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acid dipping or blasting body?

Started by steve69r/t, November 02, 2008, 08:03:49 AM

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steve69r/t

just wondering what the pros & cons are. love to here from you guys. this is the best site i have found for the chargers keep it up :2thumbs:

Finn

Based off some research I did:

Acid dip: Cleans EVERYWHERE. This is good if you have rust in unreachable places but that also means you may never be able to see or deal with some areas the acid does. Thus it may sit there un-coated and unfixed. Also Ive heard that acid's "minimum" rust requirement is a lot lower than blasting. For example, there could be a rusted area on the car that you need to reference for shaping new metal that acid would eat away while blasting would keep it in form.

Blasting: Make sure they're using different medias, (glass, plastic, walnut shell, etc) because you don't want to sand blast the the entire car or you'll end up warping body panels. I don't remember too many of the disadvantages to blasting (which is why I remember picking it)  but maybe the guys on here will have a couple. I remember one of the advantages was you can "pick" where you want to blast so you could avoid having to re-lead seams which is nasty work.

The cousin of the guy I bought my charger from had his Coronet acid dipped and I had the charger blasted and we're both happy the rust is gone so it may come down to whatever option is available in your area. If you happen to be in SoCal I know I guy for blasting. He's pretty busy but he's a good guy and does great work which is of more value than someone that can get it done fast imo.
1968 Dodge Charger 440, EFI, AirRide suspension
1970 Dodge Challenger RT/SE 383 magnum
1963 Plymouth Savoy 225 with a 3 on the tree.
2002 Dodge Ram 5.9L 360
2014 Dodge Dart 2.4L

Silver R/T

Id have it blasted, unless you can e-coat dip it after it would be acid dipped
http://www.cardomain.com/id/mitmaks

1968 silver/black/red striped R/T
My Charger is hybrid, it runs on gas and on tears of ricers
2001 Ram 2500 CTD
1993 Mazda MX-3 GS SE
1995 Ford Cobra SVT#2722

69hemi

Quote from: Silver R/T on November 02, 2008, 09:12:27 PM
Id have it blasted, unless you can e-coat dip it after it would be acid dipped

I love when this topic comes up but remember it is not Acid Dipping is a chemical stripping.  These is a big difference in that Acid Dipping was done to a lot of race cars in the 60's to lighten the car.  This process is also called chemical milling.  The new stripping is done with different chemicals and a heated bath. 

This is a section from my website   "Here is the passenger side fresh from its cleaning bath. As you can see all the paint and rust is gone from the car. Many people always ask the best way to strip a car. The reasons I prefer dipping to media blasting are many and varied. When you get a car dipped you get it back nice and clean, free of grease, paint and rusted metal. It lets you see right up to the best remaining metal and will show you thin spots where you might have thought good metal was. None of the good remaining metal on the car was abrasive or warped from heat and the dip gets all the way into the frame rails, rockers, seams ensuring that all traces of rust is removed from the car, not just what you can see. As with any process a qualified professional must do this. I have had other cars dipped by other companies and have had results so bad that the seams kept oozing dip even after the car was painted. This is not the fault of the process but the fault of the person who does the job. When you have a car dipped you need to remember that it needs to be sealed. The company that dipped this car, Restoration Specialties in Milwaukee, WI, (414-529-1515) offers a complete program. They first dip your car and remove 95% of the paint and gunk then give it back to you to do your metal work. When you are finished with all your tinwork they re-dip it to remove all the surface rust that has built up in the time you were working on it. They also offer an e-coating process, which I highly recommend if you want the car to stay nice. They take the car and give it a negative electrical charge then dip it into a tank containing the coating, which has a positive charge. This electrically bonds the coating to every piece of the car, frame rails seams under all the bracing absolutely sealing the car from outside air. Once this is done the parts will not rust. This sealing is not possible with a blasted car and rust will keep developing in the frame rails and between the seams ensuring that you will have to do this again in the future. "

Media blasting does not address any rust in the seam or frame rails and this can cause big problems in the future for you.  You can check out all the dipping pictures of my Hemi car as well as the dipping of my new project the GTX at the website in the restoration sections of both cars.
www.69hemi.com

http://www.69hemi.com
1969 Hemi R/T Charger
1969 440 GTX
1965 Hemi A/FX Plymouth
1964 Hemi Superstock Dodge
02 Ram
95 Ram