DeTomaso Mailing List: March 2001, Message #41

Aircraft Stripper brand is an excellent paint stripper. It will not remove Bondo unless you use multiple applications- it only slightly softens it. Just be careful scraping over the filler and it'll be fine. I wouldn't strip all the way to the edge of door or hood/deck panels either because strippers tend to migrate around the corners and under the panel/frame junction. Then months after you repaint, it seeps back out... Alternatives are media-blasting (NOT sand-it heats the panels & warps them, and glass beads create dust that blows back out of crevices during paint spraying) or sanding with power tools. Painted mine myself- and swore I'd never do that again. Materials cost was over $1000 in 1989 and it took 14 months of slave-labor... Pay someone what its worth- my 2 cents. J Deyke