[FWDLK] An important decision

[Vincent Van Humbeeck <vincent.vanhumbeeck@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi all,

My restoration project has started over a year ago and it has been slowly
progressing. But I am now at a crossroad for what concerns body's
preparation. I have dissasembled the car to a bare body and I have now two
options :

Option 1 - Take it to a local shop that will do mediablasting

I know a lot of people have warned me about mediablasting because if it is
wrongly applied, it can warp body panels. I talked to the guy about that
problem and he told me : "Of course, but you   just have to know some basic
things about mediablasting, like hitting the body at an open angle and not
staying at the same place too long, and everything's ok". He told me also
that he uses aluminum oxyde (corindon) which is a less abrasive than sand,
though someone else told me that that stuff was still too much abrasive for
a body panel. Anyway, he seems to be someone who knows the job, and someone
else confirmed he has great experience on the subject of mediablasting
(though largely on other jobs than cars). The bonus thing is that he can
apply a zinc coat after removing paint and rust, which is very close to
having a galvanized body.

Option 2 - Take it to a shop that removes paint and rust through acid baths

At first, I thought that such companies simply did not exist in northern
France or in Belgium, but it seems I was not looking hard enough, because I
found three of them within a 60 miles radius. The major problem is that none
seems to have a bath large enough for a '58 Plymouth body, but I'm working
on that. Those companies never treated a car body, so they are a little
dumbfounded with my demand : they could not even quote me a price for the
operation. The thing is that some of the guys I talked to told me that acid
treatment may not be the best thing for a car body, because if you do not
succed in neutralizing the acid in every part of the body after treatment,
the acid will oxydize your good steel (mainly in spot welds area or in any
crevices). I told them about the electrolytic process existing in the US,
but they all told me that they did not know a company doing such a thing in
France.

What would you choose between the two options ?

Vincent Van Humbeeck (France, 120 miles north of Paris)
'58 Plymouth Belvedere Sport Coupe

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