Raptor bed liner questions

[RaceDiagnostics]

Sometimes that's true but not always, experience tells you when it's best to get a pro .....

I bet you have done the job better than many so called pro's and now you know the job has been done right and not by someone who is just wanting to pump the jobs through as quickly as possible with the minimum of effort.

 

[Tinbasherdan]

It does come down to whether you have the time. I couldn’t spend two or three days at the minute doing something like that.

I'd sooner find the time than pay a fortune for something that has equal chances of being really good, or really poor

 

[slim_boy_fat]

....pay a fortune for something that has equal chances of being really good, or really poor

Yes, but wouldn't appropriate research in advance greatly reduce the chances of it turning out the be the latter?

 

[Tinbasherdan]

Yes, but wouldn't appropriate research in advance greatly reduce the chances of it turning out the be the latter?

Might be me being a tight northerner, but if I can do the job and be sure it's going to be right I'll find the time. Amount of times I've had work done by people that friends and family had raved about, that then turned out to be absolute garbage is unreal.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Might be me being a tight northerner, but if I can do the job and be sure it's going to be right I'll find the time. Amount of times I've had work done by people that friends and family had raved about, that then turned out to be absolute garbage is unreal.

Aye, the excuse "I don't have time" used by some isn't an excuse because they have the same amount of time available to them as everyone else.

That's not to be confused with proper time management as exercised by e.g. @bR39Da , where there's recognition that time available can be spent more profitably/usefully or simply enjoyably.

 

[RIP]

Aye, the excuse "I don't have time" used by some isn't an excuse because they have the same amount of time available to them as everyone else.

That's not to be confused with proper time management as exercised by e.g. @bR39Da , where there's recognition that time available can be spent more profitably/usefully or simply enjoyably.

It really depends on the job. I wish I'd taken my body shell to a pro for stripping, it just took me way too long and the pro was saying he gets every last bit of paint off, whereas I had limited visibility with trying to blast underneath a car. But other jobs I just don't trust the pros e.g. welding jobs.

 

[MG David]

I think the next time, if there is one, I do a full bare metal restoration of a car body I will send it to be dip stripped. The bare shells on display at the classic car show each year are impressive.

 

[RIP]

I think the next time, if there is one, I do a full bare metal restoration of a car body I will send it to be dip stripped. The bare shells on display at the classic car show each year are impressive.

Let us know how it gets on. I've been suspicious of dipping because there's quite a few horror stories about it. I've used dip stripping at home, on things like wishbones and trailing arms etc, same process of hot caustic soda and then acid, and never found it to give a clean enough surface for coating. It's ok in the places that you can reach with a pressure washer but not in cavities.

The other issue is with trapped fluids. My 1990's car has got places with sandwiched metal sheets, e.g. in the B pillars, there's an extra layer of structural steel for rollover protection. I'm pretty convinced that if caustic soda or acid get in there, it's never coming out. Older cars with simpler constuction might not have this problem though.

I'm going to go for soda blasting next time. I was quoted £1200. May seem a lot but it took me many days to strip my shell, seems like a bargain to me now that I've gone through doing it myself.