Dynabrade Dynazip paint removal airtool?

[ugly_90]

I've seen some reviews for the Snap-On Crud Thug, which seems quite close to its precursor, the Dynabrade Dynazip.

I had good results with the 3M Abrasive Scotch-Brite "Clean and Strip" wheel on layers of exmod paint, without disturbing original primer. It was slow though.

I have seen economy electric versions of these power stripping tools as well. When I used a regular wirebrush wheel on an electric drill, it would mostly just score the paint and throw broken wire around.

I wonder if this tool would be effective at aggressive removal of a paint layer without damaging aluminum. Perhaps it needs a test on steel first. Has anyone tried a comparable tool for this job?

[Matt H]

Chemical paint stripper is what I use. Sure it's a little messy but what paint removal process isn't? It is effective, you can find low odour options and it doesn't require cleaning dust from your vehicle, shop and body for the next hundred years.

My 2c.

[ugly_90]

I didn't find chemical stripper to be very effective on many layers of old army paint. I had about 1/8" of many layers of old paint on that RHD 90 when I bought it. It was ex-SPTA paint, then a few Batus colors, then finally a very dark blue adventure training vehicle (probably a donation to that program) before it was sold off.

I tried "Circa 1840" gentle furniture stripper, didn't work. I then used full strength Aircraft Stripper from NAPA, it took off the weak areas. The paint needed to be ground down, alternating with chem stripper.

It was a few gruelling 18-hour days of unskilled work to get that paint off. Living on sandwiches outdoors.

The new paint that I brushed and rolled on there adheres ok, even after a few years. It came off easy with chemical stripper too. That paint is Devguard. The easy removal of that paint makes it possible for anyone considering a later proper paint job.

[Matt H]

I literally cut/score the army paint with a combination of a wallpaper cutter and a box knife to allow the chemical stripper to do its thing. Give it time. There is some additional minor sanding and reapplications involved but this technique has worked well for me.

[camo388]

I found the easiest was a paint stripper heat gun.  The panel was out in the cold open air and I could carefully strip multi layers of army paint at 1 go.  With just the right pressure the original primer stayed on.  Too much pressure and down to bare metal.  I think the cold panel and the small local heat area was the trick.  It sure wasn't a fast job and the mess was outside so no clean up.

[mike.heathcote]

If you do test out the crud thug, please let us know how it goes - I'm curious to know! 

I've found several layers of aircraft paint stripper works really well to get rid of MOD paint, to the bare metal. 
I'm in the process of repainting my S2, and the 3M pads have been really effective for chewing through the paint and any old filler. 

My truck is a collection of dents, so in my case - I've stripped to the metal and will be priming the whole thing before spraying a single-stage and then clear. 

[ugly_90]

I think the Dynabrade at under $300 is closer to my budget than the nearly matching $500+ snapon. Bruce's heatgun method is promising. I have seen poor results and warped/melted aluminum with propane torch stripping. I think electric heatgun could also cause alloy problems at higher settings if not careful. I may have several surplus BATSUW fenders to donate out if anyone wants to experiment.

[camo388]

I used electric heat gun as propane has open flame and tended to burn rather than soften paint.  Was working on roof so some mild warping as I was going along but returned to correct shape when area cooled.  I was outside in fall weather so limited to heating small, 3 or 4 " areas at a time.  I like to think the cooler weather had positive effect to removing paint as could control depth of heat which separated heavy MOD paint without taking primer.  Haven't tried in summer to test this theory.