acid bath for whole car?

[michael.warshaw]

well, this week my car went to the sandbalster to get all the paint stripped, and have the whole cleaned to make ready for new body work, and paint. the car is super clean, to make a long story short. Someone said to me that instead of having it blasted alot of people send it to tank with acid in it, adnd then the metal is treated? anyone ever here of this? are theyre any cons with this? my car is completely stripped, looks great, i was concerned i didnt do the right thing.

[dezeldoc]

Stick with the blasting Michael, the acid dip will remove all the paint, rust, body sealer, and anything off it, which is good and bad. it will almost never rinse out of the seams 100% and will come back later on. all the factory sealer between the panels will also be gone and it is very hard to replace. you should not have any problems with the blasted body. also have them do it with soda it leaves a nice finish and less chance of warpage.

[Joe Flanagan]

I have read and heard many times the same thing Dezeldoc just posted. The acid dip can come back to haunt you. You did the right thing.

[thrashingcows]

Only way, I've heard, to make the acid bath a sure thing is for the company to also have a neutralizing bath as an after treatment. This is the only true way to get into all the seams and pinch welds etc.

Very few companies offer this after treatment, so most that do go with the acid bath, like stated by the others, will have problems down the road.

Your better of with a good media blast. I've had a couple cars done over the years, I had them blasted with plastic pellets, and never had a problem.

[michael.warshaw]

Stick with the blasting Michael, the acid dip will remove all the paint, rust, body sealer, and anything off it, which is good and bad. it will almost never rinse out of the seams 100% and will come back later on. all the factory sealer between the panels will also be gone and it is very hard to replace. you should not have any problems with the blasted body. also have them do it with soda it leaves a nice finish and less chance of warpage.

when you say come back later on what is meant by this ?

[PatrickG]

when you say come back later on what is meant by this ?

The acid doesn't wash out of the seams that it gets into when the body is dipped, and will often seep out after you paint, etc. causing the paint to lift or other adhesion problems down the road.

[thrashingcows]

when you say come back later on what is meant by this ?

The seams and such will react with primers and paint, bubbling and pealing. As well sometimes rust out from those seams since the factory primers and such have been removed.

[PatrickG]

thrashingcows beat me to it

[thrashingcows]

You beat me by a couple seconds Patrick.....

[michael.warshaw]

well its already blasted and that is what im sticking with, it seems like dipping is more of a hassel than its worth, i saw my car today its so clean for this old a car its scary, this car was kept inside in a dry place. My car will beready soon, i hope, i wouls say 2 months, the motor was taking to the powder coater today. it will bedone next week.

[RobertKB]

Absolutely stay with the blasting you had done and avoid the dipping. What you have had done is the best and you will be happy with the results. Any pictures? Sounds like your project is coming together!

[michael.warshaw]

thank g-d your back kb, we missed you here, saw your pics looks like you had fun, welcome back.

http://www430.pair.com/p15d24/mopar_forum/showthread.php?t=20297

[Tony WestOZ]

All methods of removeing rust have their for`s and against.

As mentioned before acid (or molassis) tank dipping everything has to be neutralized after its done to reduce any chance rust coming back.

Sandblasting is my preferance but it can leed to problems as well.

The coupe ute body I bought a few years ago is a classic example.

It was sandblasted and primed when I got it and it looked really good. However after a couple of years parked down the side of the house, rust in between the double skinning that could not be removed by blasting had raised its ugly head again.

What I have done in the past with good results is to spray a rust converter in between these double skin panels. Then I spray a body deadiner (tar based) over the coverter.

Edited March 14, 2010 by Tony WestOZ

[PatrickG]

You beat me by a couple seconds Patrick.....

haha oops

[dezeldoc]

On my 37 Ford pick up, i had it dipped back in the 80's and it went through the neutralizer and all and a few years later the seams had rusted and you could see the acid still etching it. the thing looked like brand new shinny metal when it was done but problems down the road. that was the last car i dipped.

[Flatie46]

The thing I worry about on the sandblasting is no matter what you do you can never get all the sand back out of it. You can blow air, vacuum or what have ya and you'll still find it in the car. At least thats been my experience with it and I'm afraid it may lead to rust in the future. I may be wrong, I'm just an amateur hobbyiest trying to learn as I go. There's probably a downside to anyway you go.

[Joe Flanagan]

True, you keep finding sand. I used regular sand on my project and I keep finding it in certain places but just small amounts. Unless it's someplace where it's going to get wet and hold water on sheet metal, I don't think it's a problem. Way better than acid dipping in my opinion. I just use a shop vac on it whenever I discover the holdouts.

[desoto1939]

Mike,

There is a local AACA full restoration shop up in the Allentown area in PA. This young man presents at the AACA convention each year. He is a realy craftsman at his work. To show you how much he does he even tanks a gardden sprayer and then puts in primers and then gets into all of the internal places with the wand to make sure the car is totally primers. He even will cut a whole in a rocker panal to coat the interior of the sills.

But htis is what you should be looking for. Look for the details that the resotoring is going to do. Now that the car is totally stripped go over it with a fine tooth comb it will pay in the long run. Demand pefect and you should get perfection+

Rich Hartung

desoto1939@aol.com

[Tony WestOZ]

This is what I use to get it to all those tricky places.

Flexible plastic hose screws in the end of the gun. Brass end has 5 holes in it so it sprays in all directions.

[Joe Flanagan]

I would like to use something like that inside my rockers because though I painted the insides with Zero Rust, I know I burned some of it off when I welded the outers to the inners. I figure the wand can be inserted in the holes for the rocker trim clips.

[dezeldoc]

They make a weldable primer that will not burn away when welding. i also use cold galvanizing spray cans behind panels i weld on. the wand thing still will not get 100% of the areas, it will help but not 100%. what is he doing with the holes he puts in the rockers, welding them up or using a rubber plug? their is never a sure fire way to get primer or paint in unexposed areas unless you dip it. Most of the work you do will out last you if done right. as far as the sand goes lots of air and flipping it around, up and down, back and forth.

[Joe Flanagan]

I didn't know about weldable primer. I'll have to look into that, though I think almost all of my welding is done. My rockers do have drain holes in the bottom, so I think that is a big help. And what you say about the work outlasting you is true, I think. It took almost 60 years for my car to get as bad as it did and for the last 20 or so, it wasn't taken care of at all. It was just sitting and rotting. So I figure if I'm careful about what work I do and take care of it afterward, my kids will be stuck with a solid 49 Plymouth when I die.

[Tim Keith]

I believe I might have to go to Dallas to get an car dipped. That's too far.

Even with the risk of chemicals trapped in the seams I think an extra level

of detailing can get most of that, maybe with a soda blaster. I worked at General

Motors in the '80s where they had a 300 foot phosphate tank that would

submerse several tractor trailer cabs from the body-in-white to a flat

grey-black finish. One day the equipment broke down and several cabs

were left in overnight. The cabs had to be scrapped as the coating became

rough like sandpaper.

[michael.warshaw]

has anyone ever dipped?

[dezeldoc]

See post 15