We use Aircraft Stripper at our shop also . We used to use Captain Lee's Spra-strip (gallon can and pump sprayer) . It worked as well without as nasty of a smell , but it's not as easy to get locally anymore .
an old friend liked brake fluid. soak news paper strips and cover the area. let dry, then peel off the paper and paint. no mess, dust, or bad smell. Another old trick was Red Devil Lye then water hose and scotch brite. (not for aluminum) Bruce Works good Lasts long time
Don't be scared to use stripper because someone says it will bleed out of the cracks and ruin your paint, or that you can't neutralize it out of the metal. The best thing to do is to not soak it in the cracks in the first place. Just use it on the broad areas and stop short of body seams. Make sure you let it do it's work until it totally blisters the paint and dries out. I usually then remove it with my favorite worn out putty knife and scrape it off the putty knife into a cardboard box. After wiping the residue off the surface with wax and grease remover, hit the whole car with a da sander. This is when you hit all the edges that you didn' t chemically strip.
good stuff but do not get it on your fingernails ~ even a little. if you do you will swear you have the worst toothache you have ever had but in your fingernails!
me too 36 grit is the best . meadia blast # 2 no chemicals to breath or clean up.I have done all the other methods over the 25 years in the autobody biz. and thease 2 are the best for me.....hear is a sample of media blasting
Second on the Captain Lee's...and it doesn't hurt fiberglass ( I got an old Covette)... still the worst part of a build.
I've used two kinds of paint stripper in a can, one kind looks like slime from "You Can't Do That on Television" but it's blue, and the other kind looks like strained hangover puke. The blue slimy gel shit seems to work a lot better, it doesn't dry out as fast. I remember them both being called "aircraft stripper", not sure what the difference was? I'm going to try to strip my Road Runner with razor blades just to see if it'll work, stripper is so messy.
I use aricraft now....but "back in the day" I used to use something called "Rock Miracle". Don't know if they make it any more....but it was some powerful stuff! I had some leftovers sit too long....and it actually ATE the bottom of the can away! Found a thick puddle of the stuff in the corner of the garage. Nasty stuff! Had a cartoon of an ugly, Marine-looking guy on the can, scowling.
If you get real good at it you can get down to the original primer, and if good stop there and reprime.
I have also used aircraft stripper with excellent results I also remember rock miracle it smelled just like the aircraft stripper. By the way aircraft stripper is the only thing that will remove powder coat
39 comments and NOTHING off colour with a topic like 'stripper'?? On the HAMB!?!? Not 'back in the day'!! Soo.... Keep the stripper in the garage, else your wife will be PISSED!!!! Cosmo P.S. If you find a can from 20-30 years ago at a sale, buy it. The took out all the good chems and put in pussy-fied ones. I had a can from about 30 years ago: all I had to do was wave it at the paint, and the paint got scared and left (mostly, but the shit was the shit, compared to what I had to buy to replace it). BTW, NONE of the chems matched on the new tin. It was 'Ace' Hardware brand, that's all.
I just stripped Rhino Liner off of 2 fiberglass running boards with Rock Miracle. Took a full day and 2 quarts to do both boards. Stunk like hell but worked better than expected.
Yesterday I had good results using aircraft stripper, then a blade to do a rough scrape, then a paint stripper wheel for finishing. Took 3.5 hours to do the hood of my 52 ford f1... would have been less without the 1/2 lb of bondo I had to take off. The stripper did the majority of the work and surprisingly I did not use nearly as much stripper as I thought I would need... The brand I used was Kal-tech or something? The paint stripper wheel was about $8 and made quick work of it with my angle grinder.
I used to use Aircraft stripper until I found Blue Lightning. It is MUCH better than aircrafts stripper. I also like to prep the surface and get all the grease & wax etc off so the stripper gets to the paint. I get foaming oven cleaner from the 99 cent store and let that sit then rinse off. I also use the maroon colored abrasive wheels on my angle grinder. They get down to the bare shiny metal. See: http://www.erniestools.com/pearl-ab...el-4-x-7-8-maroon-fine-grit-10-ct-case-nw4mf/
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