Having a body dipped for rust/paint removal...PROS and CONS???

I have done a lot of the structural repair (new floor largely in place) of my Olds, however the car has a lot of rust in really hard to reach areas (thinking that blasting will be tough) like behind the dash and in the cowl vents. It's all surface rust for the most part, however, I want it gone and want any rust I can't currently see to be gone as well.

So,

Is having a car dipped a good way to go? Or should I stick to finding someone in my area who can blast it (seems like that's the "tried and true" method)? I'm worried blasting won't get all the rust from the nether regions of this car and it'll come back to haunt me later.

Thanks in advance!

 

Soda blasting is the way to go if you do not have rust issues. Chemical dipping almost invariably leaches acid residue from body seams and will come back to haunt you - bubbling paint etc....

 

That's is the truth! HRP

 

If you have a lot of rust there won't be much body left after dipping and it's expen$ive.....

 

I've heard horror stories about the dip getting caught in the seams, ruining the paint.
I've had really good luck with media blast. Sand blast for heavily pitted stuff.

 

+1000.

Had a very nice paint job ruined from the acid leaching out of the seams. Although the dippers claim they neutralize the acid, they apparently can't get it all.

 

cut all the bad out first. No good cleaning/blasting stuff to be thrown away, plus better access for cleaning/blasting. Just pay attention to keeping it structural sound.

 

make sure you use some one who is use to to doing car bodys, a friend had a 100e anglia van done and they warped the panels, iv had acid dipping done as said above its ok on panels with no seams wings, bonnet, sorry hood lol etc

 

It just means they suck at it.

 

I had the service body on my work truck soda blasted, primed & painted almost 3 years ago. I wish I had sand blasted it.
The negative
#1 The soda doesn't really attack the rust like sand will and the rust will come back.
#2 The soda residue has to be thoroughly washed off the surface or the paint will lift and peel pretty quickly.
#3 Because the surface is being washed with soap and water, light surface oxidation can become an issue
The positive
#1 You can soda blast without taking the car apart
#2 There is little to no warping of the panels

 

yup.

I had my coupe dipped, and have never had an issue with it.

 

remember this where ever air can get into so can the liquid dipping solution when most of our cars were built the factory dipped them in some type of rust preventative and it got into all the areas you cant see

and when its dipped the acid will get into those areas and clean out all that factory applied rust preventative and then you will have nice clean bare metal that will be accessible by air and condensation and you will NEVER get any type of protective coating back into those little knooks and cranies

unless the cars going to be in a hyperbaric chamber after its done i wouldnt dip it

media blast the shell and dip the smaller stuff EXCEPT hoods and trunks that are 2 pieces or have the factory seem sealer applied between the outer and inner brases because you wont be able to get the panels glued back together or paint inside the braces

 

My paint rep says "if you dip it, or soda blast it use someone else's products!" I trust my PPG rep way more than people on a message board.

 

Wait...you're on this message board?

 

I dipped my doors, trunk lid ,hood, fenders. On the way home I power washes them at the car wash with soap then water black brown stuff came out of the seams all over.When home I used heat gun to dry all the seams and left in full sun rest of day. A week latter I sprayed into seams with rust paint. Poured rust paint in doors with all hole taped up and rolled them all over paint ran out of seams then drained extra. Car has been painted four years now with no problems. Have a friend with nova and did his trunk lid and did nothing I did every time he opens his lid you can hear the rust sliding around in it and seam all the paint is peeling off.The dummy at the stripper put my doors on top of my gas tank and put some nice big dents in it.Darrell

 

Everything I have had dipped, I had E-coated. Never had an issue in 6 years. E-coat gets into all the seams - anywhere acid can go, E-coat goes.

 

Had my 56 dipped and no issue, 12 years later paint is beautiful

 

I had some of these questions. Talked to a Chem stripper in Michigan, can't remember the name off hand but highly recommend.

