CARS AND RESTORATION
Paint stripping for car panels and parts in Brisbane
Blasting a panel puts heat and grit into it; a chemical strip leaves residue in the seams to come back through the paint. The laser does neither. It takes the paint, the primer, the filler and the rust off in order, at a setting checked on a small area first, and leaves flat, dry, bare metal that can go straight to primer. We’re car people. This is the job we started the business for.
What comes off
- Paint, clear coat and primer, one respray or six
- Powder coat off wheels, brackets and trim
- Underseal, seam sealer and sound deadening
- Body filler and old repairs, so you can see what’s under them
- Rust in the seams, sills and floors
What we do it on
- Doors, guards, bonnets, boot lids and roof skins
- Shells, floors and firewalls, on the rotisserie or the trolley
- Chassis, subframes, crossmembers and suspension arms
- Wheels, hubs, calipers and brackets
- Aluminium, brass and stainless trim
Fibreglass and composite panels depend on the paint system and the gelcoat. Send a photo before you assume.
How we do it
Every panel gets a small test area first, so the setting is right for that metal and that paint before we do the rest. The laser is set to take the layer and stop at the metal, so thin sheet comes out flat and aluminium comes out unmarked. Nothing is driven into the metal, so seams and spot-welded joints don’t hold grit to bleed out later.
Loose parts and panels come to the workshop on Brisbane’s northside. Shells and cars on a rotisserie or a hoist we do at your shop or ours. Rubber, plastics, glass and wiring that are staying on the car are masked or moved out of the way first, and the extraction runs at the head so the shop keeps working around us.
What you get back
Bare metal with nothing on it. The oil and wax come off in the same pass, so the panel is dry and ready for etch or epoxy primer without a separate degrease. Because the metal is exposed evenly, you see every old repair, every thin spot and every pinhole before the primer hides them, which is the point of stripping it.
Before and after photos of every part, and an honest word if we find something a panel beater should look at before it’s painted.
JOBS LIKE THIS
Jobs like this
A shell on the rotisserie
Paint, underseal and surface rust off the whole body, inside and out, without warping a roof skin or filling a seam with grit.
Wheels and brackets in powder coat
Powder coat is hard to strip any other way without damage. The laser takes it off alloy wheels and steel brackets and leaves the surface for the next coat.
The parts that don’t come off the car
Chassis rails, suspension and the underbody stripped with the running gear in place. See the engine bay page for the bay itself.
BEFORE YOU RING
Questions people ask
Will it warp the panel?
No. The energy goes into the paint, not the metal, so there’s no heat build-up in the sheet and no peening from media. That’s the reason restorers and panel shops use laser over blasting on skins, roofs and doors.
Does it take off body filler?
Yes, and you’ll want it to. Filler comes off and shows you the repair under it, which is the only way to know whether the last person did it properly. If you’d rather keep a known-good repair, tell us and we’ll work around it.
Can you strip aluminium and alloy?
Yes. Aluminium is where blasting does the most damage, because media pits and peens it. The pulsed laser takes the coating off alloy and leaves it unmarked. Same for brass and stainless trim.
Do I need to degrease afterwards?
Usually not. Oil, wax and silicone come off in the same pass as the paint, and the panel comes out dry. Primer goes on when you’re ready, and bare steel should be primed soon rather than left in a humid shed.
What does it cost?
It depends on the part, the number of layers and how much rust is under them. Send a photo of each part and a rough size and Kira will reply with a price or a range, usually the same business day. Panel shops and restorers doing regular work: ask about rates per panel.
THE PROCESS
How the job runs
- 01
Send a photo
A photo and a rough size is enough. We’ll tell you what we’d do and what it involves before anyone drives out.
- 02
Method chosen
Laser, blasting, washing or grinding, depending on the surface and what’s on it.
- 03
Removal
Only the layer that has to go. With the laser, nothing is driven into the surface and nothing is left behind on it.
- 04
Inspection
We check it with you. If a spot isn’t right, we fix it before we leave.
- 05
Handover
The surface ready for the next step, with photos of what came off.
OTHER JOBS
Other jobs we get asked for
Every one of these starts the same way: a photo, a rough size, and a straight answer about what we’d do.
Cars and restoration →Rust removal
Rust, mill scale and oxide off steel, iron and castings, back to bare metal that’s ready for primer.
Engine bay cleaning
Paint, grease, rust and old underseal off the bay, the firewall and the block, without pulling the engine.
Antifoul and hull prep
Antifoul, paint, oxide and growth off hulls, keels, shafts, props and fittings, captured rather than left on the hardstand.
Graffiti and masonry cleaning
Paint, soot and biological growth off sandstone, brick, render and concrete, including listed buildings, without chemicals or abrasion.
Pressure washing
Mould, algae, dirt and loose paint off large areas of render, concrete, pavements and cladding.
Concrete grinding
Failed coatings, adhesives and high spots off floors, walls and overhead, with the dust captured at the machine.