I use a heat gun or propane for the really thick stuff. A putty knife will take it off when it softens. Just take care to not set it on fire.
I tried all the suggestions on my 55’s heavily bondo’d door. Really didn’t have much luck with angle grinders (stripping discs, sanding discs, flap disc, etc) or the torch method. What I found that worked like butter were these on a die grinder. Probably be similar to the contour. The flaps kept the metal cool and stripped it so quick.
A good thick bodied Paint Remover Eats right into the bondo and you can give it a second coat to keep it wet. Very little effert with a flat putty scraper will scrape the pealing bondo right off the metal and onto a thin piece of cardboard and throw it in the garbage can. NO DUST ALL OVER EVERYTHING !!!
36 grit, or even 80 grit discs will take the bondo off, but they will also take off metal too! And on an older car that's not what I want to do. I use the 4.5" paint stripper pads as they remove paint super fast, but also remove bondo just as fast without harming the metal at all. Here in the US they sell for about $20 for 5 pads, and you could easily do the entire roof of your car with one pad. I've stripped whole cars using just two pads. https://www.amazon.com/Grinders-Str...cphy=9061081&hvtargid=pla-1277128666929&psc=1
I dunno why anyone would have trouble with a torch and scraper. Trying to do too much? About 6 sq inches at a time, literally takes seconds, it'll blister then scrape. Even if it gets a bit on fire, won't be for long, and pat it with your glove of it does. Keep a spritzer bottle of water handy if need be. I've done whole quarter panels in 15 min or less. Thin spots, well you gotta eat a little dust but the heavy shit just wants to fall off. Paint remover? Self abuse. Maybe the old nasty hardware bondo but not good stuff, unless again it's really thin. It looks like theres a thickness issue in the original challenge. Logic, lazy, least mess wins the day.
Thanks fellas. In the end I used a couple methods. Wanting to preserve the paint but have it look better I initially used a heat gun and old wood chiesl. I only lightly heated a small area at a time and it was much easier to remove. After probably taking off a little more than I now wanted to I hit it with a DA sander and 120 paper and smoothed out the interfaces between the bondo and roof. After which it got coated in Gibbs. I wont know if that's enough to pass the inspection until we take it down but its definetly much closer. Thanks again.
Love that coupe! No, really love that coupe!!!!!! Curious as to what the relevance of the cosmetic condition of the roof might be for registration purposes. Must be a Japan thing! Gibbs is great stuff but doesn't fare well in the rain, so reapplication becomes necessary. I think Japan has rain Chris
A putty knife, preferably a stiff one, and a hammer works better than grinding it away with a stripping wheel. No dust. I never tried heat, but sounds like judicious use of a propane torch would help. The right putty knife will remove it in sheets if it’s thick enough. Save the stripping wheel for final cleanup.
Cheers Chris. Had a local vehicle imspector have a look at it and he thought it was unlikely to go through as it was. As the inspection centre is nearly 2 hrs away really want to maximise my chances of passing the 1st time. Yeah it definetly rains here, all good though as I have a 1 gallon jug of Gibbs on its way.
Hey, I know that car! Came out of Maryland, right? Anyway, 3M Bristle Discs work extremely well for removing paint and filler, plus the bristles do a really good job removing surface rust.
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