Best paint removal method...

Defender 110 with several layers (at least 5) of old paint. We've been considering getting it sand blasted, but I wondered what the best option would be. We're short on extra time at the moment, but we have no idea what sandblasting costs.

Would need to take some advice as to whether the sandblasting might pot mark the ali surfaces

Found this link which might help

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/paint-stripping.htm

depends on the grit and the pressure.

What about the stuff called Nitromors? Would that be a good move? My main concern is that we don't have a garage. We're going to try to do this out in the open...

The Mad Hat Man said:

depends on the grit and the pressure.

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Sounds logical Daft

lizglowark said:

What about the stuff called Nitromors? Would that be a good move? My main concern is that we don't have a garage. We're going to try to do this out in the open...

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Am guessing your Landy will be painted with cellulose paint? Sorry, don't know how to check that

Need to check where Nitromors works on cellulose - I've only ever used it on oil based paint

lizglowark said:

What about the stuff called Nitromors? Would that be a good move? My main concern is that we don't have a garage. We're going to try to do this out in the open...

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it will work if its not raining. but its a long winded time consuming way of stripping 5 layers of paint.

Walnut shell is supposed to be very good.

Unfortunately I have never managed to get my shot blasting equipment to work properly - got several guns and a blasting cabinet, but feel as though throwing the grit at it would be more effective .

The Mad Hat Man said:

Walnut shell is supposed to be very good.

Unfortunately I have never managed to get my shot blasting equipment to work properly - got several guns and a blasting cabinet, but feel as though throwing the grit at it would be more effective .

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That's a real pain - I've only got a small thing that works with a Karcher, but it's a fun boys toy - just bl**dy messy!

Guess the OP needs to start eating walnuts

The problem is that we don't have many tools here. (We're Americans living in the UK temporarily) We'd have to pay a professional to blast it, either way. It's very chipped paint, so I think we might presser wash - strip - presser wash. We need to at least clean and prime it before we can ship it to the USA. It's ex-MOD... so I think we will go with NATO Green once we get all the old paint off.

lizglowark said:

The problem is that we don't have many tools here. (We're Americans living in the UK temporarily) We'd have to pay a professional to blast it, either way. It's very chipped paint, so I think we might presser wash - strip - presser wash. We need to at least clean and prime it before we can ship it to the USA. It's ex-MOD... so I think we will go with NATO Green once we get all the old paint off.

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Where you from in the states?

Nitromors works well just let it work into the paint before you try to remove it. Use rubber gloves and protective clothing it burns on raw skin.use plenty of water after scraping the old pain away. Time consuming but it can be done.

Blow torch to bubble paint, then scrape off or pressure wash to blast away..
Not tried it, but its worth a go.. Obviously you need to be careful around certain areas, so use nitromors there as others suggest.
Or, just give it a damn good rub down and repaint it over.. Rolls Royces have loads of layers of paint..

JonnyP said:

Blow torch to bubble paint, then scrape off or pressure wash to blast away..
Not tried it, but its worth a go.. Obviously you need to be careful around certain areas, so use nitromors there as others suggest.
Or, just give it a damn good rub down and repaint it over.. Rolls Royces have loads of layers of paint..

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and warp the hell out of body panels

The best and easyest way is sand the bugger, first using 80s grit to get rid of the first 4 layers then onto 280 or 320 te finish off. Stripping the bugger is a dirty job and you are left with a lot of **** te clean up, plus you are going to have to prime everthing again.

Did it with chemical paintstripper. The most agressive I could get (unfortunately it 's now forbidden, thanks to EU regulation). It worked very well on the alu panels. But on the steel bulkhead I had to sand. The tub and sidepanels took me a day. Bonnet, wings and front also a day, front doors and rear door about 6 hours


After that I washed the surfaces with a pressure washer and degreaser and sanded the panels with 120 and 220.

Did the respray on my driveway with a hobby compressor and HVLP spraygun. First primed it with epoxy-primer, then the colored base coat and to finish it 3 layers of clear coat.


Be aware that this was in the summer, 25 degrees celsius. Chemical paintstripper does not work well below 10 degrees celsius and stops working when water is added.

Sandblasting birmabright is a specialist job. It's very soft and deforms easy when heated. So be careful.

Good luck!

nice job!! I've been using a DA sander on mine, and it's _really_ time consuming. Also doesn't work to well in places it can't get to properly, but it's a good finish, and I won't have to use gallons of etch primer

Station House said:

That's a real pain - I've only got a small thing that works with a Karcher, but it's a fun boys toy - just bl**dy messy!

Guess the OP needs to start eating walnuts

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I've just used the sandblaster attachment to clean my wheels up, it works really well, cleaned them up a treat but you're right, it makes a right mess

I've got sand everywhere

Using silica sand it's quite gentle so I think it'd do a body ok but you'd get through a lot of sand

glass beads are very good for blasting delicate materials,we used to do cylinder heads etc they dont etch the material been blasted

Unless you're after a perfect finish I'd be reluctant to strip all the paint off. Buy a big sander and smooth it over. Then you could either roller or spray the paint. That said, if you did want it stripping there are plenty of firms that you can take bits to, alternatively some will come out to you.

Where are you - local knowledge may be available on here.