American Dry Stripping in Milford, Connecticut uses PLASTI-GRIT® Plastic Blast Media to strip paint and coatings from cars, including exotic and classic car restoration.
This interview with Roger Van Brussel, owner of American Dry Stripping, reviews the unique advantages of stripping paint and coatings with plastic blast media.
Question: American Dry Stripping uses PLASTI-GRIT® Plastic Blast Media from Composition Materials. How long has your company been using plastic blast media?
Roger: We’ve been using plastic media for about 25 years.
Question: What blast jobs do you use Plastic Blast Media for?
Roger: Plastic Media, when compared to other abrasive medias, is the most effective remover of paint or powder coatings from any substrate. We’ve tried other media types, but none of them are as effective as plastic media at removing coatings. Plastic media blasting is our first step in removing paint from any car. At American Dry Stripping, the first step in the coating removal process for cars or other hard surface substrates is in the plastic media blasting booth.
Question: Are there particular metals or substrates for which plastic blast media is uniquely preferred compared to other blasting materials?
Roger: We never strip paint from the fiberglass body of a Corvette with anything other than plastic media. We remove the paint but make sure we preserve the gel coat. We would never be able to use another media except plastic to do that because it would go right through the Corvette gel coat, right through the fiberglass.
Roger: You can use plastic blast media to effectively remove paint from carbon fiber parts or the composite and rubberized bumpers of a lot of the newer cars. Plastic media grit pulverizes easily and has a lower point of impact heat profile. These are key advantages of using plastic media. In the hands of an experienced operator, plastic media blasting efficiently strips paint without warping the car skin or other smaller gauge hard surfaces.
Question: Finally, what are some of the most interesting cars you have stripped with Plasti-Grit for classic car or race car restoration work?
Roger: It is hard to get past the Corvette: stunning early design with the 60’s Sting Ray, 63′ split window and 327 – 427 HP power plants. That said, all cars that come to the shop, no matter if they are European Exotic or American Muscle Car, always see PLASTI-GRIT® first. Our cars never leave the shop without it!