sanding down paint

ok so i hope this is the right place to post this? so ive been looking for awhile on how to properly sand down paint. but i havent seen anything fast and easy. i finally bought a weld clean up wheel for my angle grinder and it works great! its possibly called a rosery stone? dont quote me on that! so i was just wondering what to use to get rid of old paint. and just cheap fast ways. no sandblasting or anything like that. i want to do it myself and i want to do it right. any thoughts on chemical strippers. ive used them in the past and it didnt work for me very well. how do you guys do it?
-chad

 

If it is body panels I'd say DA teh hell outta of it, stay away from chemicals. As far as frame, brackets, etc. a handheld grinder with a wire rope wheels always works for me. Careful it removes skin faster than paint!

 

I just stripped my 65 dart ,used a norton "gator" wheel from home depot on a 4" grinder .Took 5 wheels 10$ each .It came at excellent took about 12 hours to strip it and DA it .

 

For me, aircraft stripper works great.

 

3M Clean and Strip Disc. Get the purple roloc version so you can use it flat or on edge for the tighter areas. Also check out the 3M Bodyman Bristle Disc. It's an mineral impregnated plastic disc that cuts like 36 grit but leaves an 80 grit sand scratch behind.

 

If you're taking it down to metal, what these guys said. For a basic repaint, no need to take it all the way down.

 

I use different methods for different situations, how about giving us more info about what exactly you're working on, what condition it's in, what you want to do with it eventualy, pictures, etc?

Some old cars just need a careful sanding and they're ready for primer, others need a whole lot more...but the condition of the metal kind of dictates what method is best for removing the paint. You don't want to make more work for yourself by using the wrong stripping method.

 

Por-15

 

ooopppsss. POR-15 makes a great paint stripper. Research it and give it a try. Way better than Aircraft Stripper.

Good Luck.

VR&C.

 

I used to sand em down--somebody told me to try a razor blade--I have peeled 4 cars now with razor blades--single edge --and it really did not take much more time than sanding--cheaper and cleaner--worth a try

 

A couple of years ago I would have told you that you were nuts for even suggesting this technique...that said, I was in a body shop awile back and an old bodyman was there working on stripping the paint on a classic Corvette. He was using a single edge razor blade to strip the entire car. He said that he could finish the car in the time that it took me to load it up on a trailer and take it to the media blaster. I have yet to try it myself but for a plastic car it seemed to be a good solution.

 

If you just want to scuff up an old paint job, use a scotchbrite pad on a orbital sander...

 

I have heard of this ,from a body and paint friend i have in Florida

 

I love the razor blade method, use it all the time. No dust, no mask, and I can listen to the radio. Peels paint off to the primer. Then hit the primer with a DA.

 

I don't have the pictures loaded yet but I also used razor blades to recently strip a Buick GS, the paint was coming off in sheets. I would just use the razor like a snow plow and kept making passes one right after the other. The car owner watched me strip a door on sawhorses in about 10 minutes!

 

Something I noticed:
Paint comes off gray primer cars easily this way. Red Oxide is tuff.

 

+1 Just did my Model A using a combo of 4 1/2 purple, 1 and 2 inch roloc and a twisted wire brush. There was not a lot of paint left but where there was it came off without cloging up the tool.

 

How about some pics of the tools you used for the job??? I might start a new job at an antique auto restoration shop here in town... I need all the info on this stuff.. Thanks!

 

theres all kinds of ways to strip paint and I tryed all,
the cheepest for me was to use a sander/polisher with 36 grit 8" disk to take most of it off, then 80 grit on DA sander and do some clean up..

36 grit sounds crazy but if you have tons of material (paint/bondo) then that works best.

 

The 55 I did in the picure is red oxide and it peeled fine. I actually think it's more about the paint quality itself, new paint in good shape is easiest, as the blade has something to get under. On the Buick which was base coat/clear coat and less than 10 years old, it was a breeze. Cars that have the finish baked out and faded, not so much.

 

wow thanks for all the replies guys! ok so the vehicle im stripping down is my 55 chevy 3200. its my DD. i just want to get it down to metal then im goin to lay a thin layer of spray paint blue enamel so it dosent rust. its about 1/6 of the way done now. im using the twisted wire brush for my 4.5in angle grinder. its got the origional paint, a repaint with no primer, my primer job, and of course my chrome spraypaint job! there is alot of dents and the driver door was a different one with 2 more layers of paint and about an inch of bondo over the entire lower half. so far its been goin pretty good but i was just looking for faster/easier ways of gettin 'r' done. and ive been through the DAing a vehicle. my first ride was a 67 gmc and i sanded it all down with 120 to metal. OMG that took forever! and coolbreeze1340 thanks for the advice about takin off skin faster then paint....bit late thou! i was stripping paint off a used engine stand that i got at a yard sale today with the twisted wire brush on the angle grinder and it caught a corner, caught on my heavy coat i was wearing, then went slaming into my unprotected thumb. it just took off a couple layers of skin but it flippin hurt! but thats how you learn.....
-chad

 

Holy shit, that sounds cool!! I got to try that... I gotta couple layers to take off, wasn't looking forward to all that paint dust...

 

ya ive seen that on youtube. a guy got a huge razor/puttyknife looking thing from home depo? he stripped his hood down in like 2 minutes but aparently it only works on flat surfaces. so that kinda rules out my pickup which is like a huge bubble. but what kind or razors are you guys talking about? like the little ones or?

 

Get a box of 100 blades from the hardware store. The one sided blades. If the paint is razor blade friendly, use only one side. Don't turn it over because it will dig into the metal. Lay it as flat as you can for the best results. You will know when to throw it away. Some paints peel right off others don't. You will figure that out real quick. The blades are cheap.

 

I'll have to try this.

 

I don't like cutting on the compressor and eating lead paint dust, thats why I strip with chemicals , then da with 180 on the bare metal, sandblasting problem areas if neccessary. I worked in a shop that took all the cars down with big 80 grit discs and worked there way up. Too labor intensive when you still end up with the same results. I've seen rookies accidentally take sharp body lines down a notch with a grinder with 8o grit. But everybody has their own way.

 

And if your lucky , sometimes it comes off with a razor blade, depends on how it was painted before.

 

hey guys quick question. i have a pickup that i would like to sell on here. can i start a new thread and try to sell it or? im new to the forum so i dont want to do something i cant do. thanks. btw its a 48 international kb2
-chad

 

3M makes an attatchment for a 4 in disk grinder called a sandblaster . it is purple and works great

 

Put it in the classifieds