soda blasting , has anyone had this done to strip thier cars down to metal -- the idea is that it doesn't heat up the netal and possibly distort it .. also doesn't blast right through bondo so it can be dealt with on a area by area basis .

any thoughts , expirances and what did it cost you ?

No personal expierance with soda blasting, but I hear that "it does a damn nice job". If you proceed with the project, let me know how it turn out.

PICS!

I plan to do it.. the place I talked to said bondo goes pretty fast. Seam sealer does not, so any you want removed needs to be done before they get it. Same with tar undercoating. He said it's springy and slows them down alot. It's hourly, so the longer it takes them, the more it costs.

I am in the process of finishing body work, which includes removing the water trapping foam in the corners of the rear fenders. It's covered with seam sealer, so I doubt it would be touched by the soda blasting. If going to the trouble of soda blasting, I'd suggest losing that foam.

It's the way to go.

Check with William Harris here on the board.

so what are they saying is teh hourly rate for the soda blasting ?

QUOTE (sk8kat1 @ Jan 18 2006, 03:24 PM)

so what are they saying is teh hourly rate for the soda blasting ?

He didn't give me a specific rate, but estimated about $600-$700 for a small car with no undercoating. That was a year ago, so prices may have gone up.

QUOTE (sk8kat1 @ Jan 18 2006, 03:24 PM)

so what are they saying is teh hourly rate for the soda blasting ?

considering you are in another state and market, you'd be wise to look in the yellow pages for your real prices and not base the job from quotes in a totally different location

at a minimum, figure a few hours at $50 an hour, of course there could be a minimum charge as well.......

Please o please god lemme tell you a few things about soda blasting.
We did it for a few years and blasted several hundred truck chassis.
It does work, it works well.
BUT.
1.It doesn't leave a profile on the metal, it will be slick.
2. Metal ready or some other etcher will need to be used.
3. Its a bitch to clean-wash-blow out all the unseen bits in the body.
4. That Sheet will bleed out off that crevase or seam untill it is gone.
5. The only way we found to control the bleed was to bath the body in vineger. We bought vinegar in 55 gal drums.
6.It will not remove crappy body work or putty or seam sealer.
I would however suggest WALNUT SHELL or Plastic.
That is the best process as we see it.
Brotherbob

is there the risk of metal distortion from overheating with either the walnut or the plastic ?

I emailed a place locally here in Northern Virginia - they quoted me $1000 to blast the exterior of my 914 and epoxy prime it - this was a quote via email. This shop also told me that heat is not an issue and the metal of a car varies much more just sitting in the sun - any potential metal warpage comes from the pending of the blast material against the metal and they said this can happen with any blast material. Jim

QUOTE

any potential metal warpage comes from the pending of the blast material against the metal and they said this can happen with any blast material

Woiiid

There's been a good discussion of media blasting going on here.

QUOTE (sk8kat1 @ Jan 18 2006, 06:35 PM)

is there the risk of metal distortion from overheating with either the walnut or the plastic ?

I have been reading up on blasting on the autobody 101 web site. Their opinion is that most home use compressors will not generate enough presure to create enough heat to result in warpage.

Not saying it can't happen but in general it won't happen.

That being said, has anyone tried to use one of these cheap blasters for small areas?

I had my 914-6 tub soda blasted about two years ago. I have some pics and will try to post tomorrow. I think I spent $1000 tub only. We removed most of the undercoating and seam sealer but the origional paint an undercoat were not all removed. Last month I had the remainder of the tub and the other parts "media blasted" walnut shells I think. I worked with the soda blaster and we worked all day and used anout 250 Lbs of soda. I did not see the media work, only the result . Oh ya the media did remove the bondo, soda would only if we really worked at it.