media blasting
Safety Car
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,654
Likes: 0
From: Chandler Arizona
St. Jude Donor '08
Originally Posted by tacjam3
does anyone know where a good place in the phila area to get my car stripped and any idea of cost.
thanks AL
thanks AL
I had a friend recently tell me to use soda blasting (he's a cobra kit guy, and familiar w/ fiberglass). Needless to say, I'm now paranoid of the blasting process on fiberglass after the advice I got here. It's a bummer because it's the only way to go with street rods and saves a ton of time 
Racer
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 492
Likes: 0
From: Birmingham AL
I am one of those that would discourage blasting. I am just now wrapping up painting my car, the previous owner had the body bead blasted. I was like most people and thought this was a good thing to save me work. What I found is that the surface in my case was so pitted that it has taken these extra things:
a) I have now used 3 gallons of PPG K36 sandable primer to do my whole car vs. 1 gallon under normal conditions. That's at a cost of about $95 a gallon of K36.
b) It has taken me 4 rounds of shooting K36 in 2 wet coats each, and block sanding each time to get a perfectly smooth surface. THis is opposed to 1 stage of 2 wet coats and a final single coat stage if sanded or stripped.
It has taken me a total of about 120 hours to completely prep and paint my car from start to finish. Of that I'd guess that a good 80 hours of that went into priming and blocking which is probably about 50 hours above normal. That is why I say that blasting is not a good choice. It feels like you'd save time but when you consider all the EXTRA priming and blocking you have to do, you spend a LOT more time than sanding the paint down or stripping it. At least the surface remains relatively smooth with either of those techniques.
a) I have now used 3 gallons of PPG K36 sandable primer to do my whole car vs. 1 gallon under normal conditions. That's at a cost of about $95 a gallon of K36.
b) It has taken me 4 rounds of shooting K36 in 2 wet coats each, and block sanding each time to get a perfectly smooth surface. THis is opposed to 1 stage of 2 wet coats and a final single coat stage if sanded or stripped.
It has taken me a total of about 120 hours to completely prep and paint my car from start to finish. Of that I'd guess that a good 80 hours of that went into priming and blocking which is probably about 50 hours above normal. That is why I say that blasting is not a good choice. It feels like you'd save time but when you consider all the EXTRA priming and blocking you have to do, you spend a LOT more time than sanding the paint down or stripping it. At least the surface remains relatively smooth with either of those techniques.
Racer
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 294
Likes: 0
From: cincinnati oh
I would agree with the comments about bead blasting, assuming that the person used glass beads, but other types are much less harsh than that. Using soda, walnut, or plastic meadia (at a lower pressure of 40-60 PSI) shouldn't cause any pitting like steves_77vette had. These materials are designed to "break up" easier and decrease the chance of damaging the fiberglass. Of course the media does not last as long. It could damage a large Bondo area, but chances are you would redo that anyway.
Safety Car
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,654
Likes: 0
From: Chandler Arizona
St. Jude Donor '08
Originally Posted by vetteboy1976kr
I would agree with the comments about bead blasting, assuming that the person used glass beads, but other types are much less harsh than that. Using soda, walnut, or plastic meadia (at a lower pressure of 40-60 PSI) shouldn't cause any pitting like steves_77vette had. These materials are designed to "break up" easier and decrease the chance of damaging the fiberglass. Of course the media does not last as long. It could damage a large Bondo area, but chances are you would redo that anyway.
Racer
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 357
Likes: 8
St. Jude Donor '06-'07-'08-'09-'10-'11-'12-'13-'14-'15-'16-'17-'18-'19
If you are going to blast, this guy is good - I have seen Vettes he has blasted, but I have not decided yet if I am going to blast mine.
Phil Stout
Stout Media Blast
899 Fernhill Road Unit A
West Chester, PA 19380 610-430-6645
Phil Stout
Stout Media Blast
899 Fernhill Road Unit A
West Chester, PA 19380 610-430-6645
Heel & Toe
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 18
Likes: 0
From: snellville georgia
Soda Blasting
I do soda blasting , the trick in doing fiberglass is it must be done with water and you must keep the nozzle moving ,if kept in one place it will create a hole . In my opinion soda blasting is the most effective way to strip any car . Remember it also will not hurt glass ,rubber or chrome . I hope this helps you out a little .
Burning Brakes
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 1,078
Likes: 0
From: Santee CA
Walnut shell is great if you're trying to do a quick strip, because it's very coarse material.
However, I wouldn't use it on fiberglass because of the reason that it's so coarse.
Stick to soda/plastic blasting at a lower PSI if you're going to do it.
