Thinking about stripping the paint

[Nailhead]

Actual question- if the .mil paint is so hard to get off, why not leave it and paint over?

(I've had the same experience on small areas I've repaired, BTW. A wire wheel on a grinder zipped right through the 6 layers of spraybomb, then I had to really lean into it to get the original paint off. I was just doing small patch welding, so I can't imagine trying to get the whole thing stripped to metal.)

Because by the time I realized the spray stripper I was using wasn't working real well, it had worked well enough to necessitate finishing the job.

I tried a cup brush on the air filter intake fitting, and it didn't do much more than burnish the surface.

[bigprojectm715]

Painting over existing paint especially mil spec with a truely unknown formula can be risky if it reacts with what ever is being sprayed over the top. Would hate to have to restrip all the hard work because the entire job fisheyed

[Subybaja]

Yeah, that makes sense.

[oddave]

AB Linn told me once to leave as much paint on it as possible to protect the metal. So that's what I did. Used a DA sander to smooth the surface up and get as much fire engine red off as possible. Turned out great. I have seen vehicles that were sandblasted and painted end up getting rusty way too soon, I guess there was no sealer paint used but I don't know.

[RAMairGTO72]

Been wondering how to just take off the Fire Department "Yellow" to get to the factory mil paint :/

[bigprojectm715]

Only way that would be possible is to carefully sand the top layer off to expose the green. I think it would be a very difficult way to make your truck green. Plus the finish wouldnt be nice unless you kept sanding again and again with finer and finer grit untill the finish would be right. Strip and respray is the best way.

[Nailhead]

Been wondering how to just take off the Fire Department "Yellow" to get to the factory mil paint :/

My recent experience suggests you could do this with cheaper paint stripper. It'll take that yellow off in no time and not affect the OD beneath.

I've been using aircraft PS on my tailgate, and it's still a lot of work to remove that porcelain-like OD paint.

[Nailhead]

I think I've given up on the chemical stripper, between expense, mess, and frustration.



I'm going restrict use of stripper to small stuff, like the air filter housing, etc.

[Don Cavey]

Gosh, if the original paint is stuck to the metal, why remove it? Just rough it up a little and put the top coat on. That is what I intend to do, right or wrong...

[jeepdan]

Wow, that tail gate looks pretty nice and straight

I think Don is right.

Just sand blast any rusty areas, and feather in around the edges of the original paint, and leave it alone.