Just curious on the proper/best techniques for stripping irregular surfaces.. A good example is the bottom of a hood, how does one go about sanding and cleaning it up well enough to paint? Sandblasting would work well, but is there a simpler method. Someone at work suggested a wire wheel on an angle grinder? Would that work, how do the professionals do it? Thanks.
wire wheel I took a wire wheel on a big drill to mine cleaned it right up...wear saftly glasses..be ware of flying wire...Jim
Definitely DO NOT SANDBLAST the bottom of your hood. You will warp it, possibly beyond repair. The sand heats up the metal extremely bad and it will warp. You will be able to look at the outside of the hood and see where each and every cross brace is. Take it from someone that's been there and done it...and seen many others make the same mistake. Use chemical strippers, wire brushes, or whatever, just don't sandblast. It will take a lot more time but it will be worth it if you want to keep your hood (and deck lid).
All you need is some sandpaper of various grits depending on what imperfections you have to sand out and the remainder all you have to do is scuff it thoroughly with a red Scotchbrite". The Scotchbrite will get into all the nooks and crannies for proper adhesion of the primer/paint. This is a proper accepted method in the body repair industry.Use wire wheels only if you plan on completely stripping the old paint off to bare metal and even then you will still have to get into the cracks with the sandpaper to feather out any remaining gouges the wire wheel left behind and finish up with the scotchbrite. I have done this to both my ft.fenders on the inners, wire wheeled completely clean. Make sure you prime with a good etching primer or epoxy primer if going to bare metal though, especially with the heat and crap that gets thrown around under the hood. I used epixy primer for my fenders to withstand whatever was thrown at it. Hope this helps.
chemical works wonders....get some paint stripper and let it eat away the paint/....just make sure that you dont let kids and animals play near the stuff...it wont stop eating until it is diluted...and it will eat skin... but it works for tight places... and make sure you rinse real good
