Media blasting is the process of propelling media particles from a blast machine using the power of compressed air. This converts media particles and compressed air into an effective cleaning treatment that takes skill, properly engineered equipment and good judgment. Each component contributes to the overall performance of the system.
If you really want to give your car a "physical' or just want to know what a car has been through in its lifetime, strip the car down to bare metal as we did with this 1964 Chevy Impala. You'll be able to tell if the car has "cancer" or rust, or if you have to do patch work to it. Let us give you a warning! This process is almost like going to the doctor; you might learn a thing or two that you didn't want to know, except here you don't need to worry about lube or a white plastic glove!
This Impala was supposed to be almost ready for paint. It just needed some light body work and to be sealed in primer. Wrong! Since the car was in storage, we had enough time to check it and see if there was something more serious going on with the body. After noticing surface rust bleeding through, we couldn't take a chance so we had to investigate. We went to see the "doctor," in this case, the media blasting company, Blasting Specialties in Santa Fe Springs, California, where Lee's recommendation was to take the car down to metal.
It seemed that the '64 had a few things wrong with it. First, it was left bare and exposed, so rust had accumulated on the body. Second, according to Lee, the car was sealed in the wrong primer and the rust had bled through. We also found out that the firewall had more than 1/2-inch of body filler and was not molded correctly. There were rust holes covered with tape and undercoating. To our surprise, the previous shop that had their hands on the Impala didn't do the job right.
With the help of Blasting Specialties, this 1964 Chevy Impala body is ready for the next step. | 
Media blasting can make a big difference to your car's body. | 
This 1957 was taken down to metal and left ready to be built back up. |
The pros at Blasting Specialties stripped this Jeep down without having to remove the engine. | 
The interior of this 1961 Chevy Impala was cleaned out as well to ensure that the floors had no rust. | 
No job is too big for Blasting Specialties. They were taking this 53-foot trailer down to metal. |
Before the body was worked on, the 1964's frame was cleaned up and ready to be reinforced for the hydraulics. | 
The body's rolled into the blasting booth. | 
Here, Mike suits up for the job. You need to have a respiratory system in order to breathe while working in a blasting booth. |
As you can see, the quarter panels had light rust on them and had to be cleaned up. | 
Mike starts in on the rear quarter panels. | 
Once the quarter panels were cleaned, they showed us what needed to be repaired. |
The front of the quarter panels had to be patched, but they were not as bad as we thought. | 
The trick to media blasting is all in the pressure and media used to give you the finish that you want. The trunk was blasted with high pressure to clean off the light coat of primer that was sprayed on. | 
The firewall was stripped down so that it could be prepared the right way this time. |