Automotive
restoration.

Not if it's done correctly. Warp is caused by heat and mechanical stress, both of which are controllable with the right media, pressure, and technique. Every automotive job we run uses low-pressure (55–75 psi), soft media (soda, plastic, glass bead, or walnut), a wide standoff distance, and a moving nozzle technique that never dwells on one spot. That setup will not warp 20-gauge steel. The wrong setup — high pressure, hard media, close standoff — will warp a panel in under 10 seconds. The difference is entirely in the operator's setup and discipline.

Yes, but the bondo or fiberglass has to come off mechanically — a hand scraper or a heat gun — before blasting. Media blasting will shatter fiberglass and won't cleanly remove filler from a panel; it just creates a mess. Once the filler is scraped off and the repair area is exposed, we blast the metal around it and document what was under there. This is one of the more common surprises in an old restoration — you never know how thick the filler is until you start scraping.

Soda blasting removes paint and surface rust around lead-filled seams but leaves the lead intact. Lead is softer than the surrounding steel, so most media will cut through it quickly — soda and plastic are the exceptions. If the seam is sound and the lead is well-bonded, we leave it alone and paint around it. If the joint has failed (rare but happens), the lead has to come out with a torch and be re-done by a body shop — that's beyond the scope of blasting.

In Houston humidity, flash rust starts on bare steel within 2–4 hours. We prime bare panels within that window — always the same working day as the blast. If your paint shop is doing the primer, we coordinate so they're ready to work the same day we finish blasting. If the strip and the primer are going to be separated by more than a few hours, we apply a holding epoxy primer that we know your shop can sand and topcoat over. Never leave bare blasted steel overnight in this climate.

Only on a limited basis, and only for full chassis or heavy-component work — a rolling chassis, a frame, a truck bed. Body panels are too delicate for field blasting because we can't control the environment well enough (wind, humidity, dust, light angle) to do a warp-free job safely. Body work is done at our shop where we can control every variable. If you need mobile field work for a chassis or frame, that runs through our mobile division.

Fiberglass bodies can't be media blasted — the panels are too soft and the resin doesn't hold up to abrasion. For fiberglass cars (Corvette, some kit cars, most race car bodies), we use a plastic media at very low pressure with extreme caution, or we recommend chemical stripping and hand-sanding instead. It's a case-by-case decision, and we'll tell you honestly if blasting isn't the right method for your car.

Most customers use an enclosed transport service. If you don't have one lined up, we can recommend a couple of carriers we've worked with — never a paid referral, just names we know will treat the car well. For Houston-area customers, rolling chassis and whole cars can sometimes be dropped off on a flatbed or trailer. For single panels or small components, UPS and FedEx freight both work; we get 2–3 parts shipments a week this way.

Full frame-off body strips start at $4,200 and go up depending on panel count, media required, extent of hidden repairs, and whether the job includes chassis work. A typical 1960s American muscle car with 30–40 panels and no serious hidden issues runs $4,800–$6,500. European sports cars with thinner gauge and more complex geometry typically run higher. Single-panel work starts at $380. We always quote in writing after seeing the car — an estimate over the phone is a guess, not a quote.