If you're doing any steel parts, aluminum oxide (usually a 150 grit texture) works wonderfully. I believe that Walnut shell is something like a 15-20 grit texture, but I could be wrong; I'm trying to do this from memory.
Depending on the application, I use either Aluminum oxide for my media blasting, or glass bead (at least, if I'm trying to strip it to bare metal), at about 90 PSI. I like glass bead for aluminum, if I'm going to strip it down to bare metal and paint it, although I did use it to remove some nasty oils/grease on our aluminum Jaguar valve covers before I polished it up.
However, I wouldn't use it on fiberglass because of the reason that it's so coarse.
Stick to soda/plastic blasting at a lower PSI if you're going to do it.
If you're doing any steel parts, aluminum oxide (usually a 150 grit texture) works wonderfully. I believe that Walnut shell is something like a 15-20 grit texture, but I could be wrong; I'm trying to do this from memory.
Depending on the application, I use either Aluminum oxide for my media blasting, or glass bead (at least, if I'm trying to strip it to bare metal), at about 90 PSI. I like glass bead for aluminum, if I'm going to strip it down to bare metal and paint it, although I did use it to remove some nasty oils/grease on our aluminum Jaguar valve covers before I polished it up.
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Melting Slicks
Joined: Oct 1999
Posts: 2,581
Likes: 14
From: Tolar Texas
I recently split the cost to rent a soda blast unit with two other guys. It was a large unit with a diesel powered compressor mounted on a car hauler type trailer. The cost was $200 for Friday afternoon through Monday morning and $25 per 50 lb. bag of soda.
It was absolutely fantastic for stripping my friends 70 Mach 1 and 66 Galaxie 500 convertible down to bare metal. However, it did not work well on my Vette. After making a mess of my two doors, I elected not to blast anymore fiberglass.
It felt as if the paint was a bit tougher than the fiberglass. By the time you would get through the paint, the fiberglass woud quickly errode into a rough worm track sort of texture.
It has taken me a lot of work to get the doors back to where they should be.
There may be some experienced soda blast operators who can strip a Vette without damaging the glass but I couldn't do it.
I tried everything I could to make it work such as less pressure, more pressure, varied from a rich soda mixture to a very lean soda mixture, varied the distance from nozzle to surface and varied the angle of attack. No matter what I tried, it continued to damage the glass.
It was absolutely fantastic for stripping my friends 70 Mach 1 and 66 Galaxie 500 convertible down to bare metal. However, it did not work well on my Vette. After making a mess of my two doors, I elected not to blast anymore fiberglass.
It felt as if the paint was a bit tougher than the fiberglass. By the time you would get through the paint, the fiberglass woud quickly errode into a rough worm track sort of texture.
It has taken me a lot of work to get the doors back to where they should be.
There may be some experienced soda blast operators who can strip a Vette without damaging the glass but I couldn't do it.
I tried everything I could to make it work such as less pressure, more pressure, varied from a rich soda mixture to a very lean soda mixture, varied the distance from nozzle to surface and varied the angle of attack. No matter what I tried, it continued to damage the glass.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 3,347
Likes: 9
From: Salinas Ca.
I also just went through this process (what method to use) I ended up 80% sanding, 15% razor blade & 5% stripper... I did the whole car in a day in a half including all jams. I was not easy!! Just went at it hard and got it over, 
Instructor
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 107
Likes: 0
From: New Berlin WI
soda
Originally Posted by dan1973
I do soda blasting , the trick in doing fiberglass is it must be done with water and you must keep the nozzle moving ,if kept in one place it will create a hole . In my opinion soda blasting is the most effective way to strip any car . Remember it also will not hurt glass ,rubber or chrome . I hope this helps you out a little .
also on aluminum as wellIf these are not available, get the razor blade out, and in the jams and recesses like the drip rail for the hood, use a chemical stripper, Capn Lee's, for example. The chemical stripper is available form Mid America.
I have also seen and heard of heat guns, but be careful. These should not/cannot get too hot.
Last edited by 1979L82; Oct 19, 2005 at 10:25 AM.
Safety Car
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,654
Likes: 0
From: Chandler Arizona
St. Jude Donor '08
Originally Posted by Muddywaters
I also just went through this process (what method to use) I ended up 80% sanding, 15% razor blade & 5% stripper... I did the whole car in a day in a half including all jams. I was not easy!! Just went at it hard and got it over,
I'm not sure I want to risk blasting. A day and a half sounds reasonable - I'm assuming looooooooooonnnnnnnnngggggggggggggg days, right (12-16 hrs) ???? I'll be tackling mine in the next cuople of months. I'll give myself a whole weekend (Fri night, Sat and Sun) just to be sure I budget plenty of time.
