What grit would you use to take the paint off a car, and get it to bare metal?

 

id prob say somthin like 100-120 grit

 

thanks, autozone said 40 but i thought that might be too rough

 

40 is way to rough. what are you doing striping the car down to paint another color or are you trying to get something to bare metal to weld to so that you can shave something. if you are just changing the color as long as yo dont have alot of dents you can sand the whole car down with 320 on a soft pad da sander and spray over it.

 

anyone else have any advice?

 

Your nuts!


Take it from a body expert here. Use 320. If you are planing on repainting the car dont go down to the metal because an unexperienced body worker will make the car look real wavy. Its bad to go to the metal because when yoru at the metal you don't know if this spot has less metal than this spot. ITs best to stay above the paint, Go through the clear coat and cut through half the paint, once you see it fading your ok. If you accidentally hit metal its ok if its not too deep. AFter 320 you will still need to use clear sealer if you are planing on painting straight over it.


If you are planning on just putting bondo over it then 120 is fine. 80 is better for bondo. Then you sand the bondo with 36 - 40 when the bondo is soft but not hard to get the shape you want. Then you put a thin layer of bondo and sand that with 80 after its hardend . Then sand it with 120 just to smoothen it, then with 180 - 220.

 

what kind of project do you plan on doing here? ive done it several times on an old car to get the sanding technique just right and can tell you its a good amount of work and takes patience...especially if youre new to it. my advice is to take it to the pros

 

go as fine as possible! like 1000grit and be sure to use water!

although if delta is a body guy I would do what he recommends sounds like he knows his sutff

 

1000 grit won't give you anywhere near enough 'bite' for a topcoat...

 

whats the purpose me the water? would it cause rust?

 

lubricates toe sand paper so it wont scratch off the entire coating

 

Water is used on a fine grit sandpaper only. it is used to keep the fine particles of dust from clogging up the sanpaper. If you dont use water the paper will fill in and not do anything.

 

really? I didn't know you only used water for the fine grit, thought it was mostly dependent upon the surface to be sanded, learn something new every day.