i am going to repaint my car this spring. while the snow is flying i am preping for that. so my question is what grit sandpaper should i use to sand off the clear and how can i tell i sanded off enough for the new paint to adhere? i have afew holes in my bumper that the previous owner had a license plate. what should i use to repair them? and does anyone know a good website for a bad looking yet functional hood scoop?
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84 gt, 351w, rpm airgap intake, 292h comp cam, comp 1.6 roller rockers, holley 750 double pumper, roush 200 windsor sr. heads, msd ignition, 9mm ford racing wires, bbk shortys, flowmaster header back exhaust, b&m short throw shifter, centerforce dual friction clutch, billet clutch quad., 3.73 rear, 5 lug conversion w/ 17x8's front & 17x9 bullit wheels rear, saleen spoiler, custom hood, custom sub frames, ALL work done personally
If your paint is in good condition and you just need to sand to get the paint to stick go with 320-400. If you are going to prime go with 80-180. You can use a two part epoxy glue called www.duramix.com they have several types. Take a small sliver of the bumper cover and put it in water. If it floats you need an adheision promotor before the duramix is applied. The only problem with duramix is it needs a special "caulk gun" to apply it and they are rather $$$$$. TEETO!
oh really they make a 2 part epoxy glue that you have to buy a $$$ gun to use? Oh yea they have this epoxy that 3m makes that is just like a regular tube of epoxy that you can use to fill those holes on your bumper, and you can squirt it right out of the container, also you can sand on it and prime to it right after it hardened amazing wow!! 3M makes really good products. also you can sand down your entire car with 320 grit and prime over it then start your paint process from there. If you 80/180 grit it then primer it, if you sand it down after that with a finishing paper such as 320 and bust thru the primer your 80/180 marks will show up so as soon as you go to paint you will see them show up in your basecoat. People that work in body shops would know this. Unless say you put 3 good coats of primer on the 80/180 sanded area so when you sand it with 320 grit it wont bust thru the primer.
Im sure your asking these questions cause you dont know how to do it. So you can sand your whole car down with 320 grit then primer right over that so then if you do bust thru it it will be a 320 grit sand marks under the primer not 80/180 that way they wont show up. Only way i would use 80/180 is if you were doing body work, then that would be used to finish the body work then you would sand with say 220grit then go finer.
Oh also with the bumper holes in the front plastic bumper. You can fill them with fiberglass filler/mar hair/ tiger hair/ short hair fiberglass they sell this at supply stores by the quart. I guarntee if you fill those little holes with this glass you could kick it and it woulnt break out. Just trying to give you some advice for painting your car.
What would the purpose of priming over 320 be? Your sealer and color would not show a 320 scratch. The only reason to prime over 320 would be to fill a large feather edge. Why waste your time with 320 if your gonna prime? Your gonna sand with 320 prime and then prep with 320 again? Whats the point? Save yourself some time and hit it with 80 then 180 3 coats of primer and your done. 320 and primer would be a complete waste of time. Also why wouldn't you put 3 coats of primer on in the first place? You should always use 3 coats of primer your wasting your time with 1 coat of primer. TEETO.
why do i need to do 3 coats of primer on the parts i didn't do any body work? i was told i can finish sand w/ 400 or 600 grit on the clear and add base right to that.
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84 gt, 351w, rpm airgap intake, 292h comp cam, comp 1.6 roller rockers, holley 750 double pumper, roush 200 windsor sr. heads, msd ignition, 9mm ford racing wires, bbk shortys, flowmaster header back exhaust, b&m short throw shifter, centerforce dual friction clutch, billet clutch quad., 3.73 rear, 5 lug conversion w/ 17x8's front & 17x9 bullit wheels rear, saleen spoiler, custom hood, custom sub frames, ALL work done personally
why do i need to do 3 coats of primer on the parts i didn't do any body work? i was told i can finish sand w/ 400 or 600 grit on the clear and add base right to that.
correct,use 600 if you are going with a pearl or metallic.less is better.the best primer for new paint is old cured paint.spot prime where needed. can get by with 400 with solid colors or if you decided to seal it,but only if it looks like spot.
