Just compared a chemical stripper to sandblasting on a 72 Duster

I know everyone swears by sandblasting for stripping a car down to bare metal, but I had better luck with a chemical stripper on that 72 Duster I picked up last month. Sandblasting warped the quarter panel on a similar job I did six months ago, and that cost me $400 in replacement metal. The chemical stuff took two passes and some elbow grease, but the body lines stayed true with zero distortion. It also saved me from having to rent a compressor and blast cabinet for a weekend. Has anyone else found sandblasting more trouble than it's worth on thinner gauge metal?

2 comments

2 Comments

finley7771mo ago

I hear you on the warping. I had a similar thing happen on a 70 Challenger hood with sandblasting, it bowed right in the middle. Switched to a citric based stripper for an old truck cab and it took three coats with a paint scraper, but the metal was perfect when I was done. The mess is worse with the chemicals, no doubt, but for stuff where the metal's thin, I'd rather that than chasing distortion.

olivia_webb1mo ago

Nah, I gotta push back on that a little, @finley777. I've had way better luck with media blasting on thin stuff because you can control the pressure and keep the heat down, unlike sand which just cooks the metal. Chemicals are a pain to dispose of and I've seen them pit aluminum if you don't rinse fast enough, so for me it's all about the blaster settings.