soda blasting tips

[nsxinohio]

I have my whole rear subframe out and I am going to soda blast the whole thing clean again. I started out with a test piece and it cleaned it up but made it quite dull. Is there any other medium like scotch brite n polish that i can run over it to shine it up again? also, is there any drawbacks to clearing the pieces so they retain their clean look. I know it might yellow if its not cleaned thoroughly but any other reasons not to? thanks

 

[synergy004]

I had the same issue with it dulling and looking dingy a little after. Try using distilled white vinegar 2 teaspoons per cup of hot water. I applied this to a light grit scouring pad and it came out looking fresh.

Also to make your own paste for scouring without a pad. Like rubbing compound. Try a 1/4 cup baking soda with 1 tablespoon liquid detergent. Add just enough white distilled vinegar to give it a thick but creamy texture paste. Apply this rubbing it in, Let it dry then wipe away. Depending on your mixture it may not be strong enough. I would experiment on a small part to test your results. The acid in the vinegar combined with the powder detergent brightened up the aluminum to new like finish. Ofcoarse you would have to pre clean the area for better results.

Good luck and show us pics of your process. Hope this helps.

Gil

 

[nsxinohio]

Man, thanks for the tip on making the white vinegar rub. I soda blasted the control arm, then mixed up the solution, and applied it with green scotch brite pad. I really made the dull aluminum shine up again. Here is a pic

 

[synergy004]

Good stuff, Glad it worked. I messed with making it stronger and did the application several times and it was like new.

=g=

 

[SaleenS7Rs]

looks brand new well done

 

[angus]

I had my rear beam and a few other parts tumbled by the ceramic coating guy , it looks pretty good , however I did end up having a bunch of it actually polished afterwards , eventually my goal is to have everything polished. Since your arms are off and your car is really a show car , you should think about polishing them.

Question for you Zach - how did you remove your balljoints?

 

[nsxinohio]

well I am going to replace the lower control arm balljoints so I just knocked the crap out of them until they popped out. For the toe links, I turned the castle nut over and used rubber hammer. Luckily I got them out. I did not seperate the upper ones yet. Anyone got any good tips bc I know the upper ones cant be replaced easily