Paint removal/blasting...worth the money?

[Conner]

So I found this local place that will media-blast your car using a plastic media that doesn't deform the metal: http://thestripmasters.com/.
I talked to them and they gave me a quote of around $800 to remove the paint from my body, fenders, doors, hood, and trunk lid. Pretty good. My question is this: is it worth it in your opinion?
The alternative is to strip/sand the paint off myself in my garage. I am willing to do this, but not if it is going to cost me like $500 in chemical stripper, Clean & Strip wheels, other supplies, etc. I realize that doing it myself is a lot of hard work, and I guess I'm asking what it costs in supplies to do it myself so I can figure out the real savings available by going that route.
Anyone with more experience than me have advice to offer?
Thank you.

[itsa68]

Tough question. Time is money!

If you are getting a body shop to do all the painting, why not have them remove the paint?

All the good shops around here will take everything down to metal and re-prep it to ensure they are getting the best base for the paint system.

Recommend you talk to your local body shops for what they will do for
you.

Ray B.

[ppeters914]

It's a no-brainer for me. I do not have the expertise nor the equipment and don't wanna spend the time, so I plan to pay to have that done when time & money allow for a frame-off.

[ole skool]

My two cents: I did it on my frame-off, and I think that it is worth it (blasting that is). These cars have thin metal so watch what they use on it. Heat buildup from heavy media will warp panels quicker than you can say board sander. I advise against dipping these cars. My experience on cars with any box sections (on these cars, the front door hinge mounting post, rockers, and cowl area) can be hard to fully neutralize the caustic solution used to strip the car. I have seen them get painted only to have it lift or bubble as the caustic chemical releases on a hot summers day.

[dbrick]

I'm with Ray on this one.

Being that the metal needs to be primed very soon after being blasted, If your body shop did it, they would have total control over what primer was used and how it was applied. If you are going to spend considerable money on body and paint, the last thing you need is to have the paint bubble and then have to argue about who's fault it is. If the body shop controls it all, they can be no question. If you want to suggest the blasting place you found to the body shop, and let them sub it out, maybe that would work.

My cousin is restoring a few TR3's, and he read about another media, I think it's soda blasting, that somehow prevents rust and actually lets you keep the car in bare metal for a while. I'll see if he has more info and post it.

[JoeK]

I'd say go ahead and chemical strip a door, or worse yet, a fender. Then see if you feel like doing the rest of the car.

After stripping the front valance myself, that was enough for me to say no more.

And lastly, are you sure that the pastic media won't overheat the panels? The last thing you want is warped panels. Even chemically stripping, some people use 7" power buffers with sanding disks on them to get the hard areas, and this will easily warp those panels unless you are very, very careful.

[sgriffin]

connor:
I just went ahead and had it sand blasted. The guy I had do it was very knowledgeable about metal fatigue and did a great job. The results speak for themselves. My .01's worth. Sam

[itsa68]

Caution.
Quite awhile back I had a roadster body media blasted.
A few years later I noticed that some of the box sections of the engine compartment and rockers were rusting from the inside.
Upon removing the rusted areas, I discovered that the blast media had entered some of the box sections thru some of the small exposed/hidden openings and had piled up.
Against the firewall and inner fender box sections were the worst.
Inside the trunk, around the wheel arch to fender, was another problem area
This created a great sponge for moisture to accumulate and breed rust.

If you do media blast, make sure sure check for media residue deposits and thoroughly vacuum and remove them.

Ray B.

[Conner]

This is all good advice, which I appreciate. Thank you.

[Import_sounds-of-mid-GA]

I have NO money so I stripped mine (just the front clip so far) myself, not too hard. I used the zip strip stuff, used a paint brush to spread it, and a razor blade to remove it.....hint: if your hand feels like it is burning while stripping paint, it probally is.