Practically Classics Forum

After finding 15 patches of rust on my roof now and it starting to look rediculous i think the only way forward is to strip it.
The question is other than 1000 years with a sanding block, what is the best way of taking the paint off? I think the 4 day weekend should give me enough time to strip, treat, fill and panic about putting paint back on again so expect a series of questions about how to paint shortly.

As it is the roof I'd probably avoid anything caustic for fear of it getting elsewhere. So I would probably go for a hard slog with rotary wire wheel and a flappy sanding disc on the grinder.

There may be better attachments for paint removal but those generally do the job for me. If you do it this way get a bloody good proper filter mask or you'll be ending up having all sort of nasty experiments carried out at EN&T and the chest clinic sometime in the future......believe me I know

Hello

In a nutshell there are 3 ways to remove paint

Heat

Abrasion

Chemicals.

Heat is only safe of high crown areas, a hot air gun or blow torch are not really a good idea on your roof.

Abrasives range from the evil twit knot brushes and so called 'fleeces' -which effetively remove paint filler and flesh with total ease. - to the flat sander or DA.

Chemical strippers like nitromors are effective, but messy and at roof level horribly prone to getting onto things where it less than welcome. You would have to cover the rest of the car which may not be realisitc.

So for my money I would invest in a half decent buzz sander and a bunch of production paper. Also a couple of 3m strip and clean wheels on your drill for the fiddlearse bits. You cold consider a fleece disk but they dont fit on the grinder without first removing the safety guard... and gloves offer little protection.... I have a scar to prove it.

Thanks chaps, lunch time saw me purchase a random action sander and some "coarse" pads that say for wood but as i only want it to take paint off i assume it will be OK. (B&Q don't have many options "sand" paper) Also some dust masks. Hopefully the weekend will be dry as I want to do this on the drive not in the garage. If it rains i'll put it off as i don't want to end up with the same problem again.
I will be going home via halfrauds to get some rattle cans of etch primer and a new bottle of krust.

As much as I love cars, i HATE cars!

I recently bought one of these:

http://www.screwfix.com/p/flexi-drill-s ... drum/10387

It's a foam drum that fits on a drill, about 5" diameter and 2.5" wide with a sanding belt around it. Fitted with 60 or 80 grit belts it does an awesome job, beware though there is a huge amount of dust.

Only problem with it was that the belt kept riding sideways and flipping off the drum. I solved this by gluing a belt to the drum with PVA, then forcing another belt over the top. The glued belt grips the top belt tightly and it stays put - and works brilliantly.

If you run it too fast, it will heat up, melt the paint and clog up, so I used it on a variable speed drill going at about 100 - 150 rpm, let the tool do the work and don't force it, and the belts lasted pretty well - they're cheap enough anyway.

Hope that helps

These bad boys are the cats whiskers, i use a much larger one at work and there isnt any coating that can resist it...not even mill scale.

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/produ ... de-rust-re

that thing looks vicious!

WANT ONE....

did I ever mention the time when after cutting 30 yards of fibreglass bridge parapet level with a 9 inch grinder I put it down with a sigh of relief and neatly stopped the blade by running it across my thigh Surely that little disc couldn't be any more harmful.

Then again a nice neat disc cut burns itself shut and leaves a groove, What would that thing do

Even so I do fancy a go with one

This is the kind i use in a 110mm,using a special long shaft slow speed grinder,problem is the ones i buy are are £75 each.

The flat ones from machine mart are good and will shift paint no problem and then only scuff the metal underneath without gouging lumps out of it.

Ay up!

I discovered these meself a year or two back. The better ones last for ages, don't bother with the cheap ones. They disintegrate in no time.