There is some stuff called aircraft paint stripper at autozone. I think it is safe for aluminum, but check the label first.

Thats the best I've seen, we stripped some stuff on my dads MG midget and counted like 6 layers of paint. It took about two layers off at a time.

Works good, and is readily available.

Tboy

 

But you have to use it quick(as in don't just throw the lid back on and throw it on the shelf in the back of the garage). Once air is introduced to the interior of the can it starts to eat away at it!

 

Yeah I got aircraft stripper today

 

aircraft stripper will be totally, completely, 100% safe (i think)...

airplane panelling certainly is not steel. either aluminum, or CF

 

I used it its a bitch to use

 

I used aircraft stripper on my wheel.

I say "wheel" becasue I only have one done.


If you scuff the paint, it will remove more layers.

 

I used aircraft stripper on my wheels.... it was a cunt lol.

I didnt strip the center's, just the clear coat off of the lips. The aircraft stripper doesnt even remove all of the clear as it is usually very stuborn. My wheels were a bitch to do.

I used the aircraft stripper, and used 40 grit sandpaper on the lips and went up every step until 2000 grit.... it sucked lol. I did it all by hand and I had a bunch of chemical burns from the aircraft stripper where it actually started to like eat my skin lol. It hurts like hell.

For the centers, I just used a scotch brite and scuffed up the original paint, and sprayed the Duplicolor Wheel Paint and Duplicolor Wheel Clear Coat in the steps it said on the back of the can. Worked great and is holding up very well.

 

I used the aircraft stripper, and used 40 grit sandpaper on the lips and went up every step until 2000 grit.... it sucked lol. I did it all by hand and I had a bunch of chemical burns from the aircraft stripper where it actually started to like eat my skin lol. It hurts like hell.

wear latex gloves.

DO NOT WEAR NITRILE

unless you want a new layer of skin. nitrile may very well melt and become a new layer of you

 

Hmm this sounds like it might be a good repainting option for the body, no? Save a backache for the sanding, just give it a once over after it's stripped for adhesion?

 

i dont know how the aircraft stripper will affect the steel panels found on a car's body. it was designed specifically for use with aluminum.

personally, i would not try it on my own car. maybe on that spare, off-color gas tank fill door...

also, you would have to be extremely careful to not get the stripper on anything other than the paint. i would expect it to do damage to the rubber seals and probably melt any plastic that it touched (bumpers). i would expect it to melt right through the glue found on masking tape and thus destroy much more than the paint you were wishing to remove.

 

I used it a lot in a body shop during the 70's and 80's. It is quite a nice little toxic stew and will burn you in contact with skin.
Components:
Methylene Chloride 75-85%
Ammonium Hydroxide 1-5%
Methyl Alcohol 5-10%
It is great on steel body panels and will even dissolve bondo. I have also used it to strip paint off of lots of aluminum parts: the DIC cassette, wheels and the valve cover, to name a few. It is even effective on stubborn two component paints like epoxy primer.

 

So what you're saying is that this stuff wouldn't make a good topping for a hot dog? :lol:

 

nah, you'd want to just use a straw,or better yet a metal spoon. little risk of that spoon melting.

seriously though, stripper is pretty toxic stuff. i was honestly a little surprised to hear about chemical burns. i hope everyone is atleast using the stuff in a very well ventilated area... not in their bedroom, with the doors and windows taped shut.

a garage with a closed door does not count as well ventilated. open doors and a fan running does.

 

eh, it wasnt eating through my nitrile gloves... but when I was sanding I was using bare hands and the residue got on my hands and was burning the shit outta them lol.

And you can use it on the car itself as well.....

 

Once I got some terpentine on my shoe, didn't think much of it. Later on, I took my shoe off, and the skin all around the top of my foot was red and irritated. Later that night, the entire top of my foot began to blister, and eventually almost all of the skin on top of my foot sheared off in one fell swoop. That was a bad, bad week.

 

I need to do this to my Aero wheels, as they are probably in the worst condition of all aero wheels. Am gonna assume that you guys do it with out tires on the wheels, right?

Thats my problem, I'd need to keep the tires on when I refinish the wheels. As I don't have any other wheels. My question is, is it safe? Will the "aircraft paint stripper" burn through the tire if some spilled on it, as well as the air valve?

 

My advice would be to invest in some blocks of cement

 

I bought this aerosol aircraft paint stripper at a body shop supply store, and it will eat the paint off anything real quick. Ive never used it on wheels, but it peeled my valve cover paint off in like 30 second down to bare metal. As well as various other stuff, i dont remember.

 

Well of course, or jacks.

But is it alright for me to just mask off the tire and valve stem with like newspaper?

 

This stuff strips off paint down to the metal, I'm sure it will eat through paper products in half a second.

 

i doubt it dan, but read the label and possibly their website

 

Is it called aircraft paint stripper?

I googled it and not much in the way of automotive uses or any product sites.

 

I got this stuff from autozone a few years back to use on my bimmer, I think it was just a generic paint stripper but boy did it work!!! There are 2 keys to using it however, the first is a non issue right now being heat... It works better because it is hot outside, the other is leaving it on long enough. Alot of people screw up when stripping paint because they expect it to work lightning fast. In reality it may take 15 or so minutes to do. As for aluminum, I am not sure if its safe for. For my application I used a old paint brush and painted it on. A little went a LONG way, I did an entire 733 with just 1 gallon!!! Also when using this or any stripper use chemical "Not Latex" gloves. You can pick these up at walmart for like $5. This shit eats right thru latex. Hope this helps you guys out in the future!!!

 

Wheels are stripped and blasted check out my blog for pictures.

 

Drew your doing a GREAT job!

So it looks like you did sand blast them, over all how much did it cost?
Would it be worth it for me to buy a tank and so on?
I NEED TO do my wheels more then you did.

 

Best way to get rid of old paint from wheels and prep them for new paint is to grit blast them. The metal surface ends up perfectly clean and with the best possible key for the new paint.

Most larger blast cabinets will take a 16-inch wheel but you do need a decent compressor. Alternatively, find a which does commercial grit blasting and ask them nicely to do the wheels. With the cabinets and compressors they have, it'd probably take them 30 minutes to do four wheels

 

best technique for aircraft stripper is to daub it on with a brush (instead of wiping it on, so its thicker), wait at least 20 minutes, then go agitate it with a heavy bristle brush, and add more anywhere you think it needs it, wait another 20 minutes and blast it with a hose and use the brush where its needed. aircraft stripper is really amazing stuff.