How do you prep your car for painting as far as sanding it down by hand?

[xxchieferxx]

I need some tips b/c hopefully i will be getting a paint job really soon like in a month? i just want to sand it down and get it repainted the same color. I have some friends who will help and some who know what to do but i want the advice from the club.

[GrandAmageGT]

The body of the car? I'd venture to guess your best bet would be to sand the parts down past the primer, so you can reprime it before painting.

[L!m3]

I'm currently in the process of prepping a GT rear bumper for my car. I'm using 120 grit and 220 grit sandpaper...taking a long time with a power spin sander. Am I using too low of a grit? It seems to be taking off the paint good but it's hard to get past the primer. Not sure if the sandpaper is too rough or if it will damage the plastic.

[graden]

getting past the old primer is not a big issue .. if you are realy lazy dont even have to get the old paint off.. just the old clear coat. the most proff way of doing it right down to the metal. but most dont have the time or the energy. and on a note dont use gritty sand paper on plastic, once you cut in to it, its realy hard to smooth out after

[JoeyK]

Guys, there's nothing better for new paint to adhere to than the origional factory finish. As long as it's not peeling, checking, etc. I don't know why but there's a BIG common misconception out thee that you have to take all the old topcoat off or sometimes even down past the primer. There's also a misconception about primer, you don't need primer for anything other than covering areas that you've broken down past the finish into the substraight. Be it from feathering out chips, repair ares, etc. Anyone out there running around w/ thier whole car primered "Because they're gonna repaint thier car" has no business even thinking about it! lol. (Sorry, pet peeve)

[graden]

I would perfer to prime my hole car after all the body work I had to do plus the dark blue left door, the light blue right door, white trunk lid, red roof, orange fender, light blue fender and grey hood.
Im not much in to multi color cars with red bondo patches. plus priming a hole car after sanding is a good thing if you are not going to paint right away because bare metel will rust FAST. Then you can resand the hole car down and start over... fun fun

[JoeyK]

So are you talking about sealer? Because just regular primer will not seal out moisture & the car will rust right through it. Also, you'd have to sand the whole car agin, w/ sealer you can seal a multi colored car & paint right over it (w/in the manufacturers' recommended amount of time.-Usually 72hrs) w/out sanding.

[graden]

I guess im just stuck in the old ways. Thay have been tried , tested, and true ( lol sounds like a chevy comercial) alot of ppl are on a budget and cant aford to play around with new stuff.
I have played in the past and lost big. After a while this stuff adds up. Im fermilar with the stuff I have used in the past so i tend to stick with what I know works;)