Thermo Stripping?
Thread Starter
|
Marmon-Herrington Man
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 11,984
Likes: 444
From: Central Illinois
Thermo Stripping?
I just caught part of a Mother's Car Show segment that was about the use of thermo stripping on car/truck bodies. They said it's a new(ish) technique that uses an oven at 800 degrees, kind of like your kitchen's self cleaning oven, that turns paint and bondo to powder that can then be scrubbed away. They say it doesn't warp the metal and allows avoidance of chemical residue that can be left in seams. After the treatment and scrubbing, the body is bead blasted to yield a perfect metal finish (they say). So, has anybody done this or seen it done, how expensive is it, and is it a commonly available system? And most importantly, if you've done it, do you recommend it? Stu
Senior User
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 187
Likes: 0
From: Santa Cruz
I've never heard of it before but it sounds legit. However it seems like it would be prohibitively expensive. It must cost a lot to run an oven like that and THEN blast the surface. I work at a restoration shop here in Santa Cruz and we've figured the most cost effective solution to getting a good strip job on your vehicle is to have it sandblasted thoroughly by a good sandblaster and then spray epoxy primer on all bare metal ASAP. Then you can work on it as you have the time. The texture left by sandblasting leaves plenty of grit for the paint to stick unlike other mediums like soda blasting or walnut shells. I highly recommend stripping large open panels yourself with paint stripper and sand paper first, as sandblasting can easily distort things like your hood or roof! Doing this ensures that the sandblaster won't heavily hose those areas. However, if you want the absolute best way to get everything off at no spared expense I'd say get the vehicle acid dipped and then dipped in a tank of epoxy so you know every surface is covered again.
Craig
Craig
Posting Guru
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 1,495
Likes: 2
From: Northwest Fl
I saw the same show and they said this method avoided the the problems associated with acid dipping, chemicals being trapped in the pinch welds and other body seams apparently causing problems with the paint down the road.
