Body and Paint: Paint Removal
Monday, September 11th, 2006
By far, the simplest way to remove your old paint and primer from you VW is to have it chemically dipped. Lets call this Option #1. Unfortunately, this process proves expensive and your run-of-the-mill body shop will not have a tank to handle the dipping of your entire car. If you have the money and the means, this is by far the best way to go. Option #2 The next option is media blasting. This is safer than sand blasting and the clean-up process is easier. It is very difficult to completely clean up after sand blasting. This process removes the paint from your car without disrupting the integrity of the metal. The media used can easily be recycled for more blasting. This is a great option for paint removal, again if you have the finances to handle the process. Option #3: Chemical paint stripping via an aerosol application. This option is a very difficult way to remove old paint. It takes multiple repeat applications to remove paint completely from the smallest area of the vehicle. It is also extremely messy. You will have to wear rubber gloves at all times because the chemical is very reactive to skin and can cause major irritations. 
Option #4: The poor man’s option is to use a abrasive paint stripper process. An abrasive paint stripper are pads that you place on an orbital grinder to remove paint and rust. You can remove the paint off of a complete door in about 10 minutes or less (exterior door surface only) with products as such. A good company to look at is Eastwood Company (www.eastwoodco.com). Products: Backing Pad Cushioned 7″ and 7 Inch Cleaning / Stripping Disc System
Since I only have $10 million in the bank, by today’s standards, I am consider poor, so I choose option #4. The picture above is the result of using an abrasive orbital approach. I am happy with results and my paint shop was pretty happy with the conditions of my stripped down to the metal Beetle. If you want to save a some bucks and you want a down to the metal paint preparation, then this is the way to go.
I kept my VW unprimed for almost 1.5 years. I used a product called Metal Wash, again from Eastwood Company. Am not a spokes person for Eastwood Company, some of their products seems to work. For example: I do not think their Sandblasting out of a bucket product is worth the money.
I kept my VW unprimed for almost 1.5 years. I used a product called Metal Wash, again from Eastwood Company. Am not a spokes person for Eastwood Company, some of their products seems to work. For example: I do not think their Sandblasting out of a bucket product is worth the money.
After spending a few days trying to get minor dents filled in, adding multiple levels of primer and finally sanding it down with 230 grit paper, I was almost ready for painting. Before I could begin painting the tank, I had to spray a primer sealer over the bottom layers of primer. I found out that etching primer is somewhat reactive to a lot of top coats. Many auto painters seal their etching primer with an epoxy based primer for greater sealing and great moisture protection. Unfortunately, I had only access to aresol primers.
something that reduces primer had dribbled onto my tank’s primer base. I grabbed a can of mineral spirit and started to clean it off. That was a big mistake. The mineral spirit caused my top layer of primer to not be able to hold to the lower level primer (it was a primer reducer). I ended up scraping the layers off and rebuilding the primers in the middle of the tank. I must say, after all the sanding I had done prior, I was not looking forward to doing this again. I made it through.
