aNYONE HAVE ANY IDEA AS TO THE AMOUNT OF TIME IT TAKES TO STRIP A VETTE WITH RAZOR BLADES VERSES PAINT STRIPPER. any help would be grateful.

 

Depends on how the paint comes off the car, but the razor method is cleaner.

That paint stripper is nasty and makes a nasty mess and takes time to prepare for and clean up, plus you have to clean is all off really well, neutralize yada yada yada.

I would say 1/3 the time, but you usually cant get all the paint to peel with the razor and you have to be careful not to gouge the glass and make your filling and sanding job worse.

 

I used a chemical paint stripper and I would guess it took about 10 hours taking reasonable precautions to avoid dripping into seams and other other hard to reach areas. I did not find it to be too messy. It took 3-4 applications to get down to the primer then I sanded it a bit from there. I also spent a fair amount of time sanding the areas around the door handles and window openings etc. I tried th razor blade method 20 years ago and I put so many nicks in the body that I am sure the body man that finished it still talks about how bad I did. I'll never try that again.

 

have your girlfriend/wife do it, they'll enjoy it and you wont waste any time at all on it. seriously though, use a random orbital sander and 340 grit paper, comes right off , the small areas are what will take time.

 

I just started a small section on one of my t-tops last night to see how the razor blade method worked. I can see how the nooks and crannies will be more time consuming and frustrating, but for me, it is going to be one of those meditative repetitive jobs that are not tedious because you get to see progress all the time.

I'm strangely looking forward to it.

 

If you're doing the razor method, wear safety glasses. Getting a paint chip in your eye sucks.

Probably a good idea with chemical stripper as well, now that I think about it

 

That's what I did ... Wife and mother-in-law did a much better job than I would've probably done and much quicker!! Gloves, mask and eye protection and let them at it... Need lots of lacquer thinner and scotch brites for cleanup...

Rogman

 

if your getting chips the paint is not warm enough. warm it will come off in long strips. but absolutely on the glasses if your chipping . thats why i started heating the paint. much easier to clean up.

 

Question please, when you say warm, do you preheat with a heat gun or hair dryer and how hot? too hot to touch? just warm? or how do you warm it up?

thanks!

 

What brand do you think is best?

Thanks.

 

Hair Dryer, a heat gun will be too hot - if the surface gets too hot it seems easier to gouge. When the temperature is right, the paint comes off in strips like peeling an apple. Too cold and the paint "shatters" as it comes off.

Be sure to get several different sized (shaped) razor blade holders, as some areas of the car (tight curves) are easier with some shaped holders. Much easier to do than write about.

My experience was that (car had three different color layers) some areas came off easy and some not so easy (some of the original paint remained). Reverted to paint stripper on the not so easy parts. Shaving the car is a LOT less messy than stripping. My wife did the majority of the car.

 

a hair dryer will work. i cut a straight line then heat the line out about 2 in or so. when it comes off in strips you'll pick up on the method and temp.
what your going for is to wake up some solvents so a layer will separate.
repairs rarely peel good. if it is difficult start taking smaller strips. you just have to get the hang of it.

 

I used Kleen-Strip Fiberglas Paint Remover. I used a plastic bondo spreader to scrape it off and lacquer thinner to clean the surface before I sanded it. I also spent a good bit of time taping off the seams to prevent the stripper from hiding in the nooks and cranies.

 

the cost of media blasting is far less than starting over after it is finished.
if a chemical can attack paint it can also soak into the resin and cause problems later on.

 

Thanks for all of the feedback!

(Particularly the advice about getting women to help Maybe advertise an opportunity for my wife and her women friends to have a pool party, get a start on a tan, little wine and cheese, and strip the paint on the 72 project??
A Tom Sawyer approach )

 

Use paint remover do small areas at a time such as a fender or and a door complete one section at time before moving on and as said mask off and protect areas where stripper is not wanted use plastic bondo scrapers and a box to scrape paint into, when you apply put on with a old paint brush try to go in one direction and apply a thick coat like your frosting a cake and leave for a little while and let sit be patient let the stripper do its job the chemicals in the stripper get hot and that's what causes the paint to lift thats why you want to be generous with the stripper so theres enough there to work, usually takes two applications, after you have removed all the paint thats gonna strip off wash the areas you put the chemicals on rinse with cold water, the water neutralizes the stripper, then dry the area, next soak a rag with laquer thinner and wash the area down one last time to clean any remaining residue off, washing with the laquer thinner is an important step don't leave a residue on over night it will melt the fiberglass , ask me how i know! if youve done the process right you will see the paint lift in large bubbles and will mostly scrape off pretty easy, I could not even picture attempting to razor blade paint off a whole car, and if you wash down the car right and clean off the residue there will not be any future chemical reactions to worry about after i'ts been painted, lastly once the car is stripped and sanded and ready for primer if your going to bring it to a shop don't bother priming it let the shop do it, the car is fiberglass i'ts not going to rust, on metal you would have to prime and protect from rusting right away, if i'm the bodyshop i don't want to have to worry about when and how you primed it, or if the primer has been exposed to water or left outside for a long time after it was primed, primer left for a long period of time will absorb water and will ruin the primer coat as a body shop i would rather have the car in a fiberglss state and prime it in the shop under the right conditions if I'm going to warranty the paint job, if the body shop gets a car in a fiberglass state there's no reason for them to tell you they won't warranty the paint job they will know exactly what there working with there's nothing hidden this process may sound labor intensive but it's really not that hard to do.

 

washing with lacquer thinner would void any warranty in my shop as lacquer thinner today is recycled solvents. any contaminate is melted and soaked into the glass along with the solvents. call your paint manufacture and ask . dont be surprised if your told not to use chemstrip in the first place.

 

Porchdog: You keep warning about lacquer thinner and chemstrip and I'd like to know what you base it on. Have you actually personally had problems?

As you may remember, my '71 was chemstripped and pretty much bathed in lacquer thinner. It's been 2.5 years since painting and nothing bad has happened.

 

I have used paint stripper many times and have used the above procedure with no problems whatsoever, there are paintstrippers out there labeled for use with fiberglass, and give the proper wash down procedures though i won't change my methods because i have never had any issues for those who are leary you could use denatuerd alchohol to clean off any residues, just be sure to get the residue off.

 

I have heard you can have problems if you shoot primer on a panel shortly after scrubbing with thinner. We made sure to wait a minimum of 24 hours before primer after the thinner scrubbing. Maybe that's what porchdog has seen?