well. im taylor, 18 years old and have been in love with caprice wagons for several years. finally bought one and im pickin it up tonight . 95 caprice wagon with 67,000 miles dark blue with wood. love it! but i do want to de-wood it and make it an ss. any help on de-wooding it would be greatly appreciated!
Welcome Taylor! Good for you with your ride. Mine is a 1979. The wood vinyl was really bad, so I had to remove it, fix the chips in the paint and then reinstall it. I tried 3M pinstripe remover at $33 per quart. Mine was so cooked on after 28 years, that the little patch I did get off with the 3M stuff was useless and a huge amount of work. If yours was in the sun, day in and day out, that won't do it. If it was garaged, it might work, but it'll be expensive, probably $200 or more in 3M's remover, plus, you'll still have to fix the chips and dents that the woodgrain hides. Here's what I did: I bought 3 quarts of Lepage's SuperStrippa (regular, heavy body paint stripper) You might need 4 or 5, because its a much bigger wagon. I bought 2 boxes of surgical gloves (Paint stripper is hydrochloric acid, and it DOES EAT SKIN) Change often. Different sized bondo spatulas (soft and flexible) One variety pack will do. A bunch of soft clean rags (an old flannel sheet?) 2 buckets of lukewarm water. One bucket too wipe off the spatulas, one for your hands if the Stripper gets on your hands or face (it can splash). A couple cheap old long (2" bristles or more) by about 2 inches wide. Heave them when you're done. A short stool. A gallon of Mineral Spirits. Don't use acetone or lacquer thinners, because your paint will get hurt. A few brewskies or cold sodas will help too. The Stripper does emit gasses, so a few guzzles of beer or soda is good to have handy. Take all the trim around the woodgrain off. It will seep in behind and can eat your paint. Any side lenses have to come off as well. Pour the stripper on your brush, and spread it on to really 'wet' the vinyl, on an area that's no more than 15" X 15". Do it in the shade and out of the wind. It dries fairly fast (5 minutes or so). You don't want it to dry, you want it bubble up the vinyl. The woodgrain vinyl is made of 3 layers. - the adhesive backing is usually a light cream colour to give the final grain some highlights. - the brown layer with darker features is usually a photo finished layer - the clear coat layer is to protect it from water, waxes, roadsalt, etc. The first top layers come off as normal paint would. The adhesive layer might leave adhesive in some spots. You can use Mineral spirits to rub it off, but the Stripper does a cleaner job of getting it off. If you see your paint colour taking a hit from the Stripper, use Mineral spirits. Change Gloves Often!!! I've got burns from it. It's brutal stuff. Oh yeah, and Welcome to the garage!
No, it doesn't attack the lacquer-based paint, unless you leave it too long. You should wipe each finished 'square' after you're done with it. You'll have to overlap the first/previous 'square' to do the next one, by about an inch or so. The factories use ovens to put it on, which is why you use a heat gun when you install it at home. There aren't many alternative ways to get it off.
Welcome! The wood vinyl on your car should be easy to remove by hand. Find a peeling edge inside the door jamb and gently start to lift it away from the body. Using a hair dryer on high or a heat gun on the lowest setting will help too. Let the car sit in the sun as you work, even if you have to move the car to keep it in the sun the natural heat does wonders. I will look for some more specific answers for how to remove the trim without damaging it and let you know how to do that as well. Please don't just rip the trim off the car and throw it away, no one makes reproduction trim for these cars and finding a good set is getting harder and harder. Welcome and enjoy the forum.
I wondered about that on younger cars. Is GM's that easy to do? Mine cooked in the Mexican sun for 28 years. Nothing would peel off.
welcome i too plan on stripping mine for a more sleek look what color are you thinking of? i'm considering AMC big bad orange leaving the roof white.
oh im just gunna leave it the stock dark blue.. i WANT ss wheels. haha but ill settle for a little bit with the 17's i have in my garage. thanks for all the help guys
