I am looking to have my bay sand blasted has anyone had this done? Any idea of cost ? Where is good to take it I am based in Cambridgeshire
The price will be very variable depending on where you go ....couldnt give a figure ...but some things to consider- Sand blasting can casue heat on thin panels if not worked over quickly - check with who you go to that they consider this and will take it into account Be warned you may have less bus than when you took it in Are you having inside and out? .....this may add to cost are you getting the underside done? .....the only place really worth getting done IMHO (bodywork you can flat down with a DA sander) - If getting the underside done, consider how will they roll it over? Soda blasting is the rolls royce of blasting, doesnt damage the metal or other parts like harsh grit blasting can If you are having the underside done, blasting wont remove anything sticky, wont necessarily remove all under body protection/coatings (some absorb the impact of grit and remain stuck to the bus) ....so you may get the bus back with some of the original sealer still on the bus Mobile blasters may be cheaper ......but make a hell of a mess at your home/garage bare metal will rust before your eyes - even the salt from your hands can start it off, only go back to bare metal if you can protect it straight away (most primers/acid etches are porus BTW and wont stop rust on their own) You will probably be finding little bits of grit for years to come ....even though you thought you had hoovered out the last of it shot can bounce around corners to strip to bare metal, you cant always reach the same areas with a spray gun/paint shot/grit can get into seals/bearings etc. .....consider how you will protect all the running gear if you havent gone back to a bare shell ....that said, it is a quick way of getting rid of the rust .....I spent months under mine with a wire brush in a drill or grinder If you can afford it, getting the bus dipped and electrophloretically plated straight after is the best thing to do IMHO
Put it this way - they sand blasted my old bumper - the ones you need a 5 pound hammer to dent - and went right through in a few places. Admittedly it was rusty, but they had blasted the Marmite out of them - funnily they were booked to do my westy roof which was cancelled. Soda blasting or some other kinder media is the way forward - but check the pedigree of the guy doing it as the guys I used usually worked on electricity pilons and the like.
@Moons your reasonable man quote was that something you made up or the words of someone else? Found it
If you must blast then soda is the way, far better if you can find someone with a dip tank which is big enough to take the entire vehicle in one hit as @Diddymen said
should have meantioned if not obvious that the heat caused from blasting will cause the flat panels to warp/buckle ....which is why you want to go for some one with experience of vehicle blasting you could always give it a go your self .....I think @physiopro did his ....if you do have a look into pressure pot sand blasters (rather than a gravity fed gun)
Blimey - can you imagine how dangerous I'd be if I was that clever! George Bernard Shaw - whilst I hate motivational quotes I am currently working with people that have been doing pretty much the same thing for 20+ years in an industry mostly unchanged for 100 years. I need all the ammo I can get.
http://www.absblasting.co.uk these guys do a good job and are very sympathetic about panel warping ect. He quoted me around the £1500 to sandblast inside and out, including jigging the van to do the underside too.
soda blasting isn't really any good for rust, it s good for pulling paint of but not much else, its to gentle, as icepug says £1500-2500 I would say is what you would expect to pay for a good blaster to do it using the right equipment. I have seen/ been involved in 2 vehicle being blasted correctly , both over 100k an both case back as straight as they went it, a sand down with a DA sander will get rid of some rust but not deep stuff which will just come back through
I had the underneath, engine bay and inside the rear vents done on my old van, cost £300-00 including priming, I was well pleased. this to this to this For £300 and he came to me
I fully blasted my bus and my advice would be don't blast off good paint, you'll never get a better base to work from. You will never paint all the areas the blasting strips. Just blast the bad areas and the difficult bits to prep.
I dipped mine and when it came back there was not so much left!! if i was you i would sand blast the underside and rusty parts - and all good areas soda blast
Wow I see what you mean, my worry is that I am going to spend a load of cash making it look lovely only to see rust again :-(
Sorry didn't sandblast! Cut out any serious rust and rubbed/ground back then treated the rest! There are solutions out there that change the composition of rust back into a metal base but more importantly you must, as Diddyman says, cover up and seal any exposed material as it will start rusting straight away. Even though I went to great lengths to cut/grind/rub any rust out, I have no doubt there will be some coming back but my intention is to re waxoil yearly and re under seal! Also any surface rust that appears anywhere will be taken back to bare metal ground out and re painted yearly! Any that is spotted (none yet as you would expect!) will be dried thoroughly then waxoiled to hopefully create a seal and stop further rusting! After all of that I still expect some rust to return! I did my resto in a damp garage! The respray was done professionally but even so I believe rightly or wrongly it is impossible to stop the rot so save your money, get rid of as much rust as you can, treat what you can't! Then spend your money on attacking any rust as soon as it shows itself!
Ok yeah I know it's going to come back at some point but trying to prolong it. Ok maybe just cut and replace and take back to bare metal. I had started doing that, what replacement panels are people using as mine has been repaired before. The panels that were repaired are what's rotted :-(
you can also get the shell baked to remove the paint and fillers, it then get treated to stop rusting...
The difference between genuine and repro in quality of fit, weight and subsequently longevity is massive! Unfortunately also is the price but as the saying goes "you gets what you pays for" Genuine every time for me! I looked at repro front step and wheel arch for less than £100:00 or genuine for about £250.0 but the genuine was at least twice as heavy! I reckon the repro would bend if a big guy stood on it getting I to the van!!
