My 78 needs painting, and I would like to save the two days labor the shop will charge to strip my paint. Does anybody have experience on using chemical paint stripper for their vette?

What brand of stripper is recommended?
Is it a slow process?
Can I use the same stripper for the urethane and fiberglass?
Should I attempt this, or just pay the price?
Will this hurt the gel coat?
Is soda blasting the better way to go?
Any tips or stories are welcome.

:confused:

 

:confused: ....How 'bout Coca-Cola on a 'hot' day ? :jester :lol:

just couldn't resist....

 

Takes a heck of alot longer than 2 days!

 

I've read a few things that say that chemical strippers are a thing of the past for corvettes. The chemicals get into the fiberglass (even with a gel coat) and can creep to the surface even years after the paint job.

I think the latest technique is media blasting, using plastic pellets.

I haven't done either, so I have no advice, but I will be needing information as well once I decide to paint the C3.

 

I just saw something advertised in the Eastwood catalog that they market as a 'safer stripper' called DeKote. Says it contains no Methylene Chloride and is safe for fiberglass and SMC panels. I might try some of this to see how it works. Has anyone else used this stuff?

 

You can safely strip your car with a product called Capt'n Lee's Spray n Strip. I've done my car twice with it and it worked excellently. No damage at all was done to the body and there were no problems down the road in the topcoats. Go to my website at this link for the full story. http://mywebpages.comcast.net/vettfixr/page9.htm
Many others have used this product successfully but I'm afraid it will take you much longer than 2 days. If you worked at it for a full 8 hours a day I think you would be looking at a full week's worth of work.

 

Rex, first of all the thing about not using chemical stripper on fiberglass is an old wive's tale an just a buncha crap. Media blasting is an excellent way to remove the paint but it's expensive.

I've got cars that I stripped in the 70's and don't have paint issues with them now. It is important to use the proper strippers. There may be some others that work well, but some that are too strong and will damage the glass. As far as the statement about the gel coat, you don't have to worry about that, because no Corvette has EVER had gel coat applied at the factory..........not ever.

There are two products that I've used and like. One is the Redi Strip that's frequently sold at car shows. It's water like in consistency and is applied with a spray bottle. The second is a product made by Dupont and sold at body shop supply stores. I don't recall the stock number, but it's in a grey and white can.

The process is simple. Take strips of duct tape and tape everywhere you don't want stripper to run, like door cracks, hood cracks, etc. Remove everything the bodyshop is going to remove anyway. Do a relatively small area at the time, like the top of a fender, half the deck, etc. If you're using the brush on type like the Dupont, make all the brush strokes in one direction. This does something with oxygen molecules that I don't understand, but it does make a difference. Let the stuff start wrinkling the paint and use a plastic squeegie, like Bondo is applied with and scrape it off. DO NOT USE METAL SCRAPERS OR RAZORBLADES. The strippers will take paint but not primer. After the car is down to the primer, use laquer thinner and scotch brite pads to wash it to bare fiberglass. This can be more labor intense than the paint itself was. Dried paint & stripper mixed is harder to remove with more stripper than the original paint was., so get it all off in an area and watch were it runs. I usually put multiple layers of newspaper down or better yet the rosin paper like most building supply stores sell is a good floor covering. Also tape paper across the tires because the stuff will drip off the fenders and make a mess there too. One other thing I've done on the last 2 is get a sheetrock mud tray at the building supply and scrape the paint & stripper mess into it. Don't forget the rubber gloves also, that stuff burns on your skin. Multiple layers of laytex will work if changed real frequently or the black chemical type will last much longer. I tried Playtex gloves and they don't last much longer than the latex and cost 50X more. It is time consuming, especially in the door jamb type areas, but not overwhelming if you have a little patience.

Edit: a couple more thoughts: Avoid aircraft type stripper....it will damage the glass. The time involved will depend on what kind of paint is on the car and how many times it's been painted. I just bought an original paint 62 fuelie and washed one quarter and one door to clean glass in about an hour and a half to 2 hrs, (excluding door jamb and trunk trough. Most of the time spent on primer scrubbin'. Original paint = easy, catalyst type paints such as BB/CC are much harder, and in the unlikely event that somebody did it with Imron, you've got a mighty tough job ahead. If the car has catalyst type paint or a lot of any type, I'd hit it with real course paper on some type of orbital sander, just to cut the paint, not to get anywhere near the fiberglass, and this is REAL important. DON"T GET ANYWHERE NEAR THE GLASS with the sandpaper, The idea is to just scratch up the paint. I've seen cars that people tried to sand paint off of. They invariabley change a body line, get one too sharp, or get something wavy. Don't do it. One other thing, stripper will soften body filler, so previous repairs will require attention.





[Modified by Solidlifters, 11:19 PM 1/20/2003]

 

Well I can't believe you guys actually like stripper. It is the messiest crap on earth. It wouldn't be bad if it did a decent job, but it doesn't.

I stripped a couple of parts with stripper , but the rest I'm doing with razor blades.
You cut the paint off and use a shop vac to suck up the little chips. No mess, no cleanup.
It sounds scary, but I did less damage with the razor that with the stripper. It's less messy, and more accurate.

 

A little OT, but I just stripped a metal car with razor blades. Much easier than I expected! Worked well and relatively fast.
Jim

 

Everything Solidlifters said. Here's my experience...

My car had sat outside 20 years. Cap'n Lee's was used. 2 of us stripped it in 3 nights, about 3 hours a nite, including laquer thinner washing. The hood, however, had been stored in the garage the entire time. Took a LOT longer to strip, and the bottom layer was much tougher to remove. I think the UV rays had helped break down the paint by sucking out the binders and resins.

There were 2 repaints on the car, it had no assembly-plant-applied paint, just a gray primer (shipped in prime).

If a razor blade will peel it off, there were adhesion issues already present.

And I would NEVER DA a corvette. The time "saved" will be reinvested many times over priming/blocking/priming/blocking/priming/blocking......

We've got a (used to be)nice '58 at the shop that some genius decided to strip with a DA and 80 grit. :nonod:


[Modified by a454corvette, 11:26 PM 1/20/2003]

 

You can save alittle money by doing it your self.cover all of your seams and holes with some duct tape.Cover your rubber bumpers with duct tape and plasticand go for it.Work a panel at a time.It will make a mess so put some plastic on the floor too.You probably wont be able to get all of it off so it will have to be sanded off.The paint shop can do that. :seeya

 

I like chemical stripper....I used Bix, bought it at home depot, black can, cost me 17 bucks a gallon, did a fantastic job

Carefull, the nicks and gouges you will make with the blade will create more work for you

but each his own, some like the blade, some media blasting, some chemical strippers...

 

Thanks for all your reply's, there is some great tips in here.

Just like I thought, messy and time consuming. I have read so many pro's/cons about strippers/sanding/media blasting, and I feel stripper is the way to go.

I have heard plastic media blasting will remove the gel coat, I have heard of people using baking soda, and supposedly it is okay.

Sanding is scary also because you don't want to mess up the lines of the car.

I guess the paychecks will dictate whether or not I do it myself...

 

I using Capt Lees rigth now it seems to work fine, it is a slow process. Its only 15 degs here and lots of snow so I'm in no hurry.


[Modified by lil ski, 9:39 PM 1/21/2003]

 

Good to hear it still works in the cold ;)

-26C (-15F) here today.