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Originally Posted by jcfdillon
One blog I saw stated that a car's typical paint job weighs about 8 pounds. Another discussion stated an estimate of about 600 pounds. I am thinking of removing all the paint from my car as an "ecomod." Has anyone thought about this?
My car has sheet steel body panels, all painted. So, if I remove the paint and prepare any rusted areas, I would then treat the entire surface with phosphoric acid, leave it overnight, at a temperature above 50 degrees F., so that the phosphorization is complete. Then I would go back over it a second time with more phosphoric acid, to make sure all areas got adequate treatment. After this is dry, I would then brush off any crusting and inspect the surface, make sure it is not too reflective (to avoid causing reflection into other drivers' eyes).
My main issue about painted sheet steel is that it hides rust and is unnecessary as long as the surface of the steel is phosphorized. (This process creates a nonrusting form of steel on the surface.) The weight of the paint is really minor if it's only a few pounds as I would expect.
Feedback welcome on this. (Replacing with carbon fiber composite body panels would be ideal in my opinion, but I won't be able to do this for quite a while.)
I am also treating the underbody rust with phosphoric acid. This chemical is available in gallon containers and larger, online. (Have to use rubber gloves and protect all skin and eyes, because it will burn your skin after about a minute. It really hurts to get droplets in your eyes and of course is not safe for kids or pets either.) However, phosphoric acid is used in food manufacturing processes and is in some soda and other foods. The chemical I use is called "food grade" phosphoric acid.
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The finish on your car is the most expensive part of your car.A phosphoric acid bath was the first process the body went through before priming,color,and clearcoat,all with oven time in between.
The weight of the finish is statistically off the radar screen with respect to overall mass.
If you were a drag racer you might acid dip your chassis,as this has been done since the 1960s.
For a daily driver,this sort of weight reduction could be lost in the signal-to-noise ratio as far as fuel economy goes.