Has anyone used the wire brush wheels for Angle Grinders?

I've used the brass wire wheel for drills with good success, but I have seen that for grinders, apart from the brass wire wheel, there is also a heavy duty steel wire wheel.
Wondering what kind of finish that it leaves on sheet metal?

-Rob

I have and they are tip top

great for stripping chassis and its components... pedal assemblies etc... situations that where if you used a drill based brass wire wheel it would take you centuries to get through any paint and rust etc.

i wouldn't use it for fine panel work on the body, unless its like at the thick steel sections like sills etc underneith

On pan halves its fine. You can go over a bit of sheet metal on the pan over and over and you wouldn't grind through it (unless your there for centuries i guess)

I luv em. just make sure u wear eye protection, skin protection and shoes. cause 1: it slings debree like crazy, 2: it removes skin very quickly (learnt that the hard way) and over time as it wears it leaves sharp needle like bits of wires on the floor that if u stand on them, they go like 5mm deep into your foot (not too bad only have a few dozen go through lol. just pull em out but its inconvenient).

Yep, good but dangerous, use with extreme caution.
Tend to polish the metal, so a quick scuff is necessary with sandpaper for good paint adhesion.

I use them heaps, they're awesome at cleaning up rusted metal and knocking down paint but as above be super carefull with them,

I've had several moments, be really carefull when doing around edges and other non flat surfaces with different angles as they kick if you hit an edge agaisnt the rotation instead of with it.

I had one kick off an edge and grab my shirt, through some fluke after winding up my shirt it stalled and sat there buzzing away till I could turn it off.
A few ciggys later it hit me how close it came to slicing my guts open

Also they love to shed the wire strands at warp speed, I've picked 1000s out of myself including one in my forehead right between the eyebrows


Scared you off using one yet?

An alternative to the wire brush wheel is to use a disc called a "Strip it" disc........they work wonders on removing paint and rust .

I agree with Craig, the blue "Strip it" discs are alot safer and incedibly fast at removing paint and rust

I have also had a similar incident as Joel where the grinder wheel caught my shirt, got wound up and stalled the grinder, left a nice big hole in my shirt but lucky not to have one in my gut, had to step away from it for a while, shook me up a bit...

I have used the grinder wire brush wheels and the "Strip it" discs, i prefer the discs by far, it takes the paint off so much faster than the wheels (due to the larger surface area making contact i guess) but leaves a better finish in the metal as the wheels tend to leave heavy scratches (depending on what type i guess) where the discs give a nice smooth polished finish.

Only downside about the discs is they are expensive (range from $9 to $15 each) and you can go through them easily (especially if you hit a sharp edge as it just scrapes the disc away), took about one and a half 5inch discs and 20-30mins to take a gaurd back to bare metal, I ended up taking almost the whole car back haha, alot of hours but in the end way cheaper then getting it sandblasted...

But the wheels are far better for getting in nooks and grooves like the gutters, and you dont usually need more then one unless you damage it by having it spin above its Max RPMl.
Wheels are better

I agree with what the others have said. Wire brushes are good, go for the twist/knot type, or the knotted cup wheel if you need to get into a fiddly area. The Josco Strip-It discs are very good, cheap to buy at Bunnings (cheaper than the 3M version anyway, and they're Australian made) but they disintegrate immediately if you hit a rough or sharp edge. For flat surfaces like floorpans the strip-it discs will remove the paint far faster than anything else I've seen, even sandblasting! One light touch with the strip-it disc and you've got instant shiny bare metal. They're not so good at attacking surface rust though, the wire wheels are better for that.

in regards to safety its not really any more dangerous than an angle grinder with a cutting disk anyways and you only need the same PPE

You won't have to worry about waking up in the middle of the night to a possessed grinder with a wire wheel leaping in your face...

mind you they do jump pretty high if started with the wire brush down on the ground

I used the strip it discs for drills before, and agree their great, but had the same problem of them wearing out quickly once you touch some rough edges or rust. All these stories of bits of wire sticking, stabbing and flying everywhere are certainly encouraging!

Are you supposed to turn on the grinder when touching the job to avoid spinning it at full speed (similar to orbital sander attachment?) ?

Hi

I like angle grinders. I cant stress how important it is to use an angle grinder with an extra handle provision, you don't want to know how I know.

Steve

Hi

I like angle grinders. I cant stress how important it is to use an angle grinder with an extra handle provision, you don't want to know how I know.

Steve

Angle grinder with strip it discs are great for removing paint. For rusted areas try a coarse flap disc on your angle grinder.

I've also Been using paint stripper but prefer the strip it discs. Paint stripper works better for removing tar paint from under guards etc if you have it. The strip it discs tend to spread the tar paint.

Quote:

Originally posted by Joel I use them heaps, they're awesome at cleaning up rusted metal and knocking down paint but as above be super carefull with them, I've had several moments, be really carefull when doing around edges and other non flat surfaces with different angles as they kick if you hit an edge agaisnt the rotation instead of with it. I had one kick off an edge and grab my shirt, through some fluke after winding up my shirt it stalled and sat there buzzing away till I could turn it off. A few ciggys later it hit me how close it came to slicing my guts open Also they love to shed the wire strands at warp speed, I've picked 1000s out of myself including one in my forehead right between the eyebrows Scared you off using one yet?

Has anyone used a Strip It disc of wire brush on an Angle Grinder to strip an interior ?? I imagine it would get pretty dusty, but Sounds a lot better than sanding or chemical stripper as a cheap option.

Recently did a bare metal on the T3 and found the strip it discs great, the wire brush in an angle grinder can heat and warp the panels pretty quickly.
High revs not always a good thing,tends to melt the paint, I did most of the body with a heat gun and scraper,finishing with variable speed drill.

I've just started using wire brush on an angle grinder to strip the under side of my floor pan. Very effective and the advantage over strip it disks is they last a lot longer.

I have used paint stripper with limited effect ...does not do anything to parts that have bondo on them ...an air sander is Ok but sux a LOT of air .....am now trying an angle grinder with flapper 80 grit and a blue strip it disc ...working well ...saves time air and frustration points!

I recommend soda blasting. We get about 20 cars a year done at our work.

For roof rough up paint with 80 grit orbital sander,then por15 paint stripper covered with glad wrap.Stainless steel scourers and a bucket of water work well.Once all paint is removed use por15 metal ready,then use etch primer in a spray can,not many will paint a whole car and very easy to use.Now surface is ready for a high build primer.I used one of these purple wheels from crash supplies shop for paint removal on alot of the body,but you need a grinder with speed settings (mine was a ryobi from bunnings ) Its all a piece of piss to do you could do it pissed.Have doors dipped and rust treated after painting use tetrol wax .

All panels I have ever seen acid dipped have rust x 10 accelerated after a few years. Only based on the hundreds I have seen and scrapped. Your choice if you want to acid dip your panels.

If it is a panel with no seams at all, then it is ok. If it has a seam, then it is over before it begins. I deal with the remains of acid dipped panels all the time, and the bin is where a lot of them end up, but only 5-10 years down the track.

alkaline