Question: What are the pro's and con's of acid dipping a Mustang body? What goes into the process? How is it done? How much does it cost?</P>

 

Im not sure of the cost, but I know its the most expensive yet the bestway of removing paint and rust. The entire car must be disassmebled. The only thing that can be dipped is the body. Everyhting must be removed, wiring, plastic, rubber, glass, everything. Only the body can be dipped.

 

Another thing. I think its harder these daysto find a place where they do dipping. All because of those damn envronmentalists

 

I am in the process of researching this myself, for my own car. The names I have come up with so far are American Metal Clng Inc., in Toledo, OH (419)255-1828, and Mayflower Vehicle Systems in Norwalk, OH (419)668-8132. My understanding is that American Metal Clng Inc will dip the car to strip all the crap off, convert the rust to clean metal, and then they coat it with a temporary water-based coating to prevent it from rusting. At this point it would have to go to Mayflower Vehicle Systems, and they will rinse off the temporary coating, and phosphate coat the body, or E-coat the body (electrodesposition primer) which is what car companies are using on new cars. (It's the black primer that new panels have on them) If you do all of this, your car will probably never rust again! The downside is, it will eat away rot, so if there are some weak areas that you can poke through with a screwdriver now, they will likely be swiss cheese after it is dipped. Ideally, you would want to maybe replace any major panels first, that you know are bad, have it dipped and coated, and then do the smaller repairs that showed up after dipping, then do whatever body work is needed, put on a good Primer surfacer, block it, and paint it. I have no idea what this process costs yet, I just know of the places that do it. I had a good friend who works for PPG automotive refinish get me the info. The other downside for me anyway, is that it will take me about 11.5 hrs to get from CT to OH. Let me know how you make out if you decide to do it.</P>