scyzoryk23

I got captain lee'S paint stripper to remove paint from my corvette. I know its safe for fiberglass but what about urethane bumpers? Any one did it?

I could also use some photos of your cars after u used paint stripper.
Thanks.

AdamMeh

Easy Mike

Check the label on the container. I think it's safe for urethane, but the label might say something more specific.

birdsmith

Check "My Personal Paint Thread" in the tech forum. Everything you always wanted to know about stripping your Corvette but were afraid you'd find out anyway. Bottom line here is that fiberglass stripper is about 1/10 as strong as regular stripper, and will only go through one layer of paint at a time. My car had three previous paint jobs on it (factory lacquer, 3rd owner base/clear, me driveway lacquer) so 8 layers of paint (factory primer, factory topcoat, 3rd owner sealer, primer, basecoat, clearcoat, then my own primer and lacquer).

I was able to shave through much of the last two paint jobs down to the PO's primer, then had to manually sand through that since it was impervious to fiberglass stripper, then once I finally managed to get through all of that I could strip the factory topcoat, then hand wet-sand through the factory primer to the base surface. A real PITA.

If you have more than one coat of paint on the car soda blasting would be highly recommended...I'll never do this again!

Mark G

You might be ok for short blasts, but the 6 layers of old paint on my car and front bumper were REALLY HARD to remove. I used a combination of Captn' Lees and Clean Strip (fiberglass safe) stripper. I had to use multiple coats and let it sit quite a while on my car. It worked with a few different applications. On my front bumper, I basically ruined it by letting stripper sit on it too long and letting it sit in an awkward position. Basically it softened up the urethane and due to the location it was sitting, it ended up taking that form permenantly.

I think you'll be ok as long as you don't let it sit TOO long, or give some time in between applications. Let it lie on the ground horizontally, not with the back side on the ground (nose pointing upwards). Or, at least for too long. My front bumper cover was pretty much toast anyway, and it was very wavy and sort of brittle, but I was hoping I might be able to save it. I ended up just buying a new Urethane cover from Ecklers, which I really like (but cost $500 too!).

BTW, I didn't find Captn' lees that great of a stripper. I liked the Kleen Strip fiberglass safe product a lot better and it seemed to work better too. I got it at a paint and autobody store. But if you already have it, might as well use what you've got.

Good luck.

RU7376vettes

I wouldn't recommend putting it on the bumper, it will affect the urethane. Better solution is to have it plastic media blasted. I tried stripper early on and saw it raising the urethane on a test area. Either sand the old paint off or have it blasted. Captain Lee's worked great on both my 73 and my 76, but it won't take off a lot of layers. It also doesn't hurt the fiberglass!

Unk

lvmyvt76

Get rid of the urethane bumpers and put fiberglass ones on. No wave and you can paint them without any additive so they match the rest of the paint.

Mark G

Sanding would be the best bet. It's hard work, but one way to do it. Media blasting might be another. You don't need special additives to paint the urethane bumpers. Matching isn't a problem. Most guys don't use a flex additive. Was more of a problem in the old days with the harder lacquer and enamel paints. Urethanes are pretty flexible. Sure if you REALLY hit something hard and the bumper flexes enough the paint will crack, and maybe moreso than if you'd used the additive, but at that point you've got other problems to fix too.

scyzoryk23

that was my plan, but after reading few horror stories abut fitment issues with the fiberglass/true flex front bumpers I decided to stay with urethane.

My rear bumper is being replaced by fiberglass, but they are much easier to fit right than front bumpers
S.