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Paint removal Suggestion

Aug 2016

Ref**

Avanti Paint Removal Suggestion.

Last week I purchased a used ARE Z-series truck cap for my 2014 Ram pickup. The PO said he had sprayed the cap black over the original red it was when he purchased it last year.

The cap was built in 2013 by the MFG label, so I took it home and (still with memories of scraping every inch of paint off my 74 Avanti) and decided to just sand off the top coats. The first time the sander hit the black paint it clogged the paper. After a couple of tries it became clear the PO had sprayed the cap with uncatalyzed enamel. Bugger!!

There was no way I was going to attack it with razor blades so I started to read up on strippers. I have a general aversion to the aircraft strippers as when I used them many moons ago, I had a mess in the joints and seams that took a ton of work to remove.

After reading a bit I chose two to try.

Citristrip - https://www.citristrip.com/product/citristrip-gel from Home Depot

West Marine Paint Remover - https://www.westmarine.com/buy/back-t...23?recordNum=2

Bought a quart of each, spread about a 3' X 4' panel of each on the roof and tested at a few intervals.

Just for the record, my guess at the paint composition is the top surface is just unhardened enamel over an automotive grade base coat topped with hardened clear coat, just like the OEM paint on the truck.

At two hours, little effect from West Marine although the black did start to lift. The citristrip had started to loosen the clear coat but it would only come off with a small putty knife and erratically.

At four hours, The citristrip had softened the black and clear coat but seemed to have trouble with the base coat. The black and CC would strip off the base coat. The West Marine seemed to be getting to the base coat and clear coat but would only allow removal with a 1" putty knife using a fair bit of force and still leaving a lot of BC/CC in place.

Enough of that, waited until 24 hrs expired (GOLF happens) and went back to scraping. The citristrip hadn't improved much and was still erratic in removing everything and needed a fair bit of force on a 1" putty knife. The West Marine area now came off in sheets. I went from a 1" putty knife to a 3" paint scraper https://www.homedepot.com/p/Husky-All...S3HD/202251540, and the paint came off in 3" wide sheets without much effort leaving a layer of gray primer, My guess, with just a slight red tint to it in places.

Took out the orbital palm sander with 150 grit and sanded cleared area from the West Marine. Just like smoothing sandable primer, Eureka!!

Went back to West Marine, purchased a gallon ($60) and spread it over the area where the citristrip had been and the rest of the cap.

24 hours later, peeled most of the paint to primer with minimal effort and the 3" scraper. I'll let it set until my paint and primer arrive and my final sanding.

To be totally up front, I did hit small areas under the West Marine that needed to be scraped with the smaller putty knife as they were still somewhat adhered to the cap. My guess is I didn't have enough remover in those areas.

Paint comes off with no mess or liquid anywhere just long strips of soft paint. I used nitrile gloves but otherwise there seems to be little danger or mess from the stripper. As far a product in the seams, I just swabbed them with a soft cotton cloth soaked in Naptha and they look clear with no residue.

Long enough, but if you want to start on your Avanti, this may be worth a look. Wish I had back when.

Bob Streu - Bay City, MI (sweetolbob) SDC Forum