Prepping my body for paint, any advice?

[guy2600]

Read sweetlou's how to, very informational and got a good starting point. I need to prep my body for my buddy to paint and have a few questions...

I need to do some plastic welding to fill some gouges on a few panels. What size grit would you use the prep for plastic welding?

In the end I'm going to smooth everything down with 400 grit then 600. There's a lot of contours and a lot of ground to cover. There's gotta be something better than just using the palm. I've looked at sanding blocks but thier ridgid and looking for something that will conform to the surface better. What about palm sanders? Has anyone used them sucsessfully or do you have use the manual approach? I've found a soft sanding block but it has a velcro backside and the sheets that go with it only come in course grit. I guess I could velco some traditional sheets but is there anything better? Any other advice is welcome...

[BraadaJim]

Plastic Welding - Use a die grinder or dremmel to rough the surface where you'll be welding and sand the surrounding area back at least 1/2". I like to use 80 grit for this. Welds should build high on the front and sand back and use wire mesh (heavy screen) as reinforcement melted into the plastic from the back...acts like rebar in cement.

If you don't use it daily I would not reccommend using a power sander on plastics. They are almost completely rounded and it is very easy screw up. Best to use a 3M softblock ( try http://www.levineautoparts.com/ ) and some elbow grease.

Other advice - Keep sanding...and when you think you've done enough, sand it again.... then do it one more time for good measure. Virtually anyone who has ever laid any paint will tell you that your prep work is the most important part and will make or break the finished product. Take your time and be absolutely anal about every square inch. When it's done you'll be glad you did.

[guy2600]

Do you meen the 3m softback sanding sponge (has the grit embeded on it)? What would you use for to prep? Say I had the welded areas smoothed and was preping the fairing on the whole, 320 than 600? 400 than 600? Watta ya think?

[JJ0712]

The guy painting mine said do until 1000 then once clear coated due 1600 then clear coat it agian. Started out with 80 the 220 then switched to 400 wet 800 wet, 1000/very fine sponge wet. Now it's off to be painted tomorrow dropping the peices off.

[BraadaJim]

Do you meen the 3m softback sanding sponge (has the grit embeded on it)?

No, not a sanding sponge, a softblock.....

3M™ Stikit™ Hand Block Soft, 05442, 2 3/4 in x 5 in,
Soft molded foam block with easy release hook faceUse with Stikit™ Sheet Rolls 2 3/4 inch wide or abrasives sheets 2 3/4 inch x 5 inch for leveling of repair area or following contours.
Buyer's Part Number : 05442
3M Id : 60-9800-0874-6
GTIN(UPC/EAN) : 0 00 51144 05442 8

They sell paper in rolls specifically made for this or you can use 6" D/A paper and just fold the edges back (this is how I do it). Best thing there is for sanding a rounded surface!

[guy2600]

That's what I've been looking for Thanks dude....

[cancun black dog]

Like Jim said sand,sand and sand again the paint is only going to turn out as good as the prep work!!!!! Sanding does suck but it is worth it in the end!!! Just painted my Fathers 94 Impala ss he wanted it to mach his 2002 lightning I did last year both black!!! What a pain in the arse!! 6 coats of black wet sanding between each coat and then 7 coats of clear wet sanding between each coat and then final color sanding and buffing!!! It was a lot of sanding but worth it in the end!!!! It was really worth it he paid for my bike for me to paint the car!!! If he would of taken it somewhere it would of been about 10 grand or more!! I used to paint for a GM dealership so he knew I could handle it!!!

[guy2600]

Well I'm going to get it to a point then give it to my friend to finish prepping and paint. I just want to take some of the time off to save some $$...

[dragkota]

Re: Prepping my body for paint, any advice?

take a shower




seriosly you can never clean it too much the biggest thing is to make sure it is clean