Preping my car for maaco or possibly another paint shop.

Myco

Myco

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Today I started sanding the car. Using 320grit wet sandpaper I sanded the entire hood until smooth to the the touch. I haven't gone over with 600 grit yet. I am going to do all the panels than need 320 grit first. If you look at the pictures you will see that there are rock chips all over the front... even waaay up the hood. There is not rust and they are not down to the metal (only primer) but I was wondering what I needed to do with them. There are quite a few.

On to the pics.

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This is the trunk. I had a question about what to do about the paint flaking off but did a search and figured out I need to go to bare metal on the panel. (to do it right ;-) )

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Anyway. It's not extremely difficult. Arms a bit tired and there's no need to hit the gym that's for sure.

I was wondering if I needed to do 320grit on the entire car or only the panels with the clearcoat problem. Do I do 600 grit on the rest of the car?


Advice, comments VERY welcome. I plan on getting the primer/sealer/paint job from maaco or a primer/sealer/paint/clear job from another body shop. I"m curious if I can't just do the priming/sanding myself and save a bit of money. (I'm doing the sanding to bring the cost down and because maaco doesn't do any prep)


I'll have updated pics in about an hour with multiple questions I'm guessing.
 
When I sand mine, I use 3M 180 grit on a DA sander. It will come out much smoother. Then I come back with 320 using the DA and then tack cloth it real good. Primer comes next, 3 coats, wet sand with 1000 or 1500 and it should be extremely smooth and dry. Tack cloth again and it's ready for paint.

If you have a Gen 1, I wouldn't advise sanding the hood down no further than you have to because of the way those hoods are made. They are bonded together with two different materials and after being painted, gasses will eventually rise into small bubbles. Most likely, that's what you're seeing instead of pits. It's pits from the bubbles that were once there but flaked off, only if this is a Gen 1
 
nolimit94VIII said:
When I sand mine, I use 3M 180 grit on a DA sander. It will come out much smoother. Then I come back with 320 using the DA and then tack cloth it real good. Primer comes next, 3 coats, wet sand with 1000 or 1500 and it should be extremely smooth and dry. Tack cloth again and it's ready for paint.

If you have a Gen 1, I wouldn't advise sanding the hood down no further than you have to because of the way those hoods are made. They are bonded together with two different materials and after being painted, gasses will eventually rise into small bubbles. Most likely, that's what you're seeing instead of pits. It's pits from the bubbles that were once there but flaked off, only if this is a Gen 1
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I wish I had a DA sander. Only an orbital and I've been advised not to use it. I scoured the pawn shops and there is a dewalt polisher for 40$ and a black and decker sander/polisher for 50$. I've been wondering if I should get them.

As far as the grit. 120grit is course. Very course. I'm not experienced enough to handle a DA with 120 grit. I'm taking my time with the 320grit. To my unexperienced eye I'm pleased so far. I'll get pics in a second.

Tell me about primering it myself.

gem 2
 
This is the trunk. I hit it with a RA with 80 then 120 grit. It appears to not be the original trunk and was red and painted over. Should I continue and sand down to the metal or hit it again with 120 all the way around to the primer?
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The hood had 320 done and then in this pic it has a quick 20 minute 600 grit wiped across.
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The side panel had no clear coat issues. This is just 320 applied.
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Comments always welcomed.
 
Guess some before pics would help to give the thread a bit of depth. ;-)
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Myco said:
I wish I had a DA sander. Only an orbital and I've been advised not to use it. I scoured the pawn shops and there is a dewalt polisher for 40$ and a black and decker sander/polisher for 50$. I've been wondering if I should get them.

As far as the grit. 120grit is course. Very course. I'm not experienced enough to handle a DA with 120 grit. I'm taking my time with the 320grit. To my unexperienced eye I'm pleased so far. I'll get pics in a second.

Tell me about primering it myself.

gem 2
Click to expand...

Sorry about that, it's P180 grit that I used. I just went and looked and you don't need much experience at all using the orbital sander. Not sure what size you have but mine is a 6" and I have the 6" stick on paper that comes in a roll. As long as your sander is "random orbit", you'll be ok and you'll have an arm left when you get done and a smoother job.

As for priming, I use Dupli Color primer right out of the can. I have done the top of my car and the rear and front bumper covers. The paint on them looks better than factory. I'll round up a few pics for you to see but if you seen it in person, you would never notice.

