Texas strippers (not that kind)

Sounds like the beginning of a joke

I live in Austin. I have two projects that need to be stripped. The first one is a 66 Bonneville that is naked as can be ready for a dip tank - which I was going to do when I was in SoCal, but didn't get the time or money. Now its with me in TX and I'm back to trying to find some stripping options.

I have heard the horror stories about dip tanks, but I think I'm OK with that. I'm replacing the floor boards and most of the other seams are exposed for cleaning very well before body work commences, so I'm still interested in the acid strip.

Also keen on some kind of blasting.

I did several google searches and I must not be doing the right search. I did find www.stripyourcar.com which is a franchise company that does soda blasting, but oddly enough all the reps I called blatantly said that they don't do cars, just municipal graffiti removal and such. mumbles to self: then why is the website called "strip your car dot com?"

Anyway... Its on a trailer and I don't mind driving a bit, but don't want to take it to Chicago or anything. I'm thinking 3-4 hour radius?

Anyone know of some options for blasting or dipping in that realm?

Look for aerospace rebuilders. In CT there were tons of small subcontractors refurbing jet engine parts and using baking soda blasting to get them clean. Whenever that phase of the operation got slow they would do cars to keep everyone busy. The cars might sit outside for months at a time waiting for that down time but the upside was ridiculously cheap pricing and an incredibly thorough job.

Have you tried the yellow pages?

This thread is useless without pictures

Keith wrote: Have you tried the yellow pages?

Yep. No luck. I found one but repeated calls during business hours yields nothing but 20 unanswered rings.

There used to be a sand blaster business in Bryan. That's only 65 minutes from Austin. Ask me how I know.

Sugars Austin, Austin Texas' No. 1 Gentleman's Club.
Sugar's Ex-wife was employee of the month a few years back before new ownership. She moved to Austin after our divorce and new marriage to her online hookup! Scary photos I suggest nobody ever sees. If you were ever there and got to see "Rhiannon" that was her.

Now back to our regularly scheduled stripping conversation.

I found this place in Arlington: http://www.metalrehab.com/

I've used Akin Powdercoating before. They're in Leander. Used them on larger pieces we couldn't put in the little oven at the shop like wheels, larger intake manifolds, frames, etc. I've been out of Austin for a few years, dunno if they're still around. Worth a check though.

http://sodablastexpress.com/

http://www.austin-powder-coating.com/sandblasting.html

http://commercialservicesco.com/

*edit....soda,sand and media respectively.

Kinda a long shot, but:

http://www.crosslinktexas.com/

I've used them for powdercoating and they also do media blasting. I don't think they can do a whole car, but were good guys and might be able to point you to a place.

Another option would be to call a bodyshop like Custom Car Crafters. They do a lot of custom work, so I'm sure they have places they use.

-Rob

I have used Commercial Services many times, with great results. I'd be happy to talk with you about them.

In some parts of Houston, just park it on the street. They'll steal the paint.

I hear they dip Bugattis around Galveston.

In West Texas, the sandblasting is all natural.

I'm just trying to get my head around this: You called a business named "Strip Your Car," and they said they don't do cars? ¿Que?

I dont know if you have called them or if its in your range from Austin. There is A to Z Soda blasting in Keller 817 808 1061. I dont know of any dippers that will do vehicles or small jobs. The ones I know of will only do industrial jobs.

dculberson wrote: I'm just trying to get my head around this: You called a business named "Strip Your Car," and they said they don't do cars? ¿Que?

Tell me about it

Ok, I have emails or phone calls into all of the above places you guys mentioned. One blaster ballparked me at $1600-2000. Let's see what the others come back with.

Ok. Ballpark quotes so far:

austin-powder-coating.com (which is a called Accent Coating) quoted me around $1000 with a combination of sand, soda, and walnut shell media depending on the car. The guy spoke very little english so I couldn't really understand if that included any priming or coating, or if that included the frame or not. He said they had a forklift. I really hate language barriers.

Commercial services quoted around 1100-1150 with a plastic media. They don't offer any coating or priming and they require that you supply a rotisserie or dolly and they just do the body.

I hate language barriers too, and being mono-lingual. That's why im trying to learn spanish!

Good luck with the search. In all my years in San Antonio i never had cause to seek out that service so i dont know if anyone's doing it there.

If you want to drive to the metromess, these guys do soda_blasting. They are local to me (Justin, TX) and will be stripping the Puma shortly.

Someone to check with "locally" for a recommendation would be Jeff Lilly restorations out of San Antonio. Jeff has been very helpful -- answers email and does top notch restoration work. He should know of someone closer to help. Linky.

dculberson wrote: I'm just trying to get my head around this: You called a business named "Strip Your Car," and they said they don't do cars? ¿Que?

You should have just told them it was stolen...

One more floated in. JT at sodablastexpress/highpointpowdercoating uses soda blasting almost always. He can blast and coat a bare frame for about $650 and estimated $1450 for the body. We were mid-discussion about primer when I was interrupted by work. He does priming, but we didn't discuss how much.

eco-clean is on the north west metro area of Atlanta if anyone is in need. I have had them do a frame for a Spitfire and numerous gas tanks over the years.

curtis, i know this would only work for you as a last resort, but there's a place here in metro Detroit called International Paint Strip that can dip an entire car body -- their tank is 16' long so you'd have to remove the front clip of the gigantosaurus Bonnie, and they'd probably have to do the frame one end at a time. they also have an e-coat tank that is the same dimensions as the strip tank. i have used them for many strip projects, and the results are always great. i have not used their e-coat process, but they showed me all around and i saw a bunch of body panels they had done. looked just like pulling a NOS panel out of the wrapping.

Curtis-

I am looking to do the same kind of thing and am curious to know what you decided/ended up doing. How did it work out?

Thanks,

Jerry