Paint remoal by wet sanding

[rdssdi]

I came accross these old photos of my +2 in the process of stripping the old paint. I chose to wet sand the paint off. One layer at a time. I considered it the best way to preserve the original gel coat. Was I wrong. Besides the extensive effort and time, it was mind numbing. The up side was my Scottish Terrier Abigail would sit and watch me. No doubt wbdering why I was using that method. Unfortunately prior to completion I was scheduled for heart surgery. Once I was home and somewhat back to normal the winter was closing in. I hired a plastic media blaster who came to my home with a fabric tent which was inflated by a fan. Once the car was in the tent the blaster entered with breathing suit and blasted the remaining paint off. No difference when compared to the laborious hand sanding.
The body was placed upon the completed Spyder chassis which I covered in plastic for protection.
Some photos.

[Donels]

Wow. That sounds like a really neat method. I've not heard of that before. I wish I had though, I am still in the mind numbing removal phase by sanding. The easy areas are all done but the door frames are...challenging!

[Thornts]

Great system, great results IMHO. If you don't mind me asking, how much did the guy off Dr Who charge?

Cheers

Rob
Elan S3 SE FHC needs paint removing
S2 7 needs paint removing
22 needs paint removing
Elise S1 needs paint removing

[rdssdi]

It has been years I do not recall the cost. The convenience of having him come to my house was worth more than I paid.

[prezoom]

Has anyone had a car stripped with the dry ice method? While visiting my mother-in-law one day, I noticed some blasting going on their driveway down the street. Thinking about all the mess that was occurring, I walked down to see what was going on. Patio furniture was being stripped and the only mess from the dry ice method was the removed paint. Not sure of cost, but cleanup would have been quite easy compared to using sand or another media.

[Emma-Knight]

Dry ice is unsuitable for fibre glass.
Elans are polyester resin - quite similar to paint komposition. Dry ice cracks paint - and so does it crack gelcoat. Had my windscreenframe tested with that method - millions of fine cracks - like frozen magherita afterwards. Had the 80% rest done with soda blast - fine dull surface. No damage.
I can post pictures of that ice horror in about two weeks.
Anna

[prezoom]

Well, that answered that! Thank you.

[Robbie693]

Dry ice is unsuitable for fibre glass.
Elans are polyester resin - quite similar to paint komposition. Dry ice cracks paint - and so does it crack gelcoat. Had my windscreenframe tested with that method - millions of fine cracks - like frozen magherita afterwards. Had the 80% rest done with soda blast - fine dull surface. No damage.
I can post pictures of that ice horror in about two weeks.
Anna

Indeed, Fender use it in their custom shop when artificially ageing guitars (cracks, crazing, laquer checking etc) they use dry ice on the newly painted bodies to create the effect!

Robbie