The paint I use is also Dupli Color in a can. I use acrylic enamel only! The clear coat I use is also Dupli Color acrylic enamel only! Prepping the surface to be painted is the most important part of the finished job. Starting out to sand off the roughness, it does not have to be wet. Dry is good. Wet sanding comes into play when you sand the primer down smooth to get it ready for paint and also, sanding the clear coat to get rid of any orange peel you have so that it can be buffed to a nice gleeming shine.

The top of my car started like this.

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and now with around $30, it looks like this

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Rear bumper cover did look like this

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but now after Dupli Color at $4.49 per can, looks like this.

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That was before the primer had been wet sanded with 1500 by hand and a spray bottle of water, every square inch.

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Now since these pics, I let 6 days pass so that the paint and clear could cure out and then I used 2000 grit and the same spray bottle of water and wet sanded the clear, every square inch and now it's slicker than the original factory paint, with no orange peel at all. I used a 6" orbital sander for everything you see in all these pics except for the wet sanding. I do that by hand. You have to wet sand by hand in order to feel for smoothness and then I used a cordless drill and a 3M foam polishing pad to remove and polish out what I had wet sanded.

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I would guarantee that what I have painted will outlast the cars lifetime with me.

When you're done with polishing out the wet sand look, use an orbital polisher with some "Scratch Out" in a yellow bottle. Wipe off and then use your preferred wax and that's it.
 
Good post no limit... except that polish... ICK

Have you talked with the paint shop you plan on getting the car done at?

A lot of them don't like the customer doing prep work...
 
Try to stay off the metal if at all possible. it's ok if you hit it and some shows but no need to really get it all the way down to it. It's just going to take more coats of primer to cover and fill in the layers you have gone through. In your case, I would go with no less than 4 coats of primer. 15 minutes between each coat, first coat being extremely light and not counting as one of the four. Let it stand for the night. Wet sand the next day with 1000, wipe down with tack cloth and then come back with 1500 wet sanding. Wipe that with a tack cloth and don't miss a spot. Then it's ready for paint. First coat being light! Then one coat sprayed evenly every 15 min, no more than 25 to 30 min until you have at least 3 to 4 good coats on. Wait about 30 min and then come on with the clear. Just straight coat it at least 3 times with 15 min intervals and leave it alone for at least 5 days. Needs to be out of weather. Let it cure before messing with it anymore. You can do this with a can just as good or better than Maaco can from your own can but it does take time. Seeing how you're doing the whole car, you might wanna go ahead and let them spray it.
 
kustomizingkid said:
Good post no limit... except that polish... ICK

Have you talked with the paint shop you plan on getting the car done at?

A lot of them don't like the customer doing prep work...
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KK, that polish is needed for the wet sand scratches. Other than that, I wouldn't use it for anything else. It's abrasive on it's own but brings out the shine hidden under the wet sand that's been done.
 
kustomizingkid said:
Good post no limit... except that polish... ICK

Have you talked with the paint shop you plan on getting the car done at?

A lot of them don't like the customer doing prep work...
Click to expand...

yes, its a reputable business that's been in buesinness for 20 years. small family type. he is around the corner and said he would come by after I was done prep'ing.
 
No Limit. I saw your post when you did that. It is hugely impressive. I'll try tye RA on the front bumper since it has deep chips.

Where did you get the 6" pads? HD?
 
nolimit94VIII said:
KK, that polish is needed for the wet sand scratches. Other than that, I wouldn't use it for anything else. It's abrasive on it's own but brings out the shine hidden under the wet sand that's been done.
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I know what the polish is for lol... I just don't like THAT polish at all...
 
kustomizingkid said:
Are you going black again?

Are you going to block the car or are you happy with how straight it is now?
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Yes, black again. Don't know what 'blocking' a car is. And the Ra sander with 220 grit is working great.
 
Myco said:
Yes, black again. Don't know what 'blocking' a car is. And the Ra sander with 220 grit is working great.
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Blocking the car is when you use filler or filler primers and long flat sanding blocks to help level out the base that the paint is going on for that super smooth wave and dent free finish.

Paint is 99% in the prep...
 
Shoot 2 coats of polyester primer with a 1.8 tip, block it with 320 dry, repeat - shoot/block with 400 wet and call it done.
 
urethane primer is what you want to use. and wet sanding that is a huge waste of time, you are making way more work for yourself. go to harbor freight and buy a 6 inch D.A
the D.A i use is a dynabrade, they make a fairly affordable one for the amature, but i wasnt gonna be cheap when i got mine, i paid $369 for my 6 inch D.A and it was way worth every penny. a D.A and some 220 you could have the whole car sanded in a few hours. wet sanding will take for ever.
 
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