Media Blasting Corvette

[celeryman22]

Hi, I'm going to be changing the color of my paint on the corvette. I've been reading about media blasting and chemical stripping. I need to know what one you think is the best to do. I have access to multiple sandblast units and whatever type of abrasive I need, just need to know what type works the best. I also have access to Acetone by the barrel full. What sort of pressure to they use when blasting the body. When I do sandblasting here at my shop we use anywhere from 110-120psi, but we do industrial equipment.

Thanks
Mike

 

[JohnZ]

Chances are about 90% that your panel surfaces will be destroyed with media blasting unless you have it done by someone who has done Corvettes before and knows exactly how to do it; media-blasting fiberglass is a whole different ball game than doing it to steel cars, and frequently creates a disaster.

Strip it, using a stripper safe for fiberglass (like Captain Lee's).

 

[celeryman22]

Chances are about 90% that your panel surfaces will be destroyed with media blasting unless you have it done by someone who has done Corvettes before and knows exactly how to do it; media-blasting fiberglass is a whole different ball game than doing it to steel cars, and frequently creates a disaster.

Strip it, using a stripper safe for fiberglass (like Captain Lee's).

What about the horror stories about the stripper coming back up in a few years?

 

[mike weyman]

i watched (last year) a car t.v. show season where they redone a b.b. vette from the ground up. they used walnut shells.it came out great but that's t.v.
seriously though , walnut shells are apparently the right hardness.

 

[Red69]

I had my hood media blasted after using both razor stripping and fiberglass safe chemical stripper on the rest. The technician doing the hood asked me how far I wanted him to go. He said he could just take it down to primer if I wanted. I had him leave bare fiberglass and he did it with no problem. My experience was that razor stripping works well if your car was repainted. The factory paint was more difficult to remove than re-paint. After factoring time and cost of stripper, I'd go the media blasting no question. Just be sure they strip fiberglass on a regular basis and know what they are doing.

 

[celeryman22]

Well, since my rear bumper is garbage I'm going to try to blast it. Then I may try the hood. I have a couple of skids of walnet shell here it funny you say they are soft, because when you blast with them they hurt really bad when they bounce back at you. I will probably try backing soda first, I've got a skid of that here also, we removed some paint from a couple of old windows using that before.

How do I know when to stop? The Gel coat we use here is golden in color, but I have seen it in different tints.
I just wanted to make sure I was going to be using the right media.

Thanks Guys,

Mike

 

[paintdaddy]

Chances are about 90% that your panel surfaces will be destroyed with media blasting unless you have it done by someone who has done Corvettes before and knows exactly how to do it; media-blasting fiberglass is a whole different ball game than doing it to steel cars, and frequently creates a disaster.

Strip it, using a stripper safe for fiberglass (like Captain Lee's).

Johns right ,I used to make it a standard practice to have all the corvettes I do blasted but after the fifth one (yes Im a slow learner)they started looking like a hairy tennis ball I decided to stop.From there on out Ive used chemical strippers and havent had a problem since.If you do your bumper it may turn out fine because it is urethane.Fiberglass tends to get very pitted which means the top surface of resin gets removed,therefore fiberglass strands begin to come loose and viola,tennis ball.

 

[JonM]

I had my entire car done with baking soda as the media...came out perfect. The guy that did it was an expert with Corvettes.

 

[JohnZ]

What about the horror stories about the stripper coming back up in a few years?

Stripper won't "come up" unless you let it soak into a fracture or poor repair that goes through the surface, into the fibrous substrate; follow the directions, rinse and wash thoroughly as you go, and it will work just fine. BTW, Corvettes don't have any gel-coat; only hand-laid parts and boat hulls have gel-coat. If you don't know where to stop, stop at the factory primer and sand that off (or you'll end up with a great big hairy tennis ball, and you'll get to spray gel-coat the whole car to get a paintable surface, and sanding gel-coat is like sanding concrete).