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!
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!