We are going to start out by saying something very important. Dustless blasting is NOT how you want to strip a classic car. The whole “Dustless blasting” fad was created to sell people equipment, not innovate in the industry. The correct way to abrasive strip a car is to use fine grit at low pressure. It takes longer than regular blasting, but if you have a skilled blaster working on your car, you will have fantastic results often for a lower price. 

What to expect when hiring Horton Industrial for automotive sandblasting

What if my sheetmetal is very thin?

If you have a vehicle that has thin sheet metal, or fiberglass, the route to go would be soda blasting. Soda blasting will leave no profile. It will strip the paint off the car but it will not warp a panel. Soda blasting is significantly slower than traditional blasting. Usually if we need to soda blast, we will blast the exterior panels of the car only using soda, then we will blast the inside of the car, door jambs, underside and anything else using traditional media. This saves you money and gives you the best product. 

Why Not Dustless Blasting?

As a disclaimer, We DO use dustless blasting, just not in automotive sandblasting applications. Dustless blasting is great in certain applications to help with dust control, but automotive is NOT the place for it! As stated earlier, dustless blasting is mostly a fad that was created in order to sell equipment. It is NOT the recommended way to sandblast a car. The following reasons are why you should not use dustless blasting automotive applications:

-Leaves a muddy mess: Dustless blasting uses crushed glass and water to blast a surface. It sounds great because of the lack of dust, but it is absolutely the opposite of what you want when you are working on a classic car. Water causes corrosion and although dustless blasters often use a rust inhibitor, it only lasts 3 days and often causes more issues. The glass and water combination also gets into the nooks and crannies and make it nearly impossible to get the car completely clean of abrasive. 

-Rust inhibitor causes paint failure: The whole reason for blasting is to get the surface completely clean of contaminants. When you dustless blast, you are actually putting a new chemical on the surface. Many people have reported their paint jobs failing years after due to this chemical on the surface on your metal. 

-True dustless blasting is a myth: According to Graco, true dustless blasting is a myth. All methods of abrasive blasting still create dust. see more at their website Here.

-Dustless blasting is more expensive: Dustless blasting machines have to use more expensive blast medias in order to function correctly. Along with the added cost of the rust inhibitor, the price is going to be higher for a worse end product.