His deal was they would dip the car, remove all the rust, neutralize all the chemicals, and then dip it in the E-coat tank. That takes care of all those unseeable places. I thought that was pretty cool but I didn't want to be cutting into the fresh ecoat for patches and and welding in steel structure and such. His solution was very good.

He would do the rust removal, neutralization, and then dip in a water soluble oil tank, then return the car. Upon completion of my work, he would dip it to remove oil, re dip for rust quickly, long netralization dip, then prep dip and then the E coat dip. Everything would be E coated . The extra dips were very reasonable (300.00 total Iirc ? ) because most of the chemical work had been done. Neutralizing was the longest dip.

 

never seen soda blasting cause welding , only way to go . my 2".......

 

HOT TANK
This is the place to go for calif. guys, have been using them for years. George is the best, small shop, big tank.
He knows the hot tank process in and out.
Nothing bad out of his shop.
Sand blasting is for ships.

http://www.lmstripping.com/Home.html
Mike

 

What is E- coat?

 

I think he is referring to electro static primer. The black primer you see on newer factory replacement panels.

 

Dont do it... Dipping takes away factory rust coating in places that u can never re-coat... dont do it

 

Dipped and epoxy primed probably 5 or 6 years (maybe longer) ago. No bubbling anywhere, when I sand off the primer, good clean metal. Only problem I found with it is pin holes in places I didn't expect them.
Larry T

Under dash:

 

It is process similar to electro plating, except with epoxy primer. The part is immersed in tank of primer, an electric charge is applied, then the part is baked dry. It provides a very uniform thickness and really good bond. Google can provide a lot more detail.

 

Exactly. The process is only as good as its execution.

If you have the money for it, do it + plus the E-coat. But know that you can be (unpleasantly) surprised by what used be covered in paint and grime.

I had my trunk lid dipped because there was no other way to get at the nasties. The trunk lid developed bubbles since I bought the car in 2006. At this point it could still be saved - the beveled (?) edges were still good. I chose to have it chemically dipped to be sure all the rust was gone everywhere. The dipper sprayed an epoxy primer on it directly after finishing the dipping process.

before stripping:


after stripping:


... not as bad as I feared it would be. The frame didn't look half bad and the panel itself had two needle sized holes. And a rather large hole in the front left corner :smt105. I expected as much because there was a large bubbling blister there. I'm not sure sloshing epoxy primer around will prevent/cure such a problem....


It came out well:

 

Yes and I learn a great deal here. But some subjects.......well you gotta consider the source of the info. In this case I've seen too many problems with both soda and dipping. Yes it can work without problems, but when my PPG rep says don't even call him if I use either method. I listen to that. But it's ok, everyone should listen to who they trust.

 

As in a lot of other processes on cars a lot of how things turn out has to do with how the item in question is handled after the work is done. Personally, I'd rather sweat some rust or possibly paint issues twenty years down the road than have to deal with the rust I have now when I'm working on the truck and the years that I drive it.

 

... not as bad as I fearedit would be. The frame didn't look half bad and the panel itself had two needle sized holes. And a rather largehole in thefront left corner :smt105. I expected as much because there was a largebubblingblisterthere. I'm not sure sloshing epoxy primer around will prevent/cure such a problem....

That's why the best methodical steps are to : dip, fix, redip, ecoat dip. Hopefully you get the metal work nice enough that all you need is some filler primer.

 

Thanks for all the input.

I had not thought about e-coat (didn't think that process was available outside of OEM style replacement parts). That sounds promising.

I am thinking about having the car dipped specifically so I can find all the problems with it, because I need to fix all of them properly if I'm going to preserve the car (I'm only 29, I'd like to make this car last until I'm quite old, and the amount of rust issues on it is making me question if that's possible). Sand blasting had initially been on the front of my mind, as this car is probably too rough for soda blasting to help.

Pic of car, in case that helps tip things towards one method of rust mitigation VS another type.