Soda Blasting experience anyone?

My friend recently restored an old Mini and we trailered the stripped body to a soda blaster. The cost ended up being twice what he was quoted as it required more sodablast material than the estimate. The surface finish after blasting was not as clean as I expected. It was not down to perfectly clean metal and required additional work in places. I was unimpressed by his experience and it left me not inclined to go in that direction again.

My Pantera was dipped. Car comes out really clean and is great foundation to work from. The challenge is that it really pays to know how the chassis is contructed as the dipping will remove protective coatings in body cavities that you may fail to respray with a protective coating and these areas will rust. One such area is the double panel behind the driver door jam in infront of the gas tank. In addition, a rotisserie would also help in getting your etching/primer/sealer coat into various nooks and crannies in the various frane rails and cavities.

Each has its benefits and disadvantages depending on your capabilities and knowledge.

I had my MG Blasted with crushed glass. It was ready to paint ar soon as it was blasted.

I had my Pantera soda blasted. While it removed the paint it still needed much work. The soda will not do anything to the metal. You can soda blast a carburetor for instance and it will not effect the markings or anything else. Pistons soda blasted and the serial numbers still un-effected. Things like carbs can be soda blasted without fully disassembling them then washed. There are some nice advantages to soda blasting.

This however is a disadvantage to car bodies. It does not remove all the rust. It leaves the surface smooth and un prepared for paint. If the car has ever been sand blasted, the adhesion of the paint after blasting will make it impossible for the soda to remove the paint. This shows the adhesion gained from roughing up the surface.

Soda also must be neutralized when done. Most wash the car down with water and specific chemicals to neutralize the soda. I chose to just re-sand blast it my self. Sand blasting only hits the area you can hit with a spray guy which is why I like blasting and I don't like hosing it down or dipping.

The following photos are taken after soda blasting and I spent a good portion of a summer blasting area by area then protecting that section with a hobby blaster. Notice how shiny the wheel wheels are prior to blasting. Blasting makes the perfect surface for paint to adhere to:

My two cents:

1. Sand blasting is great if you can stand the sand all over. It has fallen out of favor due to silicosis, a disease of the lungs brought on by breathing in the dust over time. I am very careful not to specify sand blasting in structural or waterproofing repair of buildings. "Media" blasting is a more benign term and allows for other media use. IIRC sand blasting can also warp body panels if not done correctly by a skilled operator.

2. I have heard that soda blasting isn't the best, but it is a bit less harsh and won't warp a body panel, as I understand it.

3. Dipping in chemical remover is fine as long as you can get all the chemical removed from the crevises and seams. I understand it can wreck a paint job if it comes out after the paint is done, and this was part of Richard Barkley's experience.

4. Blasting with other media such as walnut chips and plastic beads seem like they have their own pluses and minuses.

My point: everything has a plus and minus, and nothing's going to be pain free. I believe a very experienced restorer on this board sends his cars to the plastic media blaster regularly.

You must use protective gear if you sand blast yourself. I doubt few would. If you can find a professional that is best.

I have no problem blasting the body with a hobby blaster but only because this thing is so weak it took 3 months to get the car done; 3 months in 100 degree weather wearing suit, hood, goggles, respirator, ear plugs, rubber gloves, etc. All this AFTER the paint was removed. Soooo...Point being my blast pretty weak.





The right sand blaster CAN do body panels without damage but they are getting harder to find. What we have locally is the blasting operator being a low paying position with high turn over. I wouldn't let them do body panels.

It's a tough call. I had best luck with glass as media. A media which is not as rough does not rough up the metal enough.

I just can't get into dipping a uni body car. I have heard too many stories of guys cars rotting from inside out and thinks like stripper which was suppose to be neutralized rolling out across a body panel on first the first drive!

This is a Jeepster I am helping a friend with and we are only doing non body parts: