My plan is to remove the doors to paint the jams. My question is what is the best approach for sanding/stripping the jams?

The car has been re-sprayed. I'm trying to get back to the factory paint or metal and paint it the factory color again. I was only planning on peeling the carpet/moldings back since the previous owner didn't.

Can I use paint stripper on the door jams? Or should I sand it back?

 

Are you just respraying it?

If it's just a respray wet sand it with 500 or 600 grit sand paper until you see no more shine and respray.

 

Pretty much. I have some body work to do to it first, but I want to make it a uniform color for a change.

 

never strip something to bare metal that doesnt need to be stripped to bare metal. the factory e-coat is the best protection for metal that our cars have. if you have rusted areas, or body work you can sand or grind in those areas away that need repair then spray an epoxy primer or self etching primer to protect the metal and then seal, base and clear. but all other areas that you just want to respray just wetsand and seal, base n clear. Sealing your car will give you that uniform color change.

if your car has been resprayed before like you mentioned, and you know its a shitty respray and the paint is failing i.e. peeling issues, heavy oxidation, bubbling, adhesion issues, then i would try to sand that all off surface primer sand, seal, and respray but if its a solid profesisonal respray that was done right, i'd just wetsand seal it then base n clear. still never break thru to the metal when u dont have to

 

Right on! It's a crap job. I'll sand back to the factory red/clear and spray over it then.

No stripper, just sanding then. I guess it's time to get at it.

I have a couple holes (removed the body kit). How should I go about repair those? I was thinking of sanding them back and welding in filler metal. Grind, bondo, prime and paint. Or should I just sand it and bondo the holes? They are 1/8 or 1/4 inch self tapping screws. .. fyi.

 

welding is the best for filling the holes, but you need to be careful about heat as it can warp the metal around the holes. After welding you should use a kitty hair bondo as its water resistant.

 

Kitty hair. Haven't heard that outside of fiberglass. I'll google.

 

Kitty hair is fiberglass reinforced bondo

 

if you know how to weld, get the holes welded shut. grind them fill them, primer n paint. If you really know how then tig weld those holes shut, you can hammer and dolly on tig welds because its softer. Mig welds is too hard and wont be able to be shaped by hammer and dolly if there was any warping in the metal from the heat.. but since its just small holes you can mig weld it. and shouldnt have a problem

as far as bondo goes, you should be good with any premium body filler. I recommend Evercoat's products. and if you have the money for it, their Quantum filler has e-coat like properties that protect the metal from rusting. but their rage line, and Z-grip will work just as well with no issues. anytime you have bare metal you'll want to either put epoxy or self etching primer before surfacing or sealing it anyways.

 

I only have a mig welder at home. I guess I could grind it back and drive it to work to use the tig! haha. Anyways, thanks on the suggestions too. I've only used low grade filler, so I'll look into the better stuff. Self etching primer is probably what I will use.

Fiberglass reinforced bondo, that makes sense. I thought you were referencing something completely different. Thanks for the confirmation. I've always called that Rondo. I forget where that came from.