I think in this day and age, when it comes to sandblasting car bodies, you get what you pay for. If you insist on cheap, don't expect a professional job. If by "cheap" you mean "a reasonably priced professional job", then call the House of Hot Rods and get pricing from them. They do a volume business, so their prices reflect it. Just don't expect a two day turnaround.

You'll only need sand on the rusted areas. They used glass on the few rust spots I had. On just the paint areas I'd have them use a media less likely to cause heat and warp the panel. Mind was soda blasted 13 years ago without any paint adhesion issues. However the metal has to be prepped correctly. I agree that you get what you pay for.




In the pic you can see the right trunk area and right inner rocker where the soda didn't remove the rust. Btw, the rust was not visible beneath the paint.

I used a buddies HF blaster using aluminum oxide instead of sand once to do a rear axle. The sand I tried didn't flow very well. Not knowing how much rust you have, I'd use airplane stripper before a HF unit.

My strategy would be to use aircraft stripper FIRST then only sand blast the areas where there is rust present.  Also, be ready to immediately epoxy the sandblasted areas (if not the whole car!) because those little blasted pits will get rusty again on the way home from the sandblaster!  If that happens, you can guess the only solution is to blast it again...not good.

Aircraft stripper can go fast if you have a method.  Plan on a coat of stripper for every coat of material on the car.  Lay out four or five panels or work on the body and be methodical about painting/scraping the stripper on a the pieces in rotation.  Work somewhere there is no wind but adequate ventelation and the warmer the weather, the better.

Thanks guys, where can I get the aircraft stripper?

mustangJoe wrote:

Thanks guys, where can I get the aircraft stripper?

I picked mine up at Home Depot. Get the old style stuff not the new "green" offering

I have only been to one place that I would let remove paint or rust from bodywork.  http://www.consolidatedstripping.com/

They usually put the whole thing in their rather large oven and cook off as much as possible. They also have a lot of experience and often tell you they won't blast your parts, that you should use stripper. They have blasted a lot of heavy stuff for me for work, and some car parts as well. They usually talk me into aircraft stripper for hoods and doors and stuff where any wave would be noticable. Their rates are good too.