Topic: Best way to strip paint off of side panels?

[jabbadeznuts]

I'm about to repaint my tank and side panels. I was thinking that sandblasting would be the best way get paint off of the side panels. Any thoughts?

[ElCheapo]

NO SAND BLASTING
NO AIR CRAFT STRIPPER

Just good old fashoined elbow grease and some wet 400 grit sand paper.

As far as I have found there is no easy way around these.

You dont have to remove all of it, just most of it.

[grumburg]

Start with 220 grit wet/dry paper. Use lots of water and just keep after it. Allow lots of time and have plenty of beer. Bare plastic is an ugly yellow/cream. When all the paint is off, sand with 400 wet, wash with water, paint with sandable primer. Re-sand with 600, fill any knicks with spot putty. spray a VERY light coat of black spray paint and carefully resand with 600 to block sand any waves. One more coat of primer and I guarantee that will look like a million bucks.

[jtb]

Start with 220 grit wet/dry paper. Use lots of water and just keep after it. Allow lots of time and have plenty of beer. Bare plastic is an ugly yellow/cream. When all the paint is off, sand with 400 wet, wash with water, paint with sandable primer. Re-sand with 600, fill any knicks with spot putty. spray a VERY light coat of black spray paint and carefully resand with 600 to block sand any waves. One more coat of primer and I guarantee that will look like a million bucks.

What he said!

[kghost]

Yup paint stripper on plastic makes goo....

If you want to save some elbow grease and the paint is good but horribly faded....

Sand it rough then epoxy prime the panel before you paint.

Generally the factory paint had excellent adhesion and scuffing it followed by the epoxy seals it off nicely.

[jabbadeznuts]

NO SAND BLASTING
NO AIR CRAFT STRIPPER

Just good old fashoined elbow grease and some wet 400 grit sand paper.

As far as I have found there is no easy way around these.

You dont have to remove all of it, just most of it.

I didn't know if sand blasting would eat the plastic up but there's no way in hell I'd be using aircraft stripper. I'd like to put back on painted side panels, not painted balls of goo.

[mkramer1121]

I got a fiberglass tank from ebay yesterday and started to tear into it before I saw this thread.  Its rattlecan painted yellow with some decals on it.  What I did before I gave up was use gas, as there was already some runs, and brake fluid, cause you figure you'll spill that on a tank at some point (at least I will in my clutzy ways).  Well, long story short, nothing came off, not even the decals.  Hosing it off after the fact to get all the caustic chemicals off, I again tried to get the decals off.  And they peeled off without any issue, without anything but water....figures...I'll let the paint shop handle priming the tank and sidecovers from this point on...

[medic09]

actually, the petroleum products may well have loosened the decals.

a Honda mechanic in ABQ told my to just apply a heat gun or my wife's hair dryer to decals to get them loosened.

[Rsnip988]

Soak it in HPLC Grade Acetone




haha that would dissolve the covers completely,


the wet sanding with the 400 should work as Tom said,

[Jeff.Saunders]

There are some paint removers specifically designed for plastic.  Go to a paint supply place and talk to them.  I'm not sure of the name, but I know the place that painted my turbo bike used a PPG paint remover on the plastic parts.

[RatBikeRandy]

WD-40 or equivalent works good on decals as well.