does anyone know what grid of sandpaper??

[mrsnicks]

If you are just scuffing up the existing paint to repaint it I would say 220. Usually when doing body work and working with filler/rust you start of with 40/80 grit and work your way up to finer grades to get out the scratches the previous sandpaper left... you don't want to go too fine because you have to leave some roughness for the paint/primer to stick too.

When you wetsand your paint after its been painted you use 1000 grit wetsand paper on paint to remove imperfections.

As far as primer/paint.. I would go with the recommedations of the paint store you get them from. Tell them what you want, what your budget is... if you want Base Coat/Clear Coat, or single stage paint.

Patrick

[edgar]

i want to sand the paint thats on right now after i sand it should i filler or bondo the whole parts for like little dents? thankz for the previous advice

[stockr]

if the original paint is good block wetsand with 400..if the paint sux then just take it to bare metal with 180 or 220. but make sure to prime shortly after it bare metal...because you can get surface rust quick when the meatal is raw like that....

[edgar]

use 220 and then 180 beacuse i want tu take it to bare metal. after i do that should i bondo the the whole truck

[SmokeyBear]

It sounds like you haven't done much bodywork so I'll take it from the top. You'll have three major areas to address to do a full paint job.
1. rust repair. Do it right, cut out all the rust, weld in a new panel, grind smooth, fill with body filler, sand starting with 36 grit, move to 80 to 120 to 200, primer several good coats, sand with 220 then with 400 and it's ready for paint.
2. dents- same as rust except your first step is to pull/hammer and dolly the dent until it is as close to the original body shape as possible, then proceed to grind smooth and so on.
3. straight sheetmetal- wetsand with 180, primer and so on.

This is a super fast explanation but as long as you take your time and get it straight and don't paint over any scratches deeper than 400, you're good.

[Leadfoot]

depends if you are hand sanding or if you got a random orbit.

if you try sanding you truck with less than 100 by hand and man you can make a real mess it will look real bad and take lots of work to fix

remember if it takes longer that its going to look better so start with 100 or 120 and go from there. personally I play it safe and use 180 for the first sand on primer then 220+ but thats cause I don't like sand marks in my paint.

[xxxtina63]

This may be a little in advance, but remember;
Laquer is more durable, but does not shine as well. Also, it tends to shrink.

Enamel isn't as durable as laquer, but shines better and doesn't tend to shrink.

Urethane, while better than the above two, is often a 2 or 3 stage process. Also, you may want to invest in extra equipment if spraying yourself as it has adverse health hazards (more so than laquer or acrylic enamel).

[Jake11]

Go here, and look around. Theres lots about what you want to know.

http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/body-exterior/