Soda Blasting

[Romeo]

Hi
I am saving up for a respray and I been told the old paint should be stripped off because of micro blistering
and I was going to try Soda Blasting to remove the old paint has any one tried it ?.
I looking a tool mag and that they had a DIY soda blast kit or would be better off getting it professionally blasted ?.






Regards Dave

[chickenjohn]

I've never tried it but I understand that soda blasting does not remove rust. If you have blistering in the paint, some of these blisters may be hiding rust.

[bmcecosse]

Sounds VERY expensive - either DIY or proffesional. I would just sand it off - with a power sander of course. Of course - if you leave it bare it will rust immediately - so just do one panel at a time - and spray it over with primer.

[Dean]

I'd question that they may be trying to get more work off you. If you are preparing the car yourself, do it the old fashioned way and rub it down,this will expose where there is blistering. Flat it all down as normal.

To be honest although bare metal resprays are suppose to give a much better finish, some line of thinking will suggest that the more paint on the car the better rust protection long term. Therefore where there is no blistering, you will get a thicker coat of paint. Perhaps the preparation for the last respray wasn't that good and it is flaking in some areas?

Is the blistering very obvious to you? If it is, concentrate on preparing these areas down to the bare shell, not particularly all over the car.

[jonathon]

I echo John's opinion soda blasting will only remove paint, it doesn't touch sealer ,underseal or rust.
If the paint is blistering then you should go back to bare metal, in which case the best route is acid dipping, followed by media blasting and sand blasting, the latter should only be performed professionally as is a dangerous occupation and requires the correct gear. To save some money buy yourself a D/A sander , run by an air compressor and use a 40grit disc, This strips to bare metal in seconds (wear the proper dust mask). This will at least show you the problem areas which can then be treated by the avove methods.
Don't subscribe to more paint the better as you simply do not know what is under the top surface, and any additional paint layers could re activate problems hidden below.