jcurrieirocz

Im going to do the body work to my firebird and i need a few tips and pointers.....
its only a quick job no custom deal here..... just a average job so i can resell it in a yr or two.

A guy i know said hed sray it for me at his shop for a good price... he wants me to use good quality primer. Its going black in enamel. Now the doors on the car are strait as there orig. paint but the rest of the car needs attention in the body dept.

he said all i should do is sand it mostly all with say a 440 or 5somthing. Now what about the rear and frt bumbers id like to sand all the paint off or scrape it off somehow as i dont want chips comeing back and cracks reapearing a few weeks after new paint. What grit and kind of sander should i use..... (right now id rather not need to use air tools as i dont own a compressor).
I do have an air "gitter bug" tho whould that be ok or should i just use my hand on the whole car?
Ive done some minor body work before and turned out alot better then most amitures ive seen. anyhow im about to attack this thing and id like to spend less then about $400 on materials (not inculeding spraying and cost of actual paint) so give me some tips on it and how to get rid of the major chiping problem i got going on. Oh and what about under the hood what grit to most ppl use???

jcurrieirocz

sorry i ment i have a gitter bug sander and can get a compressor if i really need to... but not to any other kind of sanders. I would go buy one if it wasnt too much $$ tho.

If this one turns out not too bad ill end up doing the iroc again as its soon needing attention.

KissThis

It's suggested you use an orbital sander or you can go to your local auto store and buy a wire brush paint stripper for a drill. Orbital sanders are fairly cheap these days and you don't need air, you can probably get a cordless too, or even cheaper a corded one.

Loco Kano

Do the electric orbitals work the same a DA to keep the swirls out? Just curious, I could do without hearing my compressor for a few days lol.

bottledbird68

NO!!! I know someone who took a car that was perfectly straight and made it the friendliest car on the road by sanding it with a 5" electric orbital

jcurrieirocz

i have a wire brush attachment for my hand grinder but wouldnt that eat up the plastic on the bumpers after i get thru the paint.

so can anyone else help out with the rest of thequestions i had???

and what is the verdict are electric orbitals good enoght?? I assume they wouldnt be as fast.

Rabbitt

an orbital doesnt do the same job as a DA.. my fiance's stepdad painted a car for her a couple years back and used an orbital doing it... looked like hell

I picked up a cheap DA off ebay for $25

jcurrieirocz

sorry but whats a DA??

NoItsNotForSale

iTrader: (1)

Use a DA orbital or whatever it does not matter. The people who are saying a DA leaves swirlies are because of shoddy prepping.
After you DA the car you prime it. A few coats of primer should fill all the sand marks pretty well. They make this black powder stuff (can't think of the name right now) that you smear everywhere
for when you block and when you wetsand. The blocking and wetsanding are the critical points for a slick paintjob.

DA=Dual action sander

And don't use wire wheels.

For the bumpers I use some used 180 and then 320 Get rid of all the paint. I just Da'ed the cracks off and left some of the old paint . When I primed it with dp90black more cracks I did not see. Had to do the hole thing again.

1989karr

"The people who are saying a DA leaves swirlies are because of shoddy prepping."


yeah....tell me about it


But if you pay close attention and take care, you yourself (I don't really trust some body guys lol) can make it turn out good....fill in all the swirlies cause it'll come back to haunt you!

bottledbird68

But if you don't know what you're doing the electric orbital will only make a TON more work for you to get it right. Hell, I know what I'm doing and I still won't use the electric because I know how much harder it is to use vs. a DA. Buy the right tools for the right job or send it off to someone who has the right tools. You'll be much happier in the long run. And believe it or not, the wire wheel will eat the metal too if you're not careful....

jcurrieirocz

remeber here guys im not keeping the car i want a good job but not perfect by any means.

what grits should i use on the rest???

I have access to dupont paints and im not sure about primer but what does everyone recomend for a good primer???