okay well here it is.. its got the factory paint and then a layer of primer and then a layer of yellow and then a layer of black

all of the paint except the factory is spray paint and im trying to get this thing sanded down and all of the **** paint removed and its getting rediculous

i was hoping to sand the whole thing down to bare metal but thats proving almost impossible the back of the quarter is already bare

really what im asking is ..is there away to even all of this out and just leave the factory paint behind and smooth the transition from the bare spots to the paint? so i can lay a good primer on and get some good paint on this thing for once

 

sandblast it... what your doing now seems like an awful lot of work.
Sandblasting will get you down to the point where you shoot a coat or two of primer and you will have a decent surface to paint on.

 

i was hoping for something other then a sand blaster.. i dont have acess to one and although i wont be applying the paint i have to do all the body work before hand.

would just using alot of chemical strippers work? like acouple gallons

 

Try it, it can't hurt. I've heard aircraft remover spray takes off paint pretty good (for painting wheels)

 

aircraft remover pretty much melts the paint off. make sure you wear goggles and a mask when you spray it on and when you rinse it off with water. good luck

 

just finish sanding till you have it at least down to the factory paint or metal. Then I suggest using some high fill 2k primer. Or possibly some Upol Polyester primer/filler. Im talking quite a few heavy coats. When its dried start blocking the entire car with 320. Make sure to spray a guide coat of cheap black spray paint 1st. That will leave you with a solid base and help transition all the diff layers you have there. Once you get done blocking the primer you will see what the body really looks like. If there are low spots fill them sand feather edge then reprime and repeat till its all straight and dent free.

 

x2.

also theres a guy in our shop preping an old jeep and he used he high power pressure washer and spent like a whole week on it. It removed 12 layers of old pant(down to the e-coat).

if its spray paint try acetone.

 

I woul just get out there with a lot of heavy 36 or 40 grit sand paper and a DA and go for it. but the aircraft chem stripper works just as well without the deep scratches.

 

do not do the 36-40 grit thing. You will regret it

 

if you use aircraft make sure it doesnt get on the rubber window seal or anything like that

 

that looks like a mammoth job good luck

 

just do what i said in my earlier reply

 

OH snap, this is so true.

It's completely true. I've learned the hard way about it.

I once used an angle grinder with a 40 grit disc on it or something really low on it, to sand down a factory paint job, and holy hell was that a mistake, After I was all said and done, you could see a bunch of fish hooks (the marks where the sandpaper cut into the metal) GLARING through the paint, ginormous mistake. All I ever heard from anyone when they looked at my car was "wow, you can see the sanding marks through the paint" I ended up selling that car.

 

yeah, but once you get done with the 40 grit sand paper your supposed to go back over it with 80grit then hit it with etching primer and epoxy prime to hit the deep scratches you missed with the 80 grit.

 

if you're tryin to get it near perfect its gonna take a lot of sanding/spraying/sanding/spraying/sanding.

its a pain in the ***... but you dont want a wavy paint job do you... i agree with the folks up there... but i wouldnt use 320... i'd start a little courser... maybe 220 but thats just me. depending on how thick your primer surfacer is... i usually spray three coats ... then sand.. then spray three coats, then sand, then spray three coats. then sand fine and go into sealer. and blah blah

 

Bad advice. More work than its worth.

 

i wouldnt use stripper, its a freekin mess and a pain in the ***. just sand it with a lower grit paper, like maybe some 80. if you use to low of grit paper you will leave scratches in the metal. 80 takes some time but in the end its worth it, no heavy scrathches, no chemicals, none of that crap.
but thats just my advice. but the longer everyone argues about it the less you get done either way, just put acouple hours into it and your done instead of days getting advice and not accompishing anything

 

I agree.

If I could travel back in time and change the way that I sanded the car, I would just avoid the super low grits all together.

 

Back in the day I used to try low grit sand paper alot. Guess what I regretted it in the end. It keeps coming back lol. You cant just depend on primer to fill the left over scratches. Best bet is to only use 36 grit to rough shape filler or metal. Ive been doing custom work for over 10 yrs now and Ive tried just about everything out there at one point. There are no shortcuts to good bodywork

 

80 grit on a DA sander and do work on it....do you know how thick the paint is? i would advise if you keep the car inside to take a small spot to bare metal and then feather edge it out a little bit to see how man coats are really on the car.

 

im gonna help you out do not use aircraft paint remover a good painter once told me this. IF YOU GET AIRCRAFT REMOVER IN SEAMS AND CANNOT GET RID OF IT ALL IT WILL EAT YOUR NEW PAINT AND PRIMER. This stuff can spread like there's no tomorrow. Use 80 grit and sand this stuff off.

 

Ive said that over and over. Ppl just dont get it

 

i will never use it again

 

dont go sanding it with a da these guys are hacks it will heat up the panels and warp them and you will have way more headaches then you do now you should use the aircraft stripper then buy some etch primer and spray it then spray it with spraypoly and block it out using guide coat its a lot of work but your car will look good. I work at a resto shop and that is how we do a lot of that cars.

 

watever you do, dont' use stripper on your car. rims are great with it, but yoru chasis is not. i'd just prefer you sanding it down with a more coarse sand paper until you hit the factory paint. a good layer of primer should cover the scratches and then you can block it down smooth before you paint it. sand blasting is also a lot of work in my opinion too.