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Miles 9000 powder-coat remover

12K views 3 replies 2 participants last post by  bouckarooo 
#1 ·
I have some exhaust system parts (for my truck) I want coated with Swain's "white lightning" thermal coating. Problem is, the manifold and turbo are already powder-coated for appearance, and that powder-coat needs to come off 'em before they can be re-coated.

I don't want to have at them with a sandblaster because it would be too much of a PITA to mask off the mating surfaces. The other traditional option would be baking the powder-coat off in an industrial oven.

I ordered a container of powder-coat removal gel from mileschemicalsolutions.com, it arrived today so I gave it a try. You'll want to shake up the container (or use a stir-stick) as mine had separated. I daubed it on my manifold and waited a few hours.

Using a sponge, I wiped away most of the powder-coat on my first try, wringing it out in a bucket of water between passes -- it's a water-soluble, eco-friendly product. I'd say 85% of the powder-coat's gone now, not bad for a first shot at using this product. I think it's better to lay it on thick, otherwise it dries out before it's done its thing.

Mostly just nooks & crannies, plus welds, that I'll need to go back and re-do tomorrow. I'm going to try a detailing brush instead of a sponge, maybe some Scotch-Brite, may need the wire-wheel a little. This stuff works so well that you can see the gel in the container change color as you dip the paintbrush in it, it's already starting to work as soon as it's brushed on.

Next time, I'll pour a little gel out into another container, and dip my brush in that. When I'm done, my rinse bucket full of removed powder-coat gets poured down the drain. My initial impression, is this is the easiest finish-stripping product I've ever used, really no elbow grease involved, and this is to remove powder coat!

My cost to remove the powder-coat from a straight-six CTD exhaust manifold will come out to about $0.50 worth of product, a paint brush I had laying around which had seen better days, a sponge, and about an hour of manual labor. The cost of the full container of product is still less than half what I was quoted to bake off the coating, plus I don't have to drive two hours or ship the mani!
 
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#2 ·
I use acid, to remove old powder coating prior to re powder coating it.

Sulpheric acid, I think it is called chemclean, I would have to look at the bucket when I get home.


I hit the powder with a hand wire brush just to mar up the surface, then wipe it with a paint brush with chemclean stuff. Parts come out great!!

Often I just medi blast them but some parts you cannot do that with, or it would take to long and to messy.

Antoher thing that works great is pressurized steam. I have one few occasion taken parts to work, and used the steam wash gun on them, and it just does a wonderful job removing old powder coat, especially the industrial flame made coatings.
 
#3 · (Edited)
Some parts, you don't want to use sulfuric acid on due to the metals used. The Steed Speed billet mani I'm working on is 304 stainless with a brass turbo flange. H2SO4 (sulfuric acid) etches brass, and at certain concentrations and temperatures will also ruin 304 stainless. There are special grades of stainless designed for H2SO4.

Miles 9000 is all-metal safe. Also, it won't eat a hole in your clothing or skin, or damage your plumbing if you pour the waste down the drain. Unlike H2SO4, there's no skull-and-crossbones toxicity warning on the Miles 9000 label. I've gotten it on both my skin and clothing, when I used the detailing brush to scrub -- why I switched to a sponge. No big deal, really. The fumes will make you feel sick, why I've been using it outside, but the same goes for H2SO4.

Flashing back 25 years to my Chemistry degree, H2SO4 is best left to professionals with facilities which can handle it, and is best disposed of properly. Truly nasty stuff for the shade-tree mechanic to futz around with at home. Miles 9000, otoh, gets my recommendation (particularly the gel, which sticks to the part instead of dripping on the work surface) for being a mostly idiot-proof product.

Also, Miles 9000 contains no toxic Methylene Chloride, the old standby finish-stripping chemical. Idiot-proof is nice, but so is eco-friendly! :)
 
#4 ·
Hmmm, ill have to check that out, been using sulpheric acid for so long bith at work and home its never been an issue,although i would agree, it is best used by people whom know how to deal with it, or ugliness can result in multiple ways!


I wobder what the cost is this product in comparison to the chemclean acid product as that stuff is only 75 or so per five gallon pail.
 
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