I new to restoring cars and i was wondering what the fastest way to strip the old paint off would be? I have been told to sand it off and to use chemical striperany one know what works better?

 

if you have the money then get it media blasted, sanding takes a long time and stripper makes a mess. media blasting cleans the metal real good and is fast and easy. i would recommend soda blasting because it wont warp the metal, but their is alot of other media that can be used such as walnut shells, sand, plastic beads... you could either buy a blaster and do it yourself but there are people who specialize in it. call up various body shops nearby and ask around.

 

Ive thought about getting it blasted but i have a really small budgetand lots of time im only 21 and trying to do this by myselfso anything i can do myself is better. Can your rent a sandblaster for a day?

 

Do not use a sandblaster. Using sand as a media will warp the hell out of the steel. It is alright if you need to do some small touchups after the body is media blasted but thats it. It's best to stay away from soda if at all possible, it is very important to neutralize the soda after blasting. If any residue remains you will have adhesion problems and soda in any seams will hold moisture and start rust. Find someone that uses plastic or walnut shells for media. It is definately worth the money to pay someone to do the blasting.

 

Walnut blasting is very nice, but can be spendy. If you have the time and patience, I would sand it with a good 'ol orbital sander. I like to take my time when it comes to stuff like this. However, some people get sick of it real quick.

 

wow, i was under the impression that soda was the best media, but now im thinkin otherwise.

 

All i got is time!! What grit sandpaper would be the best?Something around 80 grit?

 

honestly, if you add up what you will spend in time and materials to strip the car, it isn't going to be much different than the cost of having it media blasted by a pro, and the results aren't even comparable.

a complete restoration is only as good as it's base. I am in the process of doing over a 1938 Chevy Pickup with a friend right now. we put a C4 Corvette rearend in it and an LS1 with overdrive under the hood. within a couple of weeks we are sending it out to get blasted because it has a lot of old laquer on it, and if we don't get it 100% off, the new paint is only going to be prone to cracking down the road. almost 10 years ago I had my 1969 mediablasted and the paint still looks as good a day one. it's all about the prep

one other good thing about blasting the car is that the existing bodywork really doesn't get effected by the process as it does with sanding, and it you use a chemical to strip it, you MUST get all the previous bodyfiller off of the car before paint or you are gauranteed to get fish-eyes donw the road because you can almost never get all the stripper out of the existing filler

good luck with whichever routs you choose. my best suggestion to you is, if you're just starting out with restoring cars, do it the best possible way when you begin, that way you won't be prone to picking up bad habits as you go. if you start taking little shortcuts now, you will be more apt to take even bigger ones down the road