You would not need three coats of primer if you finish sanded with something like 320-600. You would need it to fill the sand scratches if you sanded with 80-180. The only reason you would need primer on 320 is if you had some real big feather edges and needed to smooth them. Other wise seal and paint right over 320 and up. I wouldnt go any higher than 400 if you are sealing and spraying your base. You may find adheision problems if you go to smooth. I like to use 600 and up for re-clear only.
read read read then reply reply reply, i said you can sand the car down with 320, if you put 3 coats of primer on that would be after you did body work with your 80 grit, i would put 3 coats of primer over 80 grit marks not 320.
if you wanted you could sand the car down with 220 then prime over it once then sand that, or how about just sand it with 320 seal it and paint it from there.
read what i typed:
Unless say you put 3 good coats of primer on the 80/180 sanded area so when you sand it with 320 grit it wont bust thru the primer.
i didnt say primer over 320 grit in that sentence did i? maybe im mistake but when i just read it it looks like i said i would primer over 80/180 grit marks 3 times not 320 grit. Because i use to have people that would send me work that they primed and put one light coat of primer over there body work and they finished there body work with 220 grit. So then as soon as i prepped it for paint with 320 grit they had 1 coat of primer on it and it would bust thru and then there 220 grit marks would show up. So then i would have to do there work and i got tired of it and i would roll the truck out of one bay right back to them and tell the supervisor in rapid repair to fix it, i wasnt gonna do his boys work.
All im saying is if your gonna do body work finish it out and go to a finer grit. the finer the sand job the finer the paint job. Ok if you want do it this way go get airplane stripper. Strip all the paint off the car to bare metal how about that? then sand it with 220, then primer over that a couple times. so you got all that junk old paint completely off the car then sand your primer with 320, seal then throw down 3 basecoats then 2 coats of clear then your done. How about that process is that good enuff?
then teeto says this:
save yourself some time and hit it with 80 then 180 3 coats of primer and your done.
but i also said this: just like i stated above:
Unless say you put 3 good coats of primer on the 80/180 sanded area so when you sand it with 320 grit it wont bust thru the primer.
so what is the difference? can you tell me that?
i didnt say prime 3 times over 320 so go back and read what i typed before you repost please. thank you
oh yea what is featheredging? i was just wondering? is that when say you had a bad spot and you sanded it out all the way and like made a ring and pretty much spread the sand all the way out, then from there would you prime that spot so it could be finished? i was just wondering im new at this kinda stuff.
Sealer is the first step of paint process after primer. It is also a primer but not a filler primer. It helps with adheision, color, and covers any bare spots you sanded into in the filler primer. I use an epoxy primer. The epoxy is like glue it will stick to anything and lets your basecoat stick well too. Some sealers can be tinted to the color of your basecoat or some come pre-tinted. This helps with coverage of the basecoat. I would definetly use a sealer after your filler primer. It helps also for corrosion protection and nothing is as good as epoxy for corrosion protection.
When spraying a complete I always seal the entire car. You will get better adheision with sealer to the car than just basecoat. I would definetly seal the entire car.
i have another question about my repainting project. i initially sanded the body w/ 120 grit paper b/c i was under the impression i needed to sand the clear entirely off. but since then i have found out different so i sanded the car w/ 320 grit and now i am on 600 grit b/c i am repainting a metallic color. do i need to be worried the 120 grit marks will still show through the 600 grit? and if so should i just go ahead and reprime the whole thing and then sand from there and if so what grit do i sand the primer w/ for a final sand?
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84 gt, 351w, rpm airgap intake, 292h comp cam, comp 1.6 roller rockers, holley 750 double pumper, roush 200 windsor sr. heads, msd ignition, 9mm ford racing wires, bbk shortys, flowmaster header back exhaust, b&m short throw shifter, centerforce dual friction clutch, billet clutch quad., 3.73 rear, 5 lug conversion w/ 17x8's front & 17x9 bullit wheels rear, saleen spoiler, custom hood, custom sub frames, ALL work done personally
repainting prep work 
