i own a blasting company. here is my advice learned from thousands of hours of hands on experience and not what i read on the net. 1st off, i own TWO wet blasters. (vapor) do not EVER use it on a car. i will not for any money do your car wet. You can pay me double or triple and i won't do it. vapor is 100% hype. It peens and warps just like dry does, but you have the fun of wet shitty media in places you cant get too, but, dont feel bad, it will fall out for years after you are done. wet is nothing more than a dust suppressant. wet guys will all out lie to you to get the job. texas has a ton of wet blasters working for pennies to try to make payments on their 50k+ rigs.
my advice is once you find a good dry blaster who does sheet metal, bring them something small to blast and see how it looks. do not bring them the whole car. Ask what media they use. My preference is fine crushed glass. 100-200 grit for panels and 50-100 for floors and underhood. if they want to use recycled product or anything numerically lower than 50 grit. (media grit is like sandpaper grit. lower number the coarser it is) move on. you do not need 40 grit to remove paint. it warps. Warpage is from peening and heat but mostly peening from coarse media.
a blasted panel should feel like a hand sanded panel. You should not catch your hand on the rough aggressive substrate.
there are more bad blasters out there than good ones. pick one that does sheet metal. bridge and gravel box guys know their stuff when it comes to 1/2" thick metal but have very little idea on how to blast a car. dont pick the first guy. you can try the local resto shops too and ask who they use. i get a bunch of work that way.
i have a network of blasters, pm me your location and ill see if there is anyone near you.
