Car Acid Dipping Cost? In Texas?

plastic media is fine for paint removal,but if your trying to get rid of rust, it wont do. sand blasting is great for rust on exterior and interior , but wont get into seams, if the car isnt a rat and you believe the seams to be clean enough to leave alone, then i would,nt acid dip.other wise dip it and find and fix all the problems, do your research with a few pro shops about dipping and decide from there. a place here in cleveland ,ohio charges 1200.00 for a 37 chevy cab and 2 doors to be dipped, expensive but they get all the rust. thanks

 

I had my 53 Ford truck hood done, it wasn't rusted out but i had it dipped to get rid of any surface rust.
Now a few years later after being painted the front edge is all bubbling, i suspect the chemicals between the layers.

 

TomP64- Yeah I asked the guy about the paint bubbling thing. He told me that this was a left over from the days when acid was used in the first step of the process. Apparently that particular acid "activates the metal" and the symptoms you describe where then possible. With the new "greener" solution that they use these days, he claimed that this possibility no longer applies.

Thanks,

Jerry

 

Hi John- Yeah that is what these folk claim too, that the plastic media won't do anything for the rust. They offered a second step using a different media (forget what it is now) that would remove rust.

I'm still leaning towards the significantly more expensive dipping for the primary reason that my vehicle has a TON of seam sealer all over it. I can either remove it myself by hand or just let the dipping take care of it.

Thanks,

Jerry

 

Jerry,
The price I paid was for the cab only. I'll probably do the fenders and bed myself since they are pretty simple without many complicated seams or hard to get to nooks and cranies. I haven't made up my mind about the hood and doors. I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. I'm working on other stuff now, I'll get back on the pickup when I get the 55 finished.
Good luck on your build, no matter how you strip it!
Larry T

 

There used to be a place in Detroit area that did it. A guy I knew in the Model T club took some parts there. Came out looking like new. I think much of the result depends on the quality of the part going in the tank.

 

Y'all-

Well I dropped off my two front doors at the Metal Rehab workshop this past Friday. My vehicle isn't quite ready to go just yet but I thought I'd see what kind of work they do with the doors first. Kinda like a litmus test of sorts.

I'm hoping that their work is better than their business skills, as that aspect of our arrangement is off to a rough start. I've kept the emails as a record and went back to review them last night. I called and received a quote in March, telling them that I wouldn't be able to make it up there (where "there" == Arlington and I'm in Austin) until May at the earliest. I was told that the cost for the processing was $160 and if I wanted the primering job it was $110. No mention of a time limitation was made and they seemed glad to have the advanced notice because they are usually slammed with folk wanting stuff turned around in rather short timeframes.

As it turned out I couldn't make it until June. About a week and a half prior to making the trek I called and emailed again to verify the quoted prices. Their costs had risen WRT the primer work, from $110 to $150. I asked what they'd do regarding my quote. They said that my initial quote was only good for 30 days and that they told me that when the quote was given. Hah! Not even. I'd have remembered if they told me that and it certainly wasn't in any of the emails that they sent to me. I mentioned this to them and they replied that they'd try to work with me on it. I was su****ious but seeing as how there is no equivalent in Austin and I couldn't find anything in Houston, I had little choice. Sure enough, when I showed up, no attempt was made to work with me on the quote discrepancy and I was charged the full price.

Then to boot, they require/request that you pay 50% of the cost up-front prior to any work being done. In a way I can kinda understand that, but that is the type of thing that should be made known to all customers before those customers show up to drop off their hardware. I felt unprepared but fortunately they take a card so it worked out.

BTW, I didn't make a fuss over any of this, I just paid the 50% and left. However I am making a report of this (to include this thread) so that others can have the warning/notice that they should have prior to using these services. It's a notice that I should have had as well and would have appreciated knowing.

We'll see how the technical aspect of the arrangement works out in about 3 - 6 weeks, as that was the time estimate that they gave me.

Thanks,

Jerry

 

I blast with sand, beads and soda. Each has its uses on different surfaces.
Chemical dips are good if the metal is sealed afterwards. However there are hidden cavities (rocker panels, air plenums and door hinge areas) that cannot be cleaned and sealed unless the panels are opened. I recently finished a redo on an o/t Camaro that had been "restored" twice before. When I opened up the door hinge area there was heavy rusting with residual original color paint. Repaired the metal and epoxy primed, then painted it, then undercoated it....
I would look into soda blasting the car on a rotisserie and get it epoxy primed at the same time. If you have any rot, open up the area to allow cleaning.

 

Hi-

Thank you for the feedback regarding blasting. I would have preferred to go with that actually, as there are local companies that provide that service; companies that have good reputations as well.

Unfortunately my vehicle has enough seam sealer on it to choke a billy goat. In certain areas it is caked on quite thickly, I mean judicious, liberal application was the order of the day with the previous owners. When I showed pictures of that to the media blasters they told me that their media would just bounce off of it and so I'd have to remove that myself. There is so much of it that it would literally add months if not a year or so to my restoration time (since I cannot go at it on a full-time basis). So dipping seemed my only real option. Again, unfortunately, as the dipping is considerably more expensive.

Regarding the sealing after dipping, I had a serious concern about that and so I will be going with the primering job afterwards. I inquired about their procedure when applying primer and was told that they do it immediately after dipping the car and that they have special equipment that travels down rocker panels and inside the frame rails to prime the inside of those too. It sounded like a hollow tube from which the primer is applied via holes/nozzles in that tube. I was also told that they rotate the tube as they are spraying in those cavities to get full 360-degree coverage inside. ***uming that is the case - and I'll verify it when I retrieve my stuff - that seemed like adequate coverage to me, which is an additional reason that I decided to go this route.

The overall cost is just a bit high as I mentioned and the policies and procedures of Metal Rehab thus far don't help cushion that blow.

Jerry

 

After looking at all the different alternatives I had Metal Rehab do my cab and doors and then primer everything about 3 years ago and the results were excellent. There has been no problem with paint etc. I don't remember any problems with costs so I can't speak to that but otherwise I think you made a good choice, I hope yours goes as smooth as mine did.

 

Y'all-

I received this via PM, thought I'd share my response with the cl***:

Yeah, I was happy with Metal Rehab. During the course of piece-mealing my panels to them (which they were willing to do) they moved from Arlington to South Fort Worth, which is naturally better for me 'cause I travel from Austin to drop my stuff off and pick it up. Their pricing was reasonable, I think the quotes I mentioned before were accurate. I haven't given them any work in about a year now, so admittedly I don't know exactly what is happening with them now. I presume that they're still in business doing their thing. The body of my project still needs dipping actually and I plan to utilize them for that work, but after the divorce I'm wanting to pay things down a bit before I drop any more cash into my project cars. Life stuff.

As for local media blasting companies, I have used two. One is Commercial Services off of Howard near 35. The other is High Point Powdercoating which is WAY North off of 183 in Georgetown/Liberty Hill. I live North so it wasn't bad for me. Both places did a good job, no complaints either way really.

No shops for me. Will do all of the bodywork and painting myself.

Good luck with your project and let me know how it goes for you, whatever you end up doing.

 

Revisiting this -> Anyone got references on local shops?

 

Metal Rehab has closed its doors, couldn't find anyone who knew if they had moved from their location near Everman Parkway in Fort Worth or completely closed but their website is down and the phone number is disconnected so I ***ume they are gone. Sorry to see them go, did a good job on my pick-up and both my son and I were planning to use them on current projects.

 

Well, after almost 1.5 years I finally recovered my QP that was at metal rehab when they filed for bankruptcy . Funny when dropped off they never bothered too mention closing ..
Surprised the amount of business they had . Dosent seem to be any compe***ion either . Causing fits for engine builders too . O'well .