Getting rid of paint/powder coat without blasting

[Andrew Fitton]

given the present restrictions and not being able to get to a blaster I’m going to dip my suspension components and spray with zinc rich undercoat and chassis paint which leaves me with the problem of getting off a mix of what looks like ancient powder coat and old paint on top. Over the counter paint stripper is proving as effective as water and I was going to take the blow torch to it (all non metal components removed) unless anyone has a better idea or highlights an issue with blow torches and suspension bits. Many thanks

[Johnboy]

Blow torch is probably your best bet . Paint striper is crap these days . Just don't get the component your working on to hot

[junior]

If the parts are steel why not try caustic soda ......carefully.

[Andrew Fitton]

So I’ve spent the time between coats of electrox in the engine bay (that’s 2 hours) cleaning off half the 50% of the finish that remains on one control arm. The really infuriating thing is where the old powder coat hasn’t failed the metal underneath is perfect - like it’s just out of the press shop.

I’ll tell you what though - for all their reputation for bad build - I’d take a sud over my MX5 NA any day. The engineering of the sud is really elegant compared to the Mazda - the sud is simpler and better for it and the quality of the fixtures and fittings is better in the sud too.

[Andrew Fitton]

If the parts are steel why not try caustic soda ......carefully.

Never used caustic soda before. I’ll probably stick with the heat for now although I’ll need some more butane.

[alfadave]

Try a caustic soda dip......cheap and easy.
You will need a suitable "bath"

A rectangular washing up bowl may be too small for the suspension components.......something a bit bigger.....maybe a swing bin?

[alfadave]

PS
Fasten a length of wire on to lift them out!

[PETROLHEAD]

There are no "paint strippers" available over the counter that will strip a powder coat. The best we have in the UK is probably Langolds, way better than even the original nitromors of old, but still useless against a powder coat I'm afraid.

Across the pond, use "Aircraft Stripper", proper nasty stuff, on our banned import list due to its contents and our HSE so unavailable sadly, which is a big shame,

YouTube it, its impressive stuff that we could could certainly make use of.

I think, if I recall correctly, the activated ingredient required to manage powder coating, is a higher methanol content than regular paint strippers, but could be wrong, and as it's not commercially available anyway, kind of a mute point.

You could try a combination of heat first to open it up and soften it, then Langolds to lift it?

Might be worth a try if you've got a bit to do?

[Andrew Fitton]

And the method that worked was heat with a wire brush moving vigorously directly behind it. I reckon there is a whole 7 seconds work time before it starts to smear and then goes like glass. Ideally this is a job for two as you can use the torch to blow the powder off too but I can only call upon the kids and at 8 and 11 I don’t trust them with the kettle let alone a blow torch near my arms. To be fair I only had a limited amount of caustic soda an mr muscle in the house.