Horrible Paint job, and how to proceed?

[LagunaGlide]

My '70 has been resprayed I would guess at least 3 times. The top layer on the truck now is absolute crap. It is chipping, cracking, and flaking away, let alone the worst of the colors below. Today I tried Easy Off, and it was a pretty pointless venture.

Bottom line is, I want at the very least the top coat and it's primer gone. I would really like to get it back down to the original color and go from there. If the truck is going to be painted again it's all going to have to come off anyhow.

I can fairly easily take a razorblade and cut down to what I believe is a layer of primer (eggshell color) on top of the original paint. That eggshell colored layer is difficult to get under without taking up what is under it.

I don't know a ton about paint, and have thought about continuing to remove as much as possible with the razor, but can't help but wonder if a wet sanding will be faster, or how coarse of a grit I can use to make the process faster.

The pics below show the layers.

[notsolo]

I had a similar problem, top coat was a cheap redo...It was over a layer of spray on filler which was almond color, don't know if that is what you have.... I sanded most of it off and sprayed epoxy primer over everything. You will have to experiment with sand paper grit and what takes it off the best. Try dry sanding with 220. If that works to get most of it off ( leave some ) then wet sand with 320, to get the rest.....wear a mask or respirator...unknown paint Bad.

[mongocanfly]

as bad as this sounds..youd be far ahead of the game to take it down to bare metal and start over...very difficult trying to remove a layer of paint and not disturb whats under it...and then there is the unknown factor...whats under it may not be worth trying to save

[my67c20]

No pics attached. However, best to sand it down with some 120 grit and feather it out until you have a relatively smooth surface. Spray it a with a few coats of self etching epoxy primer, which will seal the surface so no reactions happen. Sand again with some 220 to level out the primer. Fog it with a contrasting primer, then sand with some 320 grit. This will show you the areas that need special attention. Once you have it all happy with the 320, spray your single stage and then wet sand from there. Watch your edges and always sand with a block to keep a flat sanding pad.

[MDPotter]

It sounds like you need to strip it and start fresh. 3 paint jobs is too much and trying to sand through one or two layers is a big gamble. Original paint is not a good foundation as old enamel and lacquer can't hold up to the solvents used in modern paint.

There are a few options for stripping a vehicle: sandblasting, sanding, and chemicals. You can use a heat gun and a razor blade to take off as much as you can and then you can either use a tool like the Eastwood SCT or take it to a sandblaster. Sandblasting is the best prep but adds up and don't let an inexperienced blaster work on big flat panels because they can be warped.

Whichever route you choose, you can't go wrong with bare steel followed by epoxy primer, 2K primer, sealer, then base/clear or single stage. I would recommend as much SPI products as possible.

[SunSoaked]

[LagunaGlide]

Originally Posted by SunSoaked

There are pics, but apparently sometimes they work on this site and sometimes not

[truckster]

Originally Posted by LagunaGlide

There are pics, but apparently sometimes they work on this site and sometimes not

You might need to resize your pictures.

[LagunaGlide]

Originally Posted by truckster

You might need to resize your pictures.

Ya I dunno. I use Google photos, and it seems sometimes it works and others not so much. I'll see what I can do

[LagunaGlide]

I attached a few without google

[my kids toy]

remove it with 180 grit on a DA If your not looking for a show quality paint job and want to skip steps for less work spray it with eastwoods epoxy primer and then sand with 320 then paint and clear, I did my fire wall and underside of the cab this way and it looks just as good as the taking all the steps of sanding with 220 and wet sanding with 400