[R100RT]

Bill,
Sand blasting is a last resort measure. Me thinks the shop is trying to get more $. I can understand that they do not want to send out bad work and that prep is THE most important part of painting but.. I have never sand blasted a car for surface rust.
If Slime was my car, I would sand it down to metal using a DA. Figure about 30 hours to do this right. 30 hrs X $65/hr is about $1,950 in extra labor.
I would fix the dents, shoot the car with etching primer, fix the dents, primer, guide coat and go for it.

If your car has typical mustang rust, things wil show up when the car is sanded, that will need to be addressed.

 

[scottstang]

The one day shops do a pretty good job for the money especially if you do a majority of the prep work yourself. Pull the bumpers, trim etc. and do as much bodywork as you are capable of or are willing to tackle.

Scott

 

[Guest]

I have had my buddy send cars to be media blasted and they run 1 inch tape acrossed all seams and panel gaps. Mask the windows with thick plastic and blast just the out-side of the car. Call the first shop and see if this is a ok with them and get prices from a reputable local blasting company. I was told the GTO that i was looking at only cost between $500 - $700 to blast the outside and they were very careful no warpage. It looked good and they just feathered the areas where the tape was.

 

[L20068]

I had Clunker painted at Maaco 2 years ago for $400 and it STILL looks great. It's chipping in a couple areas and it won't last much longer, but when I tell people Maaco painted my car, they can't believe it.

Paint care is more important than who painted your car. I wash, polish, and wax Clunker (yes, 3 steps) EVERY week and I've done so since I got the car painted. For comparison, a buddy of mine had his car painted at a slightly higher grade shop than Maaco at a cost of $1,100 around August of 2001 and it's already chipping and fading because he never washes or waxes/polishes it. Tsk, tsk...

I agree with everyone else though, remove ALL the trim you can.

 

[66coupe289]

Since you have your car basically stripped of trim, why not chemical strip? 2-3 gallons of aircraft paint remover will do the trick. You will need a shady area and some GOOD chemical resistant gloves. Figure on a weekend to strip her clean.

Figure on $120 + your time.

 

[fordnut]

I agree with 66Coupe. Why won't the first shop chemical strip the car. That is normal practice, and he would be able to see anything that is in need of repair. Then, he could spot blast anything that looks bad....sounds like he is just looking for more cash out of the job.....

 

[sixtynine500]

you know i've been in the bodyshop bussiness for almost 30 yrs,this is new one for me.it chaps my a!## when shops pull this kinda stuff. first there is 2 kinds of rust,one comes from the inside out,its bad news,2nd is surface rust,it can rust for years and not go through the metal.[just look at a 40 ford thats sat out for 50 years, the top won't be rusted through]. now if you have surface rust it's visible and the estimater should have prepared in his est.to surface prep the car and thats the end of story.if you have a orig. paint car there is no surface rust lurking under the paint[just take a pc. of sandpaper pick a spot and sand the paint, i'll bet you won't find surface rust!]if i was you i wouldn't let these guys touch my car and do just the bodywork because there just trying to get in your pocket a little deeper and that will give them the chance to do it.plus if something doesn't work out when it's painted they will blame the other guy and you'll be stuck holding the bag.i know it would be hard to do but if you have a good car with orig. paint it's worth getting done right. i'd put the lights,handles and whatever else back on the car and i'd go shopping for a shop,go down sat. night to where all the cars hang out and talk around and see if you can find somebody to recommend some one they have used.i'm just curious but how much was the bid to do your car?good luck it will all be worth it in the end.

 

[Art]

I find that most really good body shops don't want to paint over really old finishes or suspected bad repair. The first shop sounds like where you will get your quality and long-lasting paint job that will satisfy you....

See if you could do the stripping yourself and help on the cost, contact a plastic or soda media blaster in your area and get an estimate. Get several references from each body shop, talk to restoration guys, not collision specialists. Around here, it's around $600 to have a car soda blasted.

As always, the rule of 20 applies.