Expert: William Forster - 2/16/2009

Question
i have a 94 chev silverado shortbox step side, and the box is mint except for under front steps. i have worked with fibreglass before but never stripped the paint on an entire area before. once into it, it became clear that sanding it was a long process and power sanding started chewing into the fibreglass. i can fix what ive damaged as i have been restoring the truck for years. i was wondering if there was an easier way to strip the paint. the box is anything but straight, contouring out with many rounded directions. should i be looking at a marine paint remover? any hints or tips on repair and removal would be appreciated. i'm more a metal guy but not afraid to try, and not afraid to screw it up.

Answer
Gerald, this is why paint jobs cost so much money. They are labor intensive, and there is really no short cut here. You can yank parts off and strip them, but stripper is messy, nasty business. It also eats rubber and plastic parts, so I find it's easier to sand strip in most cases- with the exception of the hood, and maybe the bed, if you're careful. It seems to want to ooze into places you don't want it to go, and even when you rinse it with gallons of water, the contaminated water can pool, the water evaporate, and eventually the stripper will start stripping again. It's how acid rain works- the water evaporates, and the pollutant becomes more concentrated, untill it burns in. As far as the rockers, fiberglass is no way to repair rust, under any circumstance. Rockers are bought cheaply, and aren't horrible to install. They will outlast a fiberglass repair by no less than 3 years. There is a bok called how to restore your Chevy truck- buy it. Bill