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[Wittsend]

Isn't there a risk that methylene chloride or whatever the active component of decent strippers can under certain circumstances produce phosgene gas? - which can also come from good old carbon tetrachloride.

.... which is why you are advised to work outside, or at least with good ventilation.

You can't make an omelette without breaking eggs.
Likewise with paint stripping ... to get good results the chemicals are quite strong and vicious.
Which is the problem with many of today's so called strippers - they have been Health & Safety-ised to the point that they are useless 

People have different tolerances and skin sensitivity to the chemicals.
It makes sense to wear the best protection you can and avoid breathing the fumes 

Over the years I have tried many different paint strippers - all I tried were useless and no better than water.

IIRC it was genem who put us onto Synstryp 
 
It is the only product I've found that comes close to the Nitromors of yesteryear (in the days of my youth) before the Health & Safety got at it 


Many of the best active chemicals are very volatile - and so they are mixed into pasty things - wall paper paste is good.
This gets the active chemical onto the paint before it can evaporate away. Whilst wrapping in cling film works for small parts - not really practical for whole vehicles or the large panels thereof.



 

[samuria]

 just to say what super fast delivery of the synstrip. ordered yesterday at 8.30am
arrived at 11.30am today .

[oilstain]

I once new a chap with a new Alluminium Audi, he HOT jet washed it and some of the paint came off, would this work with a Land Rover

[Formerlyjeremy]

Having stripped and repainted a number of Land Rovers my experience is that many non-original paint jobs are not very well keyed to the original or metal.  I often think 'that doesn't look bad enough to strip' but when I start rubbing it down layers start to loft - so more or less all of it comes off.

However I did have to strip what I think was hammerite over a chromate (hence toxic) orange primer and had to slowly remove both coats with Synstrip followed with gunwash thinners to remove the last of the chromate.  I don't think there was any way that would have come off with a hotwash.

So yes it may work, may be extremely tedious or may leave you with bits that still have to be removed physically or by chemical means.  If its already flaking its more likely to work.

[oilstain]

My vote has to be soda blasting, leaves a perfect finish ready to etch, prime and paint. No nasty fumes, sludge on the floor or risks of chemical burns to the skin or in your eyes, and if done outside all the spent soda will just hose away
But not a cheap process if your paying to have it done and if it’s a DIY job you need all the gear

[Wittsend]

.... That's the thing - if you do restorations on a semi-professional basis then the blasting kit makes sense.

Most owners are in need of stripping panels perhaps only once, or maybe twice in their Land Rover life, and so a chemical stripper makes more sense

... or do what the army did/do and apply many coats, one on top of the last 

 

[samuria]

used the stripper yesterday, done four alloy wheels (pajero)..
took 2hrs from start to ready for painting.
brilliant stuff. thanks for the advise guys.....

[Wittsend]

... another satisfied customer 

[agg221]

I hate paint, both taking it off and putting it on.

I have used Synstryp with very limited success. I did a tailgate which took over 16hrs work to strip it, 8 coats per side, using over a litre. I am currently working on a door skin and am 6 coats in to one side which is still not done. The whole door skin, both sides, will take nearly 3 litres. In both cases the two later coats of paint came off quickly and easily but the original LR paint was highly resistant.

What I want from a paint stripper is either to turn the lot into a sticky mess, or to dis-bond it from the substrate, in either case leaving me with something that can be scraped away with a plastic scraper and then the residue removed either with a wipe, probably with solvent, or at the right stage can be brushed off with a nail brush. I found Synstryp left me with a softened paint compared with how hard it started off, but the effect was patch and limited. I still had to use a sharp steel scraper with the inevitable gouges where you get the angle just off perfect.

I have tried using it as per the directions, and extending the time (using cling-film) and shortening the time and using it as a wet scrub with a nylon brush. None of them made much difference.

By my estimate, stripping a vehicle back to bare metal with Synstryp at the rate I am going represents about 2000hrs work, using over 150 litres of Synstryp, so I will not be continuing and will switch to an alternative approach, probably involving having it wet blasted, soda blasted or CO2 blasted. Life's too short...

Alec

[Smokey 11a]

seen a  few people on google use caustic soda, one guy mixed it up
then added wallpaper paste to remove the old anti- fouling paint on
his boat. worked great, and saved him loads of money. as the anti-fouling
remover is about £45 a ltr

I'd not use Caustic soda on Alloy. they don't like each other.

[Wittsend]

2nd to Synstryp is hydraulic brake fluid 


I'm afraid that whatever paint system Land Rover used in the factory, it's a *&%^$ to remove.

 

[oilstain]

Some years ago I was given some stuff by a chap who worked in a local chemical factory, painted it on, it was nice and stickey, and in the morning the paint just fell off but it also took the galvernise of the cappings
they don't make it like they used to, but the smell hurt your eyes, and splashes burnt on the skin