side effects.

Muffin

If my memory is correct the high end painters recommend SMC be sanded, no chemical removers or blasting with anything. Pre C4 are fiberglass and can tolerate chemicals and/or blasting. The requirement for sanding is one of the many reasons painting a Corvette is so expensive.