Acid dip or Sand/soda blasting?

[brrymnvette]

I want to get the Corvair acid dipped, but am being told it's not a good idea. I want to get it dipped so it gets all the rust not just what a spray gun can get to. I was told it'll eat away at the thin sheetmetal. I'd want to try and get it dipped in some sort of primer sealer also. What are your guy's thoughts since you're the experts? This will be my first actual complete resto, and I want to start off right.

[Samckitt]

Acid dipping may do a better job with less elbow grease, but I would avoid it because you could have places where the acid pools & could seep out over time & ruin your paint job. Some type of media blasting would be better, probably soda, less material warping than with sand.

[vp23271]

Acid dipping may do a better job with less elbow grease, but I would avoid it because you could have places where the acid pools & could seep out over time & ruin your paint job. Some type of media blasting would be better, probably soda, less material warping than with sand.

After researching my options for my 68 Camaro, I came to the same conclusion as Samckitt.

Soda blasting was not as well known 2 years ago, but is more and more common now. A friend got a set of fenders done and they came out great. Less potential of excessive heat, so less chance of warping the sheet metal.

One of the shops that I spoke to said that the acid dipping might trap residue/acid in tight seams and over time the acid will seep back out after the car has been painted. Ruining the paint from the inside out. Has anyone had any experience Pro's or Con's with acid dipping?

Don't know how true that statement was, but went the safe route that I knew would work.

[camaro608]

we always sand blast at my shop and soda blast the tops of cars so it wont warp

[John510]

On my car they used garnet mineral. looked like pink sand. It came out like a shiny silver paintjob. Nice and clean.

Just had to vaccuum my car for about 4 hours afterwards.

[vancouver67]

Soda Blasting over acid dipping. I have been told by numerous people that you can never get the residue out between welds, joints and laps. There is a risk that this could damage a nice paint job.

[68Formula]

This should have been broken into three choices not two. Sand and soda have different risks.

[killer69]

we normally sand ( garnet/walnut) blast the cars, have had 2 customers that wanted dipping and the car comes back looking loike a brand new body, we have never seen any residue or leakage and the car has been in the shop for 6 months being fabed, but after the fab is done we send it back they redip it and phosphate the body and with the tubing for the chassis that is a problem because if anything gets inside the tunbing then its a nightmare, and the cost is high the last one cost 10,000.00 ?????:eek:
so we sand blast and spend 8 hours vacuuming and blowing and vacuuming and blowing.

[vp23271]

we normally sand ( garnet/walnut) blast the cars.

My car was done with walnut also.

[jy211]

We dipped a 37' chevy were working on to get it as bare bones as possible. Still cutting on it, but like what we've seen so far...but it doesn't completely eliminate all filler...

https://www.pro-touring.com/forum/showthread.php?t=29753

[trapin]

brrymnvette...the correct answer to your question is; it depends on how rusted the car is. If this is a southern car or California car then don't bother with acid dipping. If yours is a midwest car that was dodging salt trucks for most of it's life (like mine) and has rust all over the place, then get it dipped.

I had my car dipped here in Michigan and then it was e-coated. I have noticed a little rust peaking in some of the seams under the car (which I took care of) but on the outside of the car, that area got a lot more attention from the painter. It's been painted almost 2 years now and I see no issues whatsoever.

"The Mule" was an acid dipped car, Mark took his to the same place that did mine as did Andrew Borodin with his GTO. He's a Moderator on this board.

[Ricoch3T]

I sandblasted mine myself. Prolly would have gone the dip and ecoat had there been anywhere close to do it.

on the outside of the body shell I went with plain ol sanding discs and epoxy.

[Chevy Kid]

Soda will NOT touch rust. I had my 67 RS soda blasted about 3 weeks ago. It will not harm windows, chrome, or stainless trim. I left as much on as possible to keep the soda out of the interior and trunk. What a mess! I'm quite sure I will be blowing and vacuuming soda out of it for the rest of my life. ( Car will be sold at my estate sale unless my 18 month old son takes it!)

My car is abslotetely rust free. All in all a good, economical way to go, and fast!

Tim

[jackfrost]

If yours is a midwest car that was dodging salt trucks for most of it's life (like mine) and has rust all over the place, then get it dipped.

what's the rationale behind this? is acid-dipping just better at eating rust than sandblasting?

what's an e-coat?

[68Formula]

Acid dipping is better at eating everything including good metal. TransAm racing they would acid dip to reduce weight on new shells. I think it was a Dodge Challenger team that dipped the car so many times the roof caved in after a tech inspector leaned on it, and they had to replace the roof. So it will might take away a little good metal with the bad. If there is a lot of bad, it could leave you with not much metal left.

[Sparky67]

Typically what is done now is called Alkaline dipping and not acid dipping. http://www.redistripindy.com/. I took my car to have it alkaline dipped and e-coated in Michigan. I always thought that my trunk floor was solid, but when I got it back. The trunk floor look like swiss cheese. The metal was still there, but it was very thin.

Jeff

http://www.kodakgallery.com/67rscamaro

[Sparky67]

what's the rationale behind this? is acid-dipping just better at eating rust than sandblasting?

Alkaline dipping is better to get all of the cavities than sandblasting. Typically, you get the sandblasting or soda media stuck in the cavities. I used to work for a Naval Aviation Depot in Florida and the Metal strip shop loved to use Chemical dipping than media. We had all the latest blasting media (Plastic, Soda, etc) that was available, but it got stuck in the military aircraft and you had to take time to vacuum it out.


what's an e-coat?

http://www.metokote.com/coatingTechnologies/ecoatProcessSpecifics.asp

Very hard to find a place that will e-coat the shell anymore, but I went to Michigan for mine. Now, I was able to get my parts (Doors, hood, etc) done locally at MetoKote. The parts had to be alkaline dipped first, then I took them to MetoKote and got them e-coated.

Jeff

[trapin]

what's the rationale behind this? is acid-dipping just better at eating rust than sandblasting?

what's an e-coat?
Acid-dipping can get the rust out of areas that the media blaster can't reach with his gun.

E-Coat = Electrophorectic Coating; a process where a body is dipped into a primer solution and the solution is bonded to it through the use of an electrical charge.


Acid dipping is better at eating everything including good metal. TransAm racing they would acid dip to reduce weight on new shells. I think it was a Dodge Challenger team that dipped the car so many times the roof caved in after a tech inspector leaned on it, and they had to replace the roof. So it will might take away a little good metal with the bad. If there is a lot of bad, it could leave you with not much metal left.
This is true only if you leave the body in the acid solution for an extended period of time. I asked about this when I had mine done as it was a concern. The place that did my car (International Paint Stripping) puts the body into an oven where the temperature is slowly turned up to 600 degrees to burn away all the paint, bondo, sealer, lead, etc. They increase the heat gradually to prevent warpage of the sheet metal. This process significantly reduces the amount of time the body needs to be in the solution so that it just has to eat away what rust is there. They then remove the body after a few hours and pressure wash it thoroughly.

[soda blasting]

I would look very closely before you got anything dipped it is very hard on your car. Look into all the different methods out there and get some pricing for each one they all have a place that they are really good. I can tell you that soda costs more than sand but is also better on your car also. Just don't go with the cheapest one because that is exactly what you will get

[67 ls1 vert]

I did a little blasting on my Subframe with walnut shells but it seems like you go through it really fast. Where do you guys buy it? I got mine at Harbor freight last time. Is there a cheaper place you can buy it?

[Alchemist]

A restoration shop I worked at sent the metal body, fenders, hood and misc parts to be "hot-tanked". It wasn't acid but a caustic liquid that did a great job of removing all materials (paint, plastic filler etc.,) and then it was rinsed. They also offered an extra service of applying an epoxy primer to prevent it from surface corroding while in transit back to our shop.

Here's an article that you may find informative in regards to the different methods of stripping paint off the vehicle.

Hope this helps!

http://www.chevyhiperformance.com/tech/paint_body/paint/0603ch_paint_stripping_tech_how_to_guide